Red Paden, a legendary Mississippi Delta blues musician who was the self proclaimed “king of juke joint runners”, has reportedly tragically died
at the age of 67. He reportedly died from complications during heart surgery.
Red Paden, who as the self-proclaimed “king of the juke joint runners” spent four decades as the owner of Red’s, an unassuming music spot in downtown Clarksdale, Miss., and one of the last places in the United States to offer authentic Delta blues in its natural setting, died on Dec. 30. He was 67.
His son, Orlando, said the death, in a hospital in Jackson, Miss., was from complications of heart surgery.
Juke joints, once commonplace across the Deep South, were the loam out of which blues music grew, a vast network of shacks, old shops and converted homes where traveling musicians would play a night for a share of the cover charge, then move on to the next gig.
