The Healing Journey

August 14, 2026

The following is excerpted from The Blues Foundation.

Blind Lemon Jefferson recorded “See That My Grave Is Kept Clean” for Paramount in Chicago in 1928, following up an earlier version that was issued under a religious pseudonym, Deacon L.J. Bates, 1927’s “See That My Grave’s Kept Clean.”

His moving performances affected both the secular and the sacred worlds for generations to come. Adding to the lyrical imagery of two white horses, a silver spade and a golden chain, on one take the Texas blues master plucked a guitar string in imitation of a church bell.

Sometimes titled “One Kind Favor,” the song drew from an old folk spiritual and has been recorded by Peter, Paul and Mary, Bob Dylan, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Furry Lewis, Hank Williams Jr., B.B. King, the Grateful Dead, John Lee Hooker, Mavis Staples and many more.

In keeping with the favor Jefferson asked in the song, his grave is kept clean in Wortham, Texas. The first verse is engraved on his headstone and the graveyard is now known as Blind Lemon Memorial Cemetery. B.B. King felt so connected to the song that, per his wishes, his casket was drawn by two white horses.

Jefferson was originally buried in an unmarked grave, though in 1967, blues fans saw to it that a historical sign be placed in the grave’s general vicinity. In a cruel twist of fate, over the next three decades, the cemetery became overgrown with weeds and the marker deteriorated. But in 1997, an organization called Blues Legends raised funds to give Jefferson an actual headstone and ensure the maintenance of his tomb. Another decade later, the graveyard was renamed Blind Lemon Memorial Cemetery. Now, almost a century after his passing, cemetery officials and grounds workers are still doing Jefferson’s “one kind favor.”

To hear Mavis Staples sing “One Kind Favor,” for which she received a Grammy award, click here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvRxPA-dN2s

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