Gabriel Brown

Gabriel Brown ( * 1910 in Florida, † 1972 ) was an American Piedmontbluessänger and guitarist.

Life

Brown was born in Florida. His biographical background was very different from other blues musicians, because he had a degree from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical College. He began to play Hawaiian guitar and sang in a Gruppe.Seine musical talents were of Zora Neale Hurston, a folklorist discovered. She persuaded Alan Lomax to extend a recording trip to Georgia and incorporated in Florida Brown. At that time he was already switched to the conventional acoustic guitar, which he played in the slide style, but where he sounded rarely for other blues musicians .. So Brown made ​​his first recordings for the Library of Congress.

Like many other Piedmont musician, he moved to New York, where it its discoverer Zora Huston had a role in her piece Polk County. In 1935, he got a job in the Federal Arts Theatre which was initially directed by Orson Welles for four years. End of the 1930s he worked as a singer and actor. Under the producer Joe Davis in 1943 he made his first recording session. When Davis went as A & R man at MGM, he took Brown with. MGM tried to promote him as a pop singer. The collaboration with Davis lasted until his last session in 1952.

Shortly before his death had Brown action regarding illegal releases of his recordings. Legal scrapbooks of his songs published by Flyright and Krazy Kat 1972 Gabriel Brown drowned in a boating accident in Florida.

Discography (selection)

• Mean Old Blues 1943-1949 (1996 ) Flyright
• Gabriel Brown ( 2001) Catfish Records