Bill Barth, a musician and cultural figure of under-rated importance, passed away of a heart attack in his sleep, at his home in Amsterdam, Holland on Wednesday July 15, 2000, at the age of 57.

Acting on information developed by researcher Gayle Dean Wardlow and obtained from musician Ishmon Bracey, Bill Barth, John Fahey and Ed Denson located 1930's blues great Skip James in a Tunica, Mississippi hospital in 1964.  After paying James' modest medical bill, the trio drove their rediscovered legend to the Newport Jazz Festival, where his surprise appearance delighted the audience and set in motion the second and more influential musical career of Skip James.  

In the mid-1960s, Barth relocated to Memphis, Tennessee, where, in the company of other musicians and blues enthusiasts, he co-founded the Memphis Country Blues Society, a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and promotion of the Delta blues.  This organization produced five festivals between 1966 and 1970 featuring artists such as Furry Lewis, Gus Cannon, Bukka White, Sleepy John Estes, Yank Rachel and Fred McDowell.   An accomplished guitarist, Barth himself appeared at these festivals as a member of the blues-tinged psychedelic band, The Insect Trust, and in duet with John Fahey.  One performance by the latter pairing, under the comic pseudonyms Josiah Jones and R.L. Watson, was recorded by Arhoolie Records' owner Chris Strachwitz for the Blue Thumb two LP set "Memphis Swamp Jam."  Because of their mastery of country blues guitar, the true identity of the players remained for many years a mystery to fans who believed the liner note description of two black, mute pantomime artists "discovered" on the streets of Memphis by Strachwitz.  

Bill Barth spent the last twenty years of his life in Amsterdam, in self-imposed exile from the music business,  focusing the bulk of his energies on the study of life extension through nutritional supplements.  He continued to play and write, occasionally jamming with well-known artists like Alex Chilton, Taj Mahal and Sam Duffy, as well as local performers, but Bill chose to publish his own work on the internet, a sample of which may be found at the IUMA website.  His last public appearance was in New York City in 1999.

Some of Barth's own tales of his days in Memphis appear in "Confessions Of A Psychedelic Carpetbagger" on BLUES WORLD.