Marquise Knox

Marquise Knox

Marquise Knox is a blues guitarist and singer from Granada, Mississippi. Born in 1991, he grows up in a musical family with deep ties to the blues tradition. He learns guitar from his grandmother, whose family are sharecroppers and whose great-great-grandparents are slaves, and he describes blues as part of his heritage.

Early life and education in blues

Knox spends his early teenage years in St. Louis, Missouri, where he studies under the late Henry James Townsend, a blues legend, NEA Heritage Fellowship recipient and Grammy Award winner. This training connects him directly to an older generation of traditional blues musicians.

Career

His work earns him performance opportunities with major blues figures including B.B. King, Pinetop Perkins and David “Honeyboy” Edwards. Perkins and Edwards are both NEA Heritage Fellows, and all three are Grammy Award winners. Knox balances performances for traditional blues audiences with work for younger listeners, and he gives more than 100 student performances a year, playing for audiences from first grade through high school.

Debut album

Knox releases his debut album, Manchild, which is recorded when he is 16 over two nights during an ice storm in a church with Michael Burks. The album includes a track called “Ice Storm.”

Personal details

He lives in urban St. Louis and maintains a sizable garden there. He is also known for cooking, including a chicken dinner for eight with greens.