than study it, Wilson quit school after only a year and a half. To make ends meet, Wilson worked with his father as a bricklayer, and occasionally gave harmonica and guitar lessons. Career In 1962, Wilson met Harvard student and fellow blues enthusiast David Evans in a record store, and the two began playing as a team around the Cambridge coffeehouse folk-blues circuit. With Evans on vocals and guitar, Wilson on harmonica and occasionally second guitar. The two played a repertoire of mostly classic-era blues covers. Heavily influenced by Skip James, eventually Wilson began singing similar to James' high pitch. In high school, Wilson studied James' 1931 recordings with great ardor. Some of his first singing attempts took place behind a closed bedroom door; and when a family member overheard him, he was embarrassed. Wilson eventually perfected the high tenor for which he would become known. The early 1960's saw a "rediscovery" of pre-war blues artists by young, white blues enthusiasts, including Mississippi John Hurt, Booker White, Skip James and Son House. In 1964, blues enthusiast Tom Hoskins located John Hurt, who at the time had been working on a local farm in his native Mississippi. Hoskins persuaded Hurt to come north to Cambridge for a gig. Wilson was invited to accompany Hurt on harmonica. Said Hoskins, "He was brilliant." Son House, considered by Wilson to be one of the most impressive in blues history was located in Rochester, NY in 1964, but it was evident that House had forgotten his songs due to his long absence from music. Wilson showed him how to play again the songs House had recorded in 1930 and 1942. Wilson played House's old recordings for him and demonstrated them on guitar to revive House's memory. House recorded Father of Folk Blues for Columbia Records in 1965. Two of the selections on the set featured Wilson on harmonica and guitar. In a letter to Jazz Journal published in the September 1965 issue, Son House's manager Dick Waterman remarked the following about the project, and Wilson: It is a solo album, except for backing on two cuts by a 21-year-old White boy from Cambridge by the name of Al Wilson. Al plays second guitar on "Empire State Express" and harp on "Levee Camp Moan." Al never recorded before, but he has backed John Hurt, Skip James, Sleepy John Estes, Bukka White and many others. He is