Crudup Was a Major Player in the Birth of Rock and a New Culture

Yesterday we reported the story of Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup who would move to the Eastern Shore and his accomplishments. The man whose music spawned a great cultural revolution lived among us and most didn’t know it.  Today Bill LeCato reports on Crudup’s life after his music career on the Shore.

What happened later in Crudup’s life?

Crudup left music in his early 50s to work on farms, eventually settling in Franktown, Virginia, on the the state’s Eastern Shore. He earned a living by leading crews of migrant workers to pick fruits and vegetables.

He was heartbroken by his experience in the music business, his granddaughter said. But he didn’t wallow.

“He was an extremely principled man,” Prechelle Crudup Shannon said of her grandfather, who embodied “those old country values” of working hard and supporting one’s family.

Crudup did eventually return to music, during the 1960s blues revival. He released new albums, played festivals and shared stages with B.B. King, Taj Mahal and Bonnie Raitt.

But he never got the songwriting royalties that eluded him — during his lifetime, at least.

Near the end of his life, Crudup almost reached a settlement with the company that acquired the rights to his songs when Melrose died. But the deal was called off at last minute.

“Naked I come into this world and naked I should leave it,” Crudup told his final manager, Dick Waterman, who recalled that day in his book, “Between Midnight and Day.”

After his death, his family did eventually receive some royalties from the music publisher that took over the songs’ rights.

How is Crudup being remembered?

Even though he died in 1974, Crudup has received flashes of recognition in recent years.

He was briefly portrayed by Gary Clark Jr. in the 2022 biopic “Elvis” and mentioned last year by the California reparations task force examining the long history of discrimination against African Americans.

The state of Virginia is also planning to install a highway marker honoring Crudup on the Eastern Shore.

“Among others who covered Crudup were the Beatles, B.B. King, and Elton John,” the marker will state. “Rarely receiving royalties, Crudup supported his family as a laborer and farm worker.”

Crudup’s granddaughter and others believe he should be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

“It would be something if this story was unique,” Shannon said. “But it’s not. We know this has happened to Black artists throughout time, but specifically back then.”