Guitar Lightnin' Lee, the New Orleans blues guitarist and singer, has died at age 83

Leroy Williams, better known to New Orleans nightlife denizens as bluesman Guitar Lightnin’ Lee, died Nov. 6. He was 83.

A New Orleans native who grew up in the Lower Ninth Ward, he hung out outside the Dew Drop Inn and other nightclubs before he was old enough to enter.

He learned guitar as a teenager, taking inspiration from Chicago blues guitarist Jimmy Reed. In his late teens, he made a pilgrimage to Chicago and met Reed. He also lived for a time in Los Angeles and served a stint in the Army.

He returned to New Orleans around 1970. A city employee who operated heavy equipment by day, he took on a different persona after dark as a guitarist and singer with an outsized personality. He rubbed elbows and/or shared stages with the likes of Fats Domino, Earl King, Ernie K-Doe and Little F