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Big Bill Broonzy

Although William Lee Conley “Big Bill” Broonzy achieved fame and success in the Chicago blues scene and the folk revival in the United States and abroad, some of his earliest encounters with the blues and his earliest experiences as a performer and song writer were in Arkansas. Born in Scott, Mississippi, on June, 26 1893, to Frank Broonzy and Mittie Belcher, Big Bill Broonzy was one of seventeen children. Broonzy soon moved with his family to the Pine Bluff area (Jefferson County), where he spent most of his childhood years. He began performing music at an early age, playing for social and church events on the fiddle, which he learned from his uncle, Jerry Belcher. In addition to odd jobs as a musician, Broonzy also served briefly as a pastor in the Pine Bluff area before 1918. Between the years 1917 and 1919, Broonzy served in the U.S. Army and was stationed in Europe. After his discharge in 1919, Broonzy returned to Arkansas for a brief time, playing in clubs around the Little Rock (Pulaski County) and Pine Bluff areas. In the early 1920s, Broonzy moved to Chicago, Illinois, where he switched instruments to the guitar, taught to him by Papa Charlie Jackson, and began a prolific recording career under the Paramount, Columbia, Bluebird, Okeh, and Chess record labels. Examples of his recording career can be found on numerous compilations. The most comprehensive collection is the twelve-volume anthology of “The Complete Works of Big Bill Broonzy,” which was produced by Document Records beginning in 1994. Influenced by musicians such as Jimmie Rodgers, Blind Blake, Son House, and Blind Lemon Jefferson, Broonzy developed an amalgamated form of the blues. By combining ragtime and hokum blues with country blues, he created a style that foreshadowed the post�"World War II Chicago sound, which was later defined by such artists as Muddy Waters and Willie Dixon. In 1938, Broonzy filled in for Robert Johnson, who had died unexpectedly, at the Spirituals to Swing Concert produced by John Hammond at Carnegie Hall. The fame achieved from this event and a follow-up concert in 1939 established Broonzy as a key figure in the Chicago blues scene. While in Chicago, Broonzy recorded more than three hundred songs and remained a popular and well-respected artist throughout the 1940s. His prolific musical output is evident from his fruitful solo career and his collaborations with other artists, such as Sonny Boy Williamson and Brownie McGhee.

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Book Review

Bob Riesman: I Feel So Good - The Life And Times Of Big Bill Broonzy

Read "Bob Riesman: I Feel So Good - The Life And Times Of Big Bill Broonzy" reviewed by Jack Huntley


I Feel So Good: The Life And Times Of Big Bill BroonzyBob RiesmanCloth; 336 pagesISBN 97800226717456University of Chicago Press2011 Guitarist and singer Big Bill Broonzy is one of those musicians whose reach cannot be limited to his immediate musical era or genre. Like his peer Leadbelly, Broonzy effected attitudes toward civil rights through his songs. Like Robert Johnson, Broonzy's musical style deeply affected the course of history through ...

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Recording

Big Bill Broonzy Box Set Features Amsterdam Concerts from 1953

Big Bill Broonzy Box Set Features Amsterdam Concerts from 1953

Source: All About Jazz

Live recordings from bluesman's artistic prime to be made available in the U.S. on Munich Records September 19

Two CDs capturing live performances by Big Bill Broonzy will be released in the U.S. as a box set by Munich Records on September 19. Featuring the long awaited recordings of two shows from February of 1953, Big Bill Broonzy: Amsterdam Live Concerts 1953 contains 25 songs and between-song storytelling, plus extensive liner notes about Broonzy's legacy and his little-known second life ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

In Concert -...

Screwgun Records
1988

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Trouble in Mind

Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
1958

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