For Carbondale blues musician and one-man band Richard “Rip Lee” Pryor, music came at a young age and never loosened its grip, no matter where life took him. 

Rip Lee, the son of legendary Chicago blues musician James “Snooky” Pryor, began his musical journey growing up on the west side of Chicago. Until recently, however, he was unable to put his music first in life.

Pryor was born in 1958 and quickly became enveloped in the blues. He began to pick up his father’s discarded harmonicas and mimicked the sound of his dad’s albums.

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“He really inspired me,” he said. “I always liked blues; I like the style my daddy played. That was the only style of blues I really knew.”

Snooky decided it would be best to relocate Pryor, then 10, and his six siblings to the southern Illinois town of Ullin in the wake of the 1968 Chicago riots. The distinct sound of ‘50s Chicago-style blues followed them.

Pryor played guitar in a soul band during high school, but it was blues ultimately leading him down his own path of musical creativity.

In 1979, Pryor began working as a carpenter for SIU, following in the footsteps of his father who also worked a day job as a tradesman. Pryor always knew work had to come first, planning to get back into music after an early retirement.

He continued to play music recreationally. In the early ‘90s, Pryor began playing the blues with his father and brother, Earl.

In 1996, the family band took its talents into the studio to produce “Mind Your Own Business” through New West Records. During that time, they were given the opportunity to travel and tour throughout Japan.

Pryor went on to produce another album in his home garage studio, dubbed the Rip Lee Studio, in 1998 called “Pitch a Boogie Woogie.” By the late ‘90s he began experimenting as a one-man band, playing guitar, harmonica and singing by himself, like one of his influences, Jimmy Reed.

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By 2000, Pryor was ready to put down the harp and guitar to focus on carpentry.

“Music is not that lucrative, so you have to try and support your family,” he said. “There’s a lot of hassles in it. I knew I would be returning in a few more years, so I thought I would just pick it (music) back up once I retired.”

Pryor left the university in 2008 and spent the next two years enjoying retirement until a trip to the doctor resulted in life-altering news.

In 2010, Pryor was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a type of bone marrow cancer that attacks the body’s ability to produce normal blood cells.

After radiation, chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant, Pryor went into remission in 2011. Cancer left him weak and took much of his weight, but he knew he still wanted to play music.

Pryor said at first he could only play about 45 minutes.

“I wanted to play,” he said “I wanted to get well, but I started playing the music before I really healed, so it took a while to get my strength back.”

Since 2011, Pryor has done several international stints, playing three times in South America and once in Switzerland. In 2013, an old friend, Andrew Galloway of Electro-Fi Records in Toronto, contacted Pryor about producing a new album.

“(Electro-Fi) was the last company my dad recorded with,” Pryor said. “Andrew and I kept in touch over the years. After I did [Juke Joint Festival] down in Clarksdale, Mississippi, someone told him to get in touch with that guy again so that’s what he did.”

The album, titled “Nobody But Me,” was released April 15.

“[“Nobody But Me”] was basically to let people know what I’m doing with my one-man show,” he said. “Ninety percent of the album is solo, me playing guitar and singing. I would describe it as Chicago ‘50s blues with a little spice of Rip Lee.”

Pryor continues to play in southern Illinois and plans to tour this summer. He’ll play at 7 p.m. Friday at Walker’s Bluff in Carterville.

“My goal is to let music let me see other parts of the world and make people happy, man,” he said.

“Nobody But Me” can be purchased through Electro-Fi Records, iTunes or at one of Pryor’s shows.