Saunders Terrell (October 24, 1911 – March 11, 1986), known as Sonny Terry, was an American Piedmont blues and folk musician, who was known for his energetic blues harmonica style, which frequently included vocal whoops and hollers and occasionally imitations of trains and fox hunts.

Career

Terry was born in Greensboro, Georgia. His father, a farmer, taught him to play basic blues harp as a youth. He sustained injuries to his eyes and went blind by the time he was 16, which prevented him from doing farm work, and was forced to play music in order to earn a living. Terry played " Camptown Races" to the plow horses which improved the efficiency of farming in the area. He began playing blues in Shelby, North Carolina. After his father died, he began playing with Piedmont blues–style guitarist Blind Boy Fuller. When Fuller died in 1941, Terry established a long-standing musical relationship with Brownie McGhee, and they recorded numerous songs together. The duo became well known among white audiences during the folk music revival of the 1950s and 1960s, including for collaborations with Styve Homnick, Woody Guthrie and Moses Asch, producing classic recordings for Folkways Records (now Smithsonian/Folkways). In 1938, Terry was invited to play at

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhattan), 57t ...

for the first '' From Spirituals to Swing''

concert A concert, often known informally as a gig or show, is a live performance of music in front of an audience. The performance may be carried by a single musician, in which case it is sometimes called a recital, or by a musical ensemble such as an ...

, and later that year he recorded for the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

. He recorded his first commercial sides in 1940. Among his most famous works are "Old Jabo", a song about a man bitten by a snake, and "Lost John", which demonstrates Terry's precisely honed breath control. Despite their fame as "pure" folk artists, in the 1940s Terry and McGhee fronted a

jump blues Jump blues is an uptempo style of blues, jazz, and boogie woogie usually played by small groups and featuring horn instruments. It was popular in the 1940s and was a precursor of rhythm and blues and rock and roll. Appreciation of jump blues wa ...

combo with honking saxophone and rolling piano, which was variously billed as "Brownie McGhee and his Jook House Rockers" or "Sonny Terry and his Buckshot Five". Terry was in the 1947 original cast of the Broadway musical comedy '' Finian's Rainbow''. With McGhee, he appeared in the 1979 Steve Martin comedy '' The Jerk''. Terry also appeared in the 1985 film '' The Color Purple'', directed by

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg ( ; born December 18, 1946) is an American filmmaker. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, Spielberg is widely regarded as one of the greatest film directors of all time and is ...

. Terry collaborated with Ry Cooder on "Walkin' Away Blues", and also performed a cover of Robert Johnson's " Crossroad Blues" for the 1986 film '' Crossroads''. Terry and McGhee were both recipients of a 1982 National Heritage Fellowship awarded by the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the feder ...

, which is the United States government's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts. That year's fellowships were the first bestowed by the NEA. Terry died of natural causes in Mineola, New York, in March 1986, three days before ''Crossroads'' was released in theaters. He was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in the same year.

Discography

* '' Songs for Victory: Music for Political Action'', with the Union Boys (1944) * ''Get on Board'' ith Brownie McGhee(Folkways, 1952) * ''Sonny Terry's Washboard Band'' (Folkways, 1955) * ''Folk Songs of Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee'' (Roulette, 1958) * '' Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee'' (Fantasy 3254, 1958) * ''Blues with Big Bill Broonzy, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee'' (Folkways, 1959) * '' Down South Summit Meetin''' (World Pacific, 1960), with Brownie McGhee, Lightnin' Hopkins and

Big Joe Williams Joseph Lee Williams (October 16, 1903 – December 17, 1982) was an American Delta blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter, notable for the distinctive sound of his nine-string guitar. Performing over five decades, he recorded the songs "Baby, Pl ...

* '' Down Home Blues'' (Bluesville, 1960), with Brownie McGhee * '' Blues in My Soul'' (Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry album) (Bluesville 1033, September 1960) * '' Brownie's Blues'' (Bluesville, 1960), with Brownie McGhee * '' Sonny's Story'' (Bluesville, 1960) * ''Sonny Terry's New Sound: The Jawharp in Blues and Folk Music'', with Brownie McGhee & J. C. Burris (1961) * '' Last Night Blues'' (Bluesville, 1960 961, with Lightnin' Hopkins * '' Sonny Is King'' (Bluesville, 1960/62 963, with Lightnin' Hopkins and Big Joe Williams * '' Blues Hoot'' (Horizon, 1961 963 * '' Sonny Terry and His Mouth Harp'' (Stinson, 1963 963 * '' Chain Gang Special'' (Everest FS-206 1965?) * ''Brownie McGhee, Sonny Terry at The Bunkhouse'' ( Smash, 1965) * ''Sing & Play'' (Society, 1966) * '' A Long Way from Home'' (BluesWay, 1969) * '' I Couldn't Believe My Eyes'' (BluesWay, 1969 973 * '' Sonny & Brownie'' (A&M Records, 1973) * ''Robbin' the Grave'' (Blue Labor, 1974) * '' Whoopin''', with Johnny Winter and

Willie Dixon William James Dixon (July 1, 1915January 29, 1992) was an American blues musician, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and record producer. He was proficient in playing both the upright bass and the guitar, and sang with a distinctive voice, but he ...

(Alligator, 1984) * ''Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry Sing'' ( Smithsonian Folkways, 1990) * ''Whoopin' the Blues: The Capitol Recordings, 1947–1950'' (Capitol, 1995)

References

External links

Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry discuss their careers as blues musicians
Radio interview with Studs Terkel {{DEFAULTSORT:Terry, Sonny 1911 births 1986 deaths 20th-century African-American male singers 20th-century American male singers 20th-century American singers A&M Records artists Alligator Records artists American blues harmonica players American blues singers Blind musicians Blues revival musicians Capitol Records artists Chess Records artists Country blues musicians East Coast blues musicians Elektra Records artists Folkways Records artists Groove Records artists Harmonica blues musicians Josie Records artists Musicians from Greensboro, North Carolina National Heritage Fellowship winners Piedmont blues musicians RCA Victor artists Savoy Records artists Jaw harp players American blind people American musicians with disabilities

Career

Discography

See also

References

External links