Lipscomb was born April 9, 1895, near
Navasota, Texas. His father had been born into
slavery in
Alabama; his mother was half African American and half Native American. As a youth, Lipscomb took the name Mance (short for
emancipation) from a friend of his oldest brother, Charlie. Due to his father's early departure from home, he was compelled to end his schooling after the third grade and work in the fields with his mother. For most of his life, Lipscomb supported himself as a tenant farmer in Texas. His mother bought him a guitar and he taught himself to play by watching and listening. He became an accomplished performer then and played regularly for years at local gatherings, mostly what he called "Saturday night suppers" hosted by someone in the area. He and his wife regularly hosted such gatherings for a while. Until around 1960, most of his musical activity took place within what he called his "precinct", the area around
Navasota, Texas. He was discovered and recorded by
Mack McCormick and
Chris Strachwitz in 1960, during a
revival of interest in the country blues. He recorded many albums of
blues, ragtime, Tin Pan Alley, and
folk music (most of them released by Strachwitz's
Arhoolie Records), In May 1963, he appeared at the first
Monterey Folk Festival, (which later became the
Monterey Pop Festival) alongside other folk artists such as
Bob Dylan, and
Peter, Paul and Mary in
California. == Film ==