Biography

J.W. Warren was born on June 22nd, 1921, in Enterprise, AL. At 16 years old he picked up the guitar, and soon after he began performing at local juke joints and barbeques. Warren was a veteran of WWII, he served in the military for fourteen years. In his young days he dated Big Mamma Thornton when they were scuffling around together in Alabama juke joints. When Tim Duffy met him he told him that he had given up his music. Duffy convinced him to record and was amazed by his original story songs and his guitar style in which he employed his old jack-knife for a slide. Warren passed at his home in Ariton on August 5th, 2003.

How We Helped:
A member of the Music Maker family from 1995 until his passing in 2003, J.W. Warren received sustenance grants for prescription medicine, as well as emergency relief funds. Music Maker provided him with a guitar, recorded him on several compilation CDs, and featured J.W. in the book Music Makers: Portraits and Songs from the Roots of America in 2004.