Teenie Hodges, the diminutive guitarist and Take Me to the River songwriter who became a towering figure in the Memphis music scene, has died. He was 68.

Long-time friend and RoyalStudio owner Lawrence ‘Boo’ Mitchell said Hodges died on Sunday night from complications of emphysema at a Dallas hospital. Hodges fell ill during a trip to the South By Southwest music festival in March and had been in hospital with pneumonia since.

Hodges, rapper Drake’s uncle, was the go-to guitarist for Memphis soul in the 1960s and 1970s. He helped define the sound by working with artistes including Al Green, Syl Johnson, and Etta James, and would later inspire dozens of others from Michael Jackson to Cat Power.

Born Mabon Lewis Hodges in Germantown, Tennessee, in 1946, and given his nickname because of his size, Hodges was playing guitar in his father’s blues band by the age of 12.

He made his first mark in the music world with the help of his brothers, who joined him to form most of the Hi Rhythm Section, the house band for influential Memphis label Hi Records.

Hodges co-wrote Take Me to the River with Green and though the soul singer did not have a hit with it, it has been covered scores of times by artistes as diverse as Tina Turner, Talking Heads and Tom Jones and has become part of the American songbook.

He also penned Love and Happiness with Green and teamed with other Memphis legends including his mentor Willie Mitchell and singer Isaac Hayes to craft a sound that is easily identifiable and still influential.

Hodges and the Hi Rhythm Section disbanded after Hi Records was sold in 1975, though it would often reform over the years, and he worked with a number of musicians in the last decades of his career.

He was at South By Southwest to promote the music documentary Take Me to the River, one of two films he participated in late in life.