J. W. Warren was born in 1921 in Enterprise, Alabama. In a family of eleven children, he was the only one to take up music, starting at the age of fifteen or sixteen. He entered the military as a young adult and served for 14 years. While stationed overseas with the military in 1947, he won first prize in a music contest. After his stint in the military, he farmed and began to play blues at barbeques and house parties in southeast Alabama. Like many lower Chattahoochee blues artists, he cites Blind Boy Fuller as a key influence. J. W. died on August, 5, 2003.