(RAGTIME.) BOONE, JOHN WILLIAM, "BLIND." Blind Boone's Southern Rag Medley, No 1. Strains From the Alleys * Blind Boone's Southern Rag Medley No 2, Strains from the Flat Branch. Five pages, and seven pages including the covers, the latter printed in large, bold red letters. fine, fresh copies. Columbia, MO: Allen Music Co, 1908; 1909
John William Boone (1864-1927) was born in a Federal militia camp near Miami, Missouri on May 17, 1864, to Rachel Carpenter ,a contraband slave. His father was a bugler in the 7th Missouri State Militia Cavalry (Union). Doctors removed both of Boone's eyes when he was six months old in an attempt to cure his "brain fever" (meningitis?). Boone had some formal training, but was mostly self-taught. In 1880 he played at a Blind Tom concert, gaining instant recognition. These two "medleys" come from a period when Scott Joplin and others had made Ragtime the rage.
