This dissertation provides in-depth critical analysis of Memphis blues musician Furry Lewis\u27s (1899-1981) life, music, and legacy. I rely on archival research, ethnographic fieldwork, and musical and technical analysis to answer a few key questions: 1) Who was Furry Lewis?; 2) Why does his music sound the way it does?; and 3) What impact does he have on current Memphis musicians? Drawing on Henry Lewis Gates, Jr.\u27s literary critique of the African and Afro-Diasporic legend of Esu-Elegbara, I explore the relationship between Lewis\u27s known biography and the complex web of myths that surround him. I then examine the ways in which this rich mythos affects Lewis\u27s reception history and legacy. I catalogue and analyze Lewis\u27s entire known repertory as a way of identifying the relationship between its contents and his musical and cultural context. I transcribe, catalogue, and analyze his lyrics according to theories of formulaic folk construction developed by Albert Lord, Milman Perry, and David Evans as a means of understanding Lewis\u27s compositional processes. This analysis is then used to compare and contrast Lewis\u27s music with local and regional styles. I analyze Lewis\u27s music by examining his learning processes, the instruments he used, the physical movements of his playing, his techniques, and his approach to and understanding of musical tradition. Through many interviews and personal observations, I trace Lewis\u27s musical and personal influences from Memphis\u27s alternative rock movement in the 1960s through the current resurgence of interest in the city\u27s musical history. The evidence presented in this dissertation shows that Lewis is a complex figure. His life-story is blurred by both incomplete records and mythology. His music is surprisingly complicated as idiosyncrasies push it just beyond local and regional traditions. His legacy is uncommonly rich, as he has had a greater and longer lasting influence on Memphis\u27s alternative rock musicians than on its blues and folk musicians. Though he was never Memphis\u27s greatest musician or its most popular, he is certainly one of the most interesting
