Jesse Fuller (March 12, 1896 – January 29, 1976) was an American blues, "on… Read Full Bio ↴Jesse Fuller (March 12, 1896 – January 29, 1976) was an American blues, "one-man band", musician, best known for his song "San Francisco Bay Blues".

Fuller was born in Jonesboro, Georgia, near Atlanta. He was sent by his mother to live with foster parents when he was a young child, in a rural setting where he was badly mistreated. Growing up, he worked a multitude of jobs: grazing cows for ten cents a day, working in a barrel factory, a broom factory, a rock quarry, on a railroad and a streetcar company, shining shoes, and even peddling hand-carved wooden snakes.
He came west and in the 1920s worked briefly as a film extra in The Thief of Bagdad and East of Suez. Eventually he settled in Oakland, California, across the bay from San Francisco, where he worked for the Southern Pacific railroad. During World War II, he worked as a shipyard welder, but when the war ended he found it increasingly difficult to find work. Around the early 1950s, Fuller's thoughts turned toward the possibility of making a living playing music.

Up to this point, Fuller had never worked professionally as a musician, but had certainly been exposed to music, and had learned to play guitar and picked up quite a number of songs: country blues, work songs, ballads, spirituals and instrumentals. And he had carried his guitar with him and played for money by passing the hat. When he decided to try to work as a professional, he found it hard to find other musicians to work with: thus his one-man band act was born.
Starting locally, in clubs and bars in San Francisco and across the bay in Oakland and Berkeley, Fuller became more widely known when he performed on television in both the Bay Area and Los Angeles, and in 1958 his recording career started with his first album on the Good Time Jazz record label. Fuller's instruments included 12-string guitar, harmonica, kazoo, cymbal (high-hat) and fotdella, several of which could be played simultaneously, particularly with the use of a head-piece to hold the harmonica and kazoo, often at the same time.
Much later, the Grateful Dead covered a few of Fuller's songs, including "The Monkey and the Engineer" and "Beat It on Down the Line". Others who have covered his work include Hot Tuna, Peter, Paul and Mary, Glenn Yarbrough, Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, and Bob Dylan, on his debut in 1962.

The fotdella

The fotdella was a musical instrument of Fuller's own creation and construction. As a one-man band, the problem was how to supply a more substantial accompaniment than the typical high-hat (cymbal) or bass drum used by street musicians. Fuller's solution was the fotdella. It was a foot-operated percussion bass, consisting of a large upright wood box, shaped like the top of a double bass. Attached to a short neck at the top of this box were six bass strings, stretched over the body. And finally, there was the means to play those strings: six foot pedals, each connected to a padded hammer which struck the string, in a homemade wooden contraption.
The six notes of the fotdella allowed him to play a bass line in several keys, though he occasionally would play without it if a song exceeded its limited range.
The name was coined by his wife, who took to calling the instrument a "foot-diller" (as in a "killer-diller" instrument played with the foot), which was shortened to fotdella.

Fuller died in January 1976 in Oakland, California, from heart disease. He was 79 years of age. He was interred at Evergreen Cemetery in Oakland.

Key To The Highway
Jesse Fuller Lyrics

We have lyrics for 'Key To The Highway' by these artists:

B-B. King I got the key to the highway Billed out and bound…
B.B. King Eric Clapton I got the key to the highway, Billed out and bound…
B.B. King %26 Eric Clapton I got the key to the highway Billed out and bound…
B.B. King & Ensemble I got the key to the highway, Billed out and bound…
B.B. King & Eric Clapton I got the key to the highway Billed out and bound…
b.b. king eric clapton I got the key to the highway, Billed out and bound…
B.B. King feat. Eric Clapton I got the key to the highway, Billed out and bound…
B.B. King und Eric Clapton I got the key to the highway Billed out and bound…
BB King/Eric Clapton I got the key to the highway, Billed out and bound…

