Biography of Brownie McGhee

McGhee: born Nov. 30, 1915. Terry: born Oct. 24, 1911, died March 12, 1986. Although they also recorded separately over the years, harpist Sonny Terry and guitarist Brownie McGhee will always be indelibly connected as one sturdy unit, and their lengthy and often stormy tenure together marks them as the most prolific duo in blues history.Terry and McGhee became musical partners in 1941, when the guitarist was drafted to accompany the blind harpist to a Library of Congress recording session. Although they were products of the southeastern blues tradition -- McGhee hailed from Tennessee, Terry from North Carolina, where he had played with Blind Boy Fuller -- the pair found their way into New York City's folk music "hootenanny" scene during the 40s. Contrary to popular belief, the two didn't do everything together -- Terry's solo activities included a 1946 stint on Broadway in Finian's Rainbow, while McGhee recorded in an urban jump blues setting through the late 40s and early 50s.When they did share a stage, the pair sang and played up a rollicking storm, Terry's trademark whooping style of harmonica contrasting with McGhee's full-bodied chording, and they cashed in on the budding folk boom by recording numerous acoustic albums along with various solo projects. Terry died in 1986, although the partnership had perished sometime earlier. ~ Bill Dahl

Biography of Lightnin' Hopkins

In the history of great Texas blues singers, Lightnin' Hopkins is the yardstick by which all others are measured. From his start as a "guide boy" for Blind Lemon Jefferson to his final days on the concert stages of the world, he certainly lasted longer and recorded more prolifically than anyone else. With over a hundred albums to his credit and several hundred single recordings for virtually every label known to mankind, Hopkin's easygoing style worked well in every conceivable setting. From his early solo work, guitar/piano duets, small rhythm sections, even to a brief fling as a coffeehouse performer during the '60s folk music boom, Hopkins remained uniquely his own man. His lyrical themes had strong roots in the Texas songster tradition, some reaching back to slavery days, while his guitar stylings were seamless and fluid, combining lead and rhythm passages simultaneously. Typecast as primarily an acoustic artist, Hopkins with a Fender Stratocaster and a cranked-up amp could be every bit as potent as any Chicago bluesman ever thought of being. Virtually any recording by Lightnin' Hopkins, regardless of time or setting, is a welcome addition to any blues collection. ~ Cub Koda

Biography of Big Joe Williams

Big Joe Williams may have been the most cantankerous human being who ever walked the earth with guitar in hand. At the same time, he was an incredible blues musician: a gifted songwriter, a powerhouse vocalist, and an exceptional idiosyncratic guitarist. Despite his deserved reputation as a fighter (documented in Michael Bloomfield's bizarre booklet Me and Big Joe), artists who knew him well treated him as a respected elder statesman. Even so, they may not have chosen to play with him, because -- as with other older Delta artists -- if you played with him you played by his rules.As protégé David "Honeyboy" Edwards described him, Williams in his early Delta days was a walking musician who played work camps, jukes, store porches, streets, and alleys from New Orleans to Chicago. He recorded through five decades for Vocalion, Okeh, Paramount, Bluebird, Prestige, Delmark, and many others. As a youngster, I met him in Delmark owner Bob Koester's store, the Jazz Record Mart. At the time, Big Joe was living there when not on his constant travels. According to Charlie Musselwhite, he and Big Joe kicked off the blues revival in Chicago in the '60s.When I saw him playing at Mike Bloomfield's "blues night" at the Fickle Pickle, Williams was playing an electric nine-string guitar through a small ramshackle amp with a pie plate nailed to it and a beer can dangling against that. When he played, everything rattled but Big Joe himself. The total effect of this incredible apparatus produced the most buzzing, sizzling, African-sounding music I have ever heard.Anyone who wants to learn Delta blues must one day come to grips with the idea that the guitar is a drum as well as a melody-producing instrument. A continuous, African-derived musical tradition emphasizing percussive techniques on stringed instruments from the banjo to the guitar can be heard in the music of Delta stalwarts Charley Patton, Fred McDowell, and Bukka White. Each employed decidedly percussive techniques, beating on his box, knocking on the neck, snapping the strings, or adding buzzing or sizzling effects to augment the instrument's percussive potential. However, Big Joe Williams, more than any other major recording artist, embodied the concept of guitar-as-drum, bashing out an incredible series of riffs on his G-tuned nine-string for over 60 years. ~ Barry Lee Pearson

Biography of Sonny Terry

Harmonica player Sonny Terry was one of the initial bluesmen who crossed over into areas not normally associated with the genre before he came along. Along with his partner, guitarist Brownie McGhee, Terry played on numerous folk recordings with the likes of Woody Guthrie, developed an acting career showcased on television and Broadway, and never compromised his unique high-pitched penetrating harmonica style called whoppin'. Sonny Terry was born Saunders Terrell on October 24, 1911, in Greensboro, NC. He lost his sight by the time he was 16 in two separate accidents. His father played harmonica in local functions around town and taught Terry at an early age. Realizing his eyesight would keep him from pursuing a profession in farming, Terry decided instead to be a blues singer. He began traveling to nearby Raleigh and Durham, performing on street corners for tips. In 1934, he befriended the popular guitarist Blind Boy Fuller. Fuller convinced Terry to move to Durham, where the two immediately gained a strong local following. By 1937, they were offered an opportunity to go to New York and record for the Vocalion label. A year later, Terry would be back in New York taking part in John Hammond's legendary Spirituals to Swing concert, where he performed one of his memorable tunes, "Mountain Blues." Upon returning to Durham, Terry continued playing regularly with Fuller and also met his future partner, guitarist Brownie McGhee, who would accompany Terry off and on for the next two decades. McGhee was initially sent to look after Terry by Blind Boy's manager, J.B. Long. Long figured McGhee might get a chance to play some of the same shows as Terry. A friendship developed between the two men and following Fuller's death in 1941, Terry and McGhee moved to New York. The change proved fruitful as they immediately found steady work, playing concerts both as a duo and solo. Terry became an in-demand session player who started showing up regularly on the records of folk luminaries including Leadbelly, Woody Guthrie, and Pete Seeger. An acting role was also initiated at this time, in the long-running Broadway production of Finian's Rainbow in 1946. By the mid-'50s, Terry and McGhee began broadening their collective horizons and traveled extensively outside of New York. They released a multitude of recordings for labels like Folkways, Savoy, and Fantasy that crossed the boundaries of race, becoming well-known in folk and blues circles performing for black and white audiences. It was also in the mid-50s that Terry and McGhee accepted roles on Broadway, joining the cast of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, exposing them to an even broader audience. In the early '60s, the duo performed at numerous folk and blues festivals around the world, while Terry found time to work with singer Harry Belafonte and in television commercials. Terry was constantly traveling throughout the '70s, stopping only long enough to write his instructional book, The Harp Styles of Sonny Terry. By the mid-'70s, the strain of being on the road developed into personal problems between McGhee and Terry. Unfortunately, they resigned their long partnership, divided by the bitterness of constant touring. Terry was still being discovered by a younger blues generation via the Johnny Winter-produced album Whoppin' for the Alligator label, featuring Winter and Willie Dixon. Winter had produced a comeback album for Muddy Waters (Hard Again) that helped rejuvenate his career, and he was attempting the same with Terry. By the '80s, Terry's age was catching up with him. He quit recording and only accepted sporadic live appearances. Terry passed away in 1986, the year he was inducted into the Blues Foundations Hall of Fame. ~ Al Campbell