Brownie McGhee › Similar Artists

Sonny Terry - 100% match to Brownie McGhee

Saunders Terrell, 24 October 1911, Greensboro, North Carolina, USA, d. 12 March 1986, New York City, New York, USA. By the age of 16, Sonny Terry was virtually blind following two accidents, which encouraged his concentration on music. After his father’s death, Terry worked on medicine shows, and around 1937 teamed up with Blind Boy Fuller, moving to Durham, North Carol Read more

Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup - 79% match to Brownie McGhee

24 August 1905, Forest, Mississippi, USA, d. 28 March 1976, Nassawadox, Virginia, USA (1974 is also cited). During the 40s and early 50s Crudup was an important name in the blues field, his records selling particularly well in the south. For much of his early life Crudup worked in various rural occupations, not learning to play the guitar until he was 32. His teacher was one Read more

Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee - 66% match to Brownie McGhee

Blind Boy Fuller - 62% match to Brownie McGhee

Fulton Allen, 1908, Wadesboro, North Carolina, USA, d. 13 February 1941, USA. One of a large family, Fuller learned to play the guitar as a child and had begun a life as a transient singer when he was blinded, either through disease or when lye water was thrown in his face. By the late 20s he was well known throughout North Carolina and Virginia, playing and singing at count Read more

Sleepy John Estes - 62% match to Brownie McGhee

John Adams Estes, 25 January 1899, Ripley, Tennessee, USA, d. 5 June 1977, Brownsville, Tennessee, USA. This influential blues singer first performed at local house-parties while in his early teens. In 1916 he began working with mandolin player Yank Rachell, a partnership that was revived several times throughout their respective careers. It was also during this formative pe Read more

Big Bill Broonzy - 61% match to Brownie McGhee

William Lee Conley Broonzy, 26 June 1893 (some sources give 1898), Scott, Mississippi, USA, d. 14 August 1958, Chicago, Illinois, USA. Broonzy worked as a field hand, and it was behind the mule that he first developed his unmistakable, hollering voice, with its remarkable range and flexibility. As a child he made himself a violin, and learned to play under the guidance of an Read more

Big Joe Williams - 61% match to Brownie McGhee

Joe Lee Williams, 16 October 1903, Crawford, Mississippi, USA, d. 17 December 1982, Macon, Mississippi, USA. Big Joe Williams was one of the most important blues singers to have recorded and also one whose life conforms almost exactly to the stereotyped pattern of how a ‘country’ blues singer should live. He was of partial Red Indian stock, his father being ‘R Read more

Kokomo Arnold - 57% match to Brownie McGhee

15 February 1901, Lovejoy’s Station, Georgia, USA. d. 8 November 1968, Chicago, Illinois, USA. ‘Kokomo’ Arnold was a left-handed slide blues guitarist who learned the basics of his style from his cousin, James Wigges. After working in steel mills in Illinois and Pennsylvania he became a dedicated fisherman and moonshiner, who looked upon his musical success as Read more

Tampa Red - 57% match to Brownie McGhee

Hudson Woodbridge aka Whittaker, 8 January 1904, Smithville, Georgia, USA, d. 19 March 1981, Chicago, Illinois, USA. Tampa Red was raised in Tampa, Florida, by his grandmother Whittaker’s family, hence his nickname. By the time of his 1928 recording debut for Vocalion Records, he had developed the clear, precise bottleneck blues guitar style that earned him his billing, Read more

Roosevelt Sykes - 52% match to Brownie McGhee

31 January 1906, Elmar, Arkansas, USA, d. 17 July 1983, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. Sykes learned piano at the age of 12 and by the early 20s was playing in local barrelhouses. He moved to St. Louis in 1928 and his first recordings for OKeh Records and Victor Records were made from 1929-31. During the 30s, Sykes recorded for Decca Records and acted as a talent scout for the Read more

Frank Stokes - 48% match to Brownie McGhee

1 January 1888, Whitehaven, Tennessee, USA, d. 12 September 1955, Memphis, Tennessee, USA. Stokes was raised in Mississippi, taking up the guitar early in life. He worked on medicine shows, and in the streets of Memphis in the bands of Will Batts and Jack Kelly. By 1927, when Stokes and his fellow guitarist Dan Sane made their first records as the Beale Street Sheiks, they w Read more

Furry Lewis - 47% match to Brownie McGhee

Walter Lewis, 6 March 1893, Greenwood, Mississippi, USA, d. 14 September 1981, Memphis, Tennessee, USA. Furry Lewis was a songster, a blues musician, a humorist and an all-round entertainer. Raised in the country, he picked up the guitar at an early age and moved into Memphis around 1900 where he busked on the streets. After he ran away from home, he had experience working o Read more

Frank Frost - 46% match to Brownie McGhee

15 April 1936, Auvergne, Arkansas, USA, d. 12 October 1999, Helena, Arkansas, USA. Frost’s skills encompassed keyboards and guitar, but like many other blues artists, he started with the harmonica. After moving to St. Louis as a teenager, he took up playing with Sonny Boy ‘Rice Miller’ Williamson in the mid-50s, appearing regularly with him on the famous radio Read more

Leroy Carr - 45% match to Brownie McGhee

27 March 1905, Nashville, Tennessee, USA, d. 29 April 1935, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. A self-taught pianist, Carr grew up in Kentucky and Indiana but was on the road working with a travelling circus when still in his teens. In the early 20s he was playing piano, often as an accompanist to singers, mostly in and around Covington, Kentucky. In the mid-20s he partnered Scrapp Read more

Snooks Eaglin - 45% match to Brownie McGhee

Fird Eaglin, 21 January 1936, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. Eaglin was left blind after a childhood illness and was given the nickname Snooks after a character in a radio series. He played guitar and sang in Baptist churches before winning a local talent contest in 1947. During the 50s he was a street singer in New Orleans, performing a variety of pop, blues and folk material Read more