Robert Clifford Brown
(July 15, 1910 – November 6, 1966),
known professionally as Washboard Sam, was an American
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
musician and singer.
Biography
Brown's date and place of birth are uncertain; many sources state that he was born in 1910 in
Walnut Ridge, Arkansas
Walnut Ridge is a city in Lawrence County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 5098 at the United States Census's 2019 estimate. The city is the county seat of Lawrence County. Walnut Ridge lies immediately north of Hoxie. The two towns f ...
, but the researchers Bob Eagle and Eric LeBlanc suggest that he was born in 1903 or 1904, in
Jackson, Tennessee
Jackson is a city in and the county seat of Madison County, Tennessee, United States. Located east of Memphis, Tennessee, Memphis, it is a regional center of trade for West Tennessee. Its total population was 68,205 as of the 2020 United States ...
, on the basis of
Social Security
Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specificall ...
information.
When applying for his musicians union card, he gave his birthdate as July 15, 1914. He was reputedly the half-brother of
Big Bill Broonzy
Big Bill Broonzy (born Lee Conley Bradley; June 26, 1903 – August 14, 1958) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. His career began in the 1920s, when he played country music to mostly African American audiences. In the 1930s ...
.
He moved to
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...
, in the 1920s, performing as a street musician with
Sleepy John Estes
John Adam Estes (January 25, 1899 or 1900June 5, 1977),
known as Sleepy John Estes, was an Am ...
and
Hammie Nixon
Hammie Nixon (January 22, 1908 – August 17, 1984) was an American harmonica player.
Life and career
Born Hammie Nickerson in Brownsville, Tennessee, he began his music career with jug bands in the 1920s. He is best known as a country blues ...
.
He moved to Chicago in 1932, performing regularly with Broonzy and other musicians, including
Memphis Slim
John Len Chatman (September 3, 1915 – February 24, 1988), known professionally as Memphis Slim, was an American blues pianist, singer, and composer. He led a series of bands that, reflecting the popular appeal of jump blues, included saxopho ...
and
Tampa Red
Hudson Whittaker (born Hudson Woodbridge; January 8, 1903March 19, 1981), known as Tampa Red, was a Chicago blues musician.
His distinctive single-string slide guitar style, songwriting and bottleneck technique influenced other Chicago blues gui ...
, in many recording sessions for
Lester Melrose
Lester Franklin Melrose (December 14, 1891 – April 12, 1968) was a talent scout who was one of the first American producers of Chicago blues records.
Career
Lester Franklin Melrose was born in Sumner, Illinois, the second of six children ...
of
Bluebird Records
Bluebird Records is a record label best known for its low-cost releases, primarily of kids' music, blues and jazz in the 1930s and 1940s. It was founded in 1932 as a lower-priced RCA Victor subsidiary label of RCA Victor. Bluebird became known ...
.
In 1935, he began recording in his own right for both Bluebird and
Vocalion Records
Vocalion Records is an American record company and label.
History
The label was founded in 1916 by the Aeolian Company, a maker of pianos and organs, as Aeolian-Vocalion; the company also sold phonographs under the Vocalion name. "Aeolian" was ...
,
becoming one of the most popular Chicago blues performers of the late 1930s and 1940s, selling numerous records and playing to packed audiences. He recorded over 160 tracks in those decades.
His strong
voice
The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound production in ...
and songwriting talent overcame his stylistic limitations.
By the 1950s, his audience had begun to shrink, largely because he had difficulty adapting to the new electric blues.
His final recording session, for RCA Victor, was in 1949. He retired from music for several years and became a Chicago police officer.
[Pearlin, Victor (1993). ''Washboard Sam: Complete Recorded Works'', vol. 7, 31 July 1942 to 27 October 1949. ]Document Records
Document Records is an independent record label, founded in Austria and now based in Scotland, that specializes in reissuing vintage blues and jazz. The company has been recognised by The Blues Foundation, being honoured with a Keeping the ...
. He recorded a session in 1953 with Broonzy and Memphis Slim.
Samuel Charters included Brown's "I've Been Treated Wrong" on the compilation album ''
The Country Blues
''The Country Blues'' is a seminal album released on Folkways Records in 1959, catalogue RF 1. Compiled from 78 recordings by Samuel Charters, it accompanied his book of the same name to provide examples of the music discussed. Both the book and ...
'' for
Folkways Records
Folkways Records was a record label founded by Moses Asch that documented folk, world, and children's music. It was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution in 1987 and is now part of Smithsonian Folkways.
History
The Folkways Records & Service ...
in 1959. Brown made a modest and short-lived comeback as a live performer in the early 1960s.
He died of heart disease in Chicago, in November 1966,
and was buried in an unmarked grave at the Washington Memory Gardens Cemetery, in
Homewood, Illinois
Homewood is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 19,463 at the 2020 census.
The village sits just a few miles south of Chicago proper. It is bordered by Chicago Heights and Flossmoor to the south, Hazel Crest to ...
.
Memorial
A concert organized by the executive producer Steve Salter, of the Killer Blues organization, was held on September 18, 2009, at the Howmet Playhouse Theater, in
Whitehall, Michigan
Whitehall is a city in Muskegon County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 2,706 at the 2010 census. The city is located in the southwest corner of Whitehall Township. Montague is its neighbor.
It is located on White Lake (act ...
, to raise monies for a headstone for Washboard Sam's grave. The show was a success, and a headstone was placed in October 2009. The concert was recorded by Vinyl Wall Productions and filmed for television broadcast in the central Michigan area by a television crew from
Central Michigan University
Central Michigan University (CMU) is a public research university in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. Established in 1892 as the Central Michigan Normal School and Business Institute, the private normal school became a state institution and renamed Cen ...
. It featured musical artists such as Washboard Jo and R.B. and Co. and was headlined by the Big House Blues Band.
References
External links
*
Washboard Sam recordingsat the
Discography of American Historical Recordings
The Discography of American Historical Recordings (DAHR) is a database of master recordings made by American record companies during the 78rpm era. The DAHR provides some of these original recordings, free of charge, via audio streaming, along with ...
.
{{Authority control
1910 births
1966 deaths
American blues singers
Blues musicians from Arkansas
People from Walnut Ridge, Arkansas
Chicago Police Department officers
Bluebird Records artists
Chess Records artists
Vocalion Records artists
Washboard players
Singers from Arkansas
20th-century African-American male singers