Henry Columbus Speir (October 6, 1895 – April 22, 1972)[1] was an American "talent broker" and record store owner from Jackson, Mississippi. He was responsible for launching the recording careers of most of the greatest Mississippi blues musicians in the 1920s and 1930s. According to blues researcher Gayle Dean Wardlow, "Speir was the godfather of Delta Blues" and was "a musical visionary [without whom] Mississippi's greatest natural resource might have gone untapped."[2] A historical marker commemorates his life and work.[3]
Using a metal disc machine in his store, Speir made demorecordings of the musicians that he sent to the labels, before arranging for more formal recording sessions. Word spread among blues musicians that Speir could help them make records, and many came to audition at the store. This audition process — along with the ensuing recording sessions — was dramatized in the Wim Wenders-directed installment of the television mini-series Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues: A Musical Journey, entitled "The Soul of a Man", which aired on PBS in 2003.
Speir retired from recording in 1936, and left Farish Street after a 1942 fire at his store. In the 1960s, Speir was extensively interviewed by Gayle Dean Wardlow about the recordings he had made. On April 22, 1972, Speir died at his home in Pearl, Mississippi, after a heart attack. He is buried alongside his wife at Lakewood Memorial Park Cemetery, in Clinton, Mississippi.