Brownie McGhee

His father, George Duffield Mc Ghee, a singer-pianist, was the head of a family of five children. Brownie lost part of his right arm to poliomyelitis when he was just 4, but this did not stop him from building a guitar for himself at the age of 6. He left school at an early age, started singing in the Baptist church with his father (1927-1928), then began a career as a traveling musician at carnivals, balls and during movie intermissions in the state of Tennessee. In the early '30s, he returned to work with his father in the Golden Voice Gospel Quartet in Maryville, Tennessee. He completed his practical studies by playing on the street (1935-1936). At the end of 1939, Mc Ghee made the acquaintance of harmonica player Sonny Terry, already well known after his appearance at the famous "Spirituals To Swing" concert organized by John Hammond in 1938. Thus began an association that would last more than thirty years, ending with a falling-out between the two men. East Coast bluesmen, the two men were very different personalities. Terry is a virtuoso on the acoustic harmonica, while Brownie Mc Ghee is more of a composer than a guitarist. Terry is an extrovert, voluble man, while Mc Ghee is more introverted and taciturn. This complementarity worked in their favor, and by the early '40s, Harlem clubs, Broadway theaters and blues and rhythm'n'blues festivals were snapping up the duo. Their heyday came during the American Folk Blues Festival tours of the late '50s. Especially in 1962 and 1964, these tours enabled Europeans to discover the blues, and to get to know and recognize these great artists. The festival continued until 1972. The Mc Ghee-Terry duo broke up in the early 70s. Mc Ghee continued his solo career, performing in television shows, recording sessions, songwriting and festivals (Newport, Chicago, Frankfurt, Montreux, etc.). He appeared in films about the blues: "Blues For A Black Film" (1973), "Sincerely The Blues" (1975).

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