Texas Alexander built one of the most influential careers in early recorded blues without ever playing an instrument, and without ever keeping a standard beat. Born Alger Alexander in Jewett, Texas in 1900, he was a short, unassuming man with a massive, resonant voice who came up singing on the streets, at picnics and at country parties in the Brazos River cotton bottomlands. Because he never had a guitar in his hands to lock him into a 12-bar grid, his phrasing followed the free, unmetered rhythm of work songs and field hollers. When labels like OKeh and Vocalion came calling around 1927, session players had to learn to follow what became known as Alexander time, and he was paired with virtuosos such as Lonnie Johnson, King Oliver and Eddie Lang who could improvise around his elastic delivery.

This episode also confronts the dark legend th ...