Roosevelt Melvin Barnes was born in the town of Longwood, Mississippi, about 18 miles outside of Greenville, on September 25, 1936. His family worked in the local cotton fields, as well as raising hogs. A young Roosevelt had even lost a portion of one finger when a hog bit him while he and his father attempted to ring the animal's nose. His older brother, Leroy, served time in the military and also played professional baseball. While he played ball in the winter leagues of South America, Leroy would send home harmonicas to his brother. Roosevelt became infatuated with the instrument and soon his participation in the fields became marred as he spent his time dancing and playing between the rows. These actions earned him his nickname "Booba" when his brother claimed that he was "worse than a booby trap
The lure of Chicago would occasionally beckon for Booba and he made several attempts to make it in the city. He traveled there in 1963 and made some recordings with The Jones Brothers, but sadly these sides have never been released. While there, Little Jerry Jones introduced Booba to his childhood hero Little Walter, and he asked Walter to allow Booba to sit in for a number. Walter was skeptical, but after one listen to Barnes on the harmonica he became convinced of his talent and would even go on to call Booba his "son." In 1968, Barnes broke up The Swinging Gold Coasters and moved to Chicago where he worked as a popular performer and sought-after sideman.
Returning to Greenville in 197 1, he played in a number of clubs over the years, sometimes alongside guitarist T-Model Ford. In 1985, he purchased a former used furniture store on Nelson Street and converted it into his own club which he called The Playboy Club. Soon Barnes and the house-band, The Playboys, became a well known attraction and found requests to play throughout the South, Midwest and East Coast.
In 1990, Booba was given the opportunity to record his first and only full-length LP, "The Heartbroken Man". Released by Rooster Blues, the debut was the first Blues recording by a Mississippi artist on the fledgling label. It was well-received by critics and fans alike, and Roosevelt soon found himself in demand on both sides of the Atlantic. Also in 1990, Blues journalist Robert Palmer began filming his documentary "Deep Blues" and captured Barnes and The Playboys live in The Playboy Club. Three numbers were also included in the film's soundtrack and would prove to be the final releases by Barnes available to the market.
Booba Barnes had once again relocated to Chicago in the early 1990s so he could be more accessible to the venues demanding his presence. In 1995, he was diagnosed with severe lung cancer and the disease quickly sapped him of his energy. After fighting the illness for a year, Roosevelt Barnes died in a Chicago nursing home on April 2, 1996.
Robert Palmer described Booba in his liner notes to "Deep Blues": "To call him a flamboyant showman would be an understatement. He twists, he turns, he drops to his knees, he plays one-handed, and he picks more guitar with his teeth and tongue than many more celebrated Bluesmen who use their fingers." Many of his contemporaries believed that Booba may have even been able to out-perform his mentor Howlin' Wolf in the end. But, it was never Barnes' desire to do any more than satisfy his fans. Despite never receiving the world-wide recognition of his heroes, Barnes always kept his professional demeanor and never disappointed an audience.
