Listen to some tracks by Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee and you would say, that's rough and ready Piedmont blues, complete with whoops and hollers. Here they are playing Easy Rider.
But there they are playing with Pete Seeger. They played, and recorded, with Woodie Guthrie as well. There friendship and musical association with these guys kind of makes them what you might today call "cross-over" artists. Some of their tunes are downright folkie-dolkie, yet they retain elements of their blues tradition, and managed to develop a style as a duo that became tremendously distinctive.
Listen to Down by the Riverside, with Pete. Fantastic material!
I remember seeing them at the El Mocambo back in the 70s. I had never seen anything like it. That show really opened my mind to the possibilities of music.
Here's I'm a Burnt Child
I have to post a version of Sonny Terry's fantastic Hootin' the Blues. I sat ten feet away from him one time and watched him play that, and all I could think was, man that isn't possible.
Let's not discount Brownie's role in this either. His guitar is fantastic on this tune.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee
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2 comments:
I hear from a friend back in the 70's that at the end of their carrer that would not speak to each other off stage. Each had a moble home and they would come from opposite sides of the stage, play the gig, walk off and not speak till the next time on stage. I would like to find out if that was true. Makes a great story.
I saw them twice. The first time, they were obviously getting along and having a good time on stage. The second time was a year or two later, and it not so good. Sonny more or less did a set and Brownie more or less did a set. They didn't sing together.
I could be wrong but it looked to me that Brownie was playing some tune in oddball keys to make it difficult for Sonny to follow on harmonica. Maybe it was just that I was picking up an unfriendly vibe. In any case, the first time I saw them it was magical because of what they did together. The second show, which was at the old Ontario Place Forum, paled.
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