Collins was born in Louisiana and grew up in McComb, Mississippi, just across the state line. By 1924, he was performing in local barrelhouses, often with King Solomon Hill; both of them sang falsetto parts and played slide guitar. Collins's first recording in 1927 was "Yellow Dog Blues", made for Gennett Records and recorded in Richmond, Indiana. His bottleneck guitar was referred to as a "git-fiddle" on record labels of the time. Collins recorded again in 1931; some of his later recordings appeared under different pseudonyms, such as Jim Foster (11), Jelly Roll Hunter, Big Boy Woods, Bunny Carter, and Salty Dog Sam. His rural bottleneck guitar pieces were among the first to be compiled on LP. In the late 1930s, Collins relocated to Chicago, where he died from heart disease at the age of 62.