Brownie McGhee

Walter " Brownie " McGhee ( born November 30, 1915 in Knoxville, Tennessee, † February 16, 1996 in Oakland, California ) was blues guitarist. He grew up in a musical family, where he learned to play guitar and piano. He first started out as a gospel singer in a quartet and as a street singer in the Smoky Mountain Resort.

By polio his right leg was shortened, which hampered him in his ability to walk, but what could be improved later by surgery, so he could go on tour also, first in Tennessee and North Carolina. After the death of Blind Boy Fuller saw his manager JB Long McGhee in the appropriate filler. They produced successful recordings, one of which, entitled The Death of Blind Boy Fuller, earning him the title Blind Boy Fuller No.. 2 earned. At a concert with Paul Robeson, 1942 in Washington, DC with guest soloist Sonny Terry led Long that Terry was accompanied by McGhee. Both were well received and worked together often from now on. In 1942, McGhee to New York, where he among other things, contact with famous folk musicians such as Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and 1948 had founded a school "The Home of Blues " as a guitar teacher. He played in 1959 and 1963 at the Newport Folk Festival and made with Sonny Terry tours, including through India and Europe. Terry took him in 1963 at its manufacturing Sonny Is King.

Except in the Blues had McGhee with Rhythm'n blues recordings success (including with Champion Jack Dupree, Big Maybelle and his younger brother Stick McGhee on his hit Drinkin 'Wine Spo -Dee -O -Dee ). He also had two Broadway show roles such as in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955 ) with Terry as well as a supporting role on the big screen in the thriller Angel Heart (1987).

His blues style was from the east coast, called the Piedmont blues.

Discography

  • Back Country Blues, 1958
  • The 1958 London Sessions / Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, 1958
  • Traditional Blues, Vol 2, 1961
  • Brownie's Blues, 1962
  • I could not believe my eyes, 1973
  • Facts of Life, 1985
  • Rainy day, 1989
  • Jazz Heritage: Brownie McGhee / Sonny Terry, 1990
  • Just a closer walk, 1991
  • Jump little children, 1996
  • Blues is truth, 1996
  • Born for bad luck, 2000
Knoxville (Tennessee) Integrated Authority File
148954
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