Robert Nighthawk

Robert Lee McCollum recorded under the pseudonyms Robert Lee McCoy and Robert Nighthawk - he assumed the nickname Nighthawk after he released an album called Prowling Night Hawk.

After some initial success with Chess - even being compared with Muddy Waters recording and performing in 1951 and 1952, he failed to achieve great commercial success.

In 1963, Nighthawk was rediscovered busking in Chicago and this led to further recording sessions and club dates, and to his return to Arkansas, where he appeared on the King Biscuit Time radio programme on KFFA.Unfortunately after a second go at fame he died from a heart attack.

Robert Nighthawk

A worthwhile bio on Cascade Blues

Robert Nighthawk was a rambling man who often traveled to Chicago, playing to his heart's content on Sunday afternoons at the famed open-air market along Maxwell Street. But, his heart belonged in the Mississippi Delta and it continuously called him home. Because of his wandering ways, Nighthawk's recorded output is minimal. But, without his influence, the sound of the Blues and modern guitar may have taken a different turn altogether, leaving names such as Elmore James and Earl Hooker with little if any meaning today.

Robert Nighthawk Store