Walter Brown "Brownie" McGhee (November 30, 1915 – February 16, 1996) was an American folk music and Piedmont blues singer and guitarist, best known for his collaboration with the harmonica player Sonny Terry. ==Life and career== McGhee was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, and grew up in Kingsport, Tennessee.
The autobiographical section features McGhee talking about growing up, his musical beginnings, and a history of the blues from the 1930s onward. McGhee and Terry were both recipients of a 1982 National Heritage Fellowship awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts, which is the United States government's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.
2." By that time, McGhee was recording for Columbia's subsidiary Okeh Records in Chicago, but his real success came after he moved to New York in 1942, when he teamed up with Sonny Terry, whom he had known since 1939, when Terry was Fuller's harmonica player.
After Fuller's death in 1941, J.
2." By that time, McGhee was recording for Columbia's subsidiary Okeh Records in Chicago, but his real success came after he moved to New York in 1942, when he teamed up with Sonny Terry, whom he had known since 1939, when Terry was Fuller's harmonica player.
1 (Folkways Records, 1951) Brownie McGhee Blues (Folkways, 1955) Brownie McGhee Sings the Blues (Folkways, 1959) Traditional Blues, Vol.
1 (Folkways Records, 1951) Brownie McGhee Blues (Folkways, 1955) Brownie McGhee Sings the Blues (Folkways, 1959) Traditional Blues, Vol.
1 (Folkways Records, 1951) Brownie McGhee Blues (Folkways, 1955) Brownie McGhee Sings the Blues (Folkways, 1959) Traditional Blues, Vol.
They also appeared in the original Broadway productions of Finian's Rainbow and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. During the blues revival of the 1960s, Terry and McGhee were popular on the concert and music festival circuits, occasionally adding new material but usually remaining faithful to their roots and playing to the tastes of their audiences. Late in his life, McGhee appeared in small roles in films and on television.
In the episode, McGhee, Seneca and star Andy Griffith perform a duet of "The Midnight Special". Happy Traum, a former guitar student of McGhee's, edited a blues guitar instruction guide and songbook, Guitar Styles of Brownie McGhee, published in 1971, in which McGhee, between lessons, talked about his life and the blues.
He and Terry appeared in the 1979 Steve Martin comedy The Jerk.
They recorded and toured together until around 1980.
The autobiographical section features McGhee talking about growing up, his musical beginnings, and a history of the blues from the 1930s onward. McGhee and Terry were both recipients of a 1982 National Heritage Fellowship awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts, which is the United States government's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.
In 1987, McGhee gave a small but memorable performance as the ill-fated blues singer Toots Sweet in the supernatural thriller movie Angel Heart.
In his review of Angel Heart, the critic Roger Ebert singled out McGhee for praise, declaring that he delivered a "performance that proves [saxophonist] Dexter Gordon isn't the only old musician who can act." McGhee appeared in the television series Family Ties, in a 1988 episode entitled "The Blues, Brother", in which he played the fictional blues musician Eddie Dupre.
He also appeared in the television series Matlock, in a 1989 episode entitled "The Blues Singer", playing a friend of an old blues musician (Joe Seneca) who is accused of murder.
That year's fellowships were the first bestowed by the NEA. One of McGhee's last concert appearances was at the 1995 Chicago Blues Festival. McGhee died of stomach cancer on February 16, 1996 in Oakland, California, at age 80. ==Discography== ===Solo albums=== Traditional Blues, Vol.
Walter Brown "Brownie" McGhee (November 30, 1915 – February 16, 1996) was an American folk music and Piedmont blues singer and guitarist, best known for his collaboration with the harmonica player Sonny Terry. ==Life and career== McGhee was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, and grew up in Kingsport, Tennessee.
That year's fellowships were the first bestowed by the NEA. One of McGhee's last concert appearances was at the 1995 Chicago Blues Festival. McGhee died of stomach cancer on February 16, 1996 in Oakland, California, at age 80. ==Discography== ===Solo albums=== Traditional Blues, Vol.
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