Ben Webster; Jimmy Witherspoon I've got the key to the highway Yes, I'm billed out…
Big Bill Broonzy I got the key to the highway, and I'm billed…
Big Bill Broonzy & Jazz Gillum I've got the key to the highway Billed out and…
Big Bill Broonzy Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee I've got the key to the highway Billed out and…
Big Billy Broonzy I've got the key to the highway Feel i got to…
Big Bill Broonzy I got the key to the highway, and I'm billed…
Blues Etílicos I've got the key to the highway, Packed up and bound…
Bob Dylan I got the key to the highway, and I'm billed…
Brownie Mc Ghee I've got the key to the highway Billed out and…
Brownie McGhee I've got the key to the highway Billed out and…
Buddy Guy & Eric Clapton I got the key to the highway Billed out and bound…
Buddy Guy & Junior Wells I've got the key to the highway I am bound to…
Charlie Musselwhite I've got the key, to the highway Billed out my Reno…
Chris & The Students I've got the key to the highway Billed out and…
Clapton-Richards I got the key to the highway Billed out and bound…
Dave Hole I've got the key to the highway I am bound to…
David Bromberg I got the key to the highway, Billed out and bound…
Derek and the Dominos I got the key to the highway Billed out and bound…
Derek & The Dominos I got the key to the highway, Billed out and bound…
Derek & The Dominos - Topic I got the key to the highway Billed out and bound…
Derek & The Dominos / Eric Clapton I got the key to the highway, Billed out and…
Derek and the Dominos I got the key to the highway Billed out and bound…
Dinah Washington I've got the key to the highway I am bound to…
Dominos The I got the key to the highway, Billed out and…
Don Covay & the Jefferson Lemon Blues Band I got the key to the highway Woman, I′m packed up…
Duane Allman & Eric Clapton I got the key to the highway Billed out and bound…
Eric Clapton Derek and The Dominos I got the key to the highway, Billed out and…
Eric Clapton & Buddy Guy I got the key to the highway Billed out and bound…
Eric Clapton ; Derek and The Dominos I got the key to the highway, Billed out and…
Eric Clapton and Duane Allman I got the key to the highway Billed out and bound…
Eric Clapton B. B. King I got the key to the highway, Billed out and bound…
Eric Clapton With B.B. King I got the key to the highway Billed out and bound…
Eric Clapton with Derek and the Dominos I got the key to the highway, Billed out and…
Eric Clapton&Steve Winwood I got the key to the highway Billed out and bound…
Eric Clapton; B.B. King I got the key to the highway, Billed out and bound…
Eric Clapton; Keith Richards I got the key to the highway Billed out and bound…
Frank Edwards There are angels on the runway Spread your wings and just…
Freddie King I've got the key to the highway Billed out and bound…
Jamie Jupiter I’ve got the key to the highway, billed up and…
Jazz Gillum I've got the key to the highway Billed out and…
JEFF BECK with B.B. KING I got the key to the highway Billed out and bound…
Jimmy LaFave I got the key to the highway And I'm billed out…
Jimmy Witherspoon I've got the key to the highway Yes, I'm billed out…
John Hammond I got the key to the highway Billed out and bound…
John Lee Hooker I got the key to the highway Dear Lord, I'm bound…
Keith Richards I got the key to the highway, Billed out and bound…
Keith Richards & Eric Clapton I got the key to the highway Billed out and bound…
Lightnin' Hopkins Brownie McGee and Sonny Terry I've got the key to the highway Billed out and…
Little Walter I've got the key to the highway, Billed out and bound…
Luther Allison I got the key to the highway And you know I…
M.P.B. Band I got the key to the highway Billed out and bound…
Max Gomez I got the key to the highway, Billed out and bound…
Rick Derringer I got the key to the highway Feel like I'm bound…
Rod Piazza & the Mighty Flyers I got the key to the highway Billed out and bound…
Sam Lay I got the key to the highway, Billed out and…
Sonny Terry I've got the key to the highway Billed out and…
Steve Miller I've got the key to the highway I am bound to…
Sy Klopps Blues Band I got the key to the highway Packed up and bound…
The Band I've got the key to the highway Packed up and bound…
The Blues Band I got the key to the highway Packed up and bound…
The Derek Trucks Band I've got the key to the highway, Packed up and bound…