William Paden Hensley (July 24, 1906 or 1909 – August 24, 1991), known as Washboard Willie, was an American

Detroit 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 African- ...

musician, who specialised in playing the washboard. He recorded tracks including "A Fool on a Mule in the Middle of The Road" plus "Cherry Red Blues", and worked variously with

Eddie "Guitar" Burns Eddie "Guitar" Burns (February 8, 1928 – December 12, 2012) was an American Detroit blues guitarist, harmonica player, singer and songwriter. His career spanned seven decades. Among Detroit bluesmen, Burns was deemed to have been exceeded in ...

Baby Boy Warren Baby Boy Warren (August 13, 1919 – July 1, 1977) was an American blues singer and guitarist who was a leading figure on the Detroit blues scene in the 1950s. Early life He was born Robert Henry Warren in Lake Providence, Louisiana, in 1919, a ...

, and

Boogie Woogie Red Boogie Woogie Red (October 18, 1925 – July 2, 1992) was an American Detroit blues, boogie-woogie and jazz pianist, singer and songwriter. At different times he worked with Sonny Boy Williamson I, Washboard Willie, Baby Boy Warren, Lonnie John ...

Biography

Hensley was born either in

Bullock County, Alabama Bullock County is a county of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 census, the population was 10,357. Union Springs was chosen as the county seat in 1867, and presently is the county's only incorporated city. The county was named for Conf ...

, in 1906, or in

Columbus, Georgia Columbus is a consolidated city-county located on the west-central border of the U.S. state of Georgia. Columbus lies on the Chattahoochee River directly across from Phenix City, Alabama. It is the county seat of Muscogee County, with which it ...

, in 1909. "Washboard Willie", as he became known, did not take up music until his thirties. By 1948 he had relocated to Detroit, and in 1952, he watched

performing and played along with Burns' backing group. He impressed the proprietor and ended up with a three-year residency with the band. Working full-time washing cars for a living, he decided to name his own musical ensemble, Washboard Willie and the Super Suds of Rhythm, working from the name of a once-popular laundry detergent. He graduated from just playing the washboard to incorporate a

bass drum The bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch. The instrument is typically cylindrical, with the drum's diameter much greater than the drum's depth, with a struck head at both ends of the cylinder. Th ...

and

snare SNARE proteins – " SNAP REceptor" – are a large protein family consisting of at least 24 members in yeasts, more than 60 members in mammalian cells, and some numbers in plants. The primary role of SNARE proteins is to mediate vesicle fu ...

and, in 1955, gave

Little Sonny Little Sonny (born Aaron Willis; October 6, 1932, in Greensboro Greensboro (; formerly Greensborough) is a city in and the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, ...

his first booking. In 1956, Hensley made his own debut

recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, ...

of "Cherry Red Blues," with "Washboