Blues guitarist ‘Honey Boy’ Edwards dead at 96

"Honey Boy" Edwards

CHICAGO — Blues musician David “Honey Boy” Edwards, whose roots stretched back to blues legend Robert Johnson, has died.

Longtime manager Michael Frank says Edwards died of congestive heart failure Monday morning in his Chicago apartment. He was 96.

Born in 1915 in Shaw, Miss., Edwards left home at age 14 to travel with bluesman Big Joe Williams. His father, a guitarist and violinist, bought his son a guitar from a plantation worker.

Edwards played with a number of noted musicians, including Johnson, Howlin’ Wolf, Little Walter and Muddy Waters. Among Edwards’ hit songs were “Long Tall Woman Blues,” ‘’Gamblin Man” and “Just Like Jesse James.”

Edwards won a 2008 Grammy for traditional blues album and received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement award in 2010.

A funeral is planned for Thursday.