Born on this day (Feb. 2) in 1901, Walter Jacobs Vinson was a member of one of the most influential groups of the early 30s: The Mississippi Sheiks. They didn’t last much more than five years, but their contribution to the music of the 20th century was phenomenal. As recently as 2009, producer, songwriter and guitar player Steve Dawson, released a compilation album called Things About Comin’ My Way: A Tribute to the Music of The Mississippi Sheiks on his Black Hen label. It was no difficulty at all for Dawson to come up with players eager to participate: Van Dyke Parks, Jim Byrnes, Oh Susanna, Geoff Muldaur, Bill Frisell, Bruce Cockburn and more appear on the album.

 Walter Vinson co-wrote a tune called “Sitting on Top of the World” along with his Sheiks bandmate Lonnie Chatmon. According to All Music Guide, that song has been recorded as many as 400 times. A veritable who’s who of performers have latched on to the tune: Howlin’ Wolf, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, B.B. King, Taj Mahal, Jeff Healey, Willie Nelson and even Canadian punk band Nomeansno.

Happy birthday, Walter. That’s quite the legacy.

For a version that sounds much cleaner yet still holds the vibe of the original have a listen to Corey Harris and Taj Mahal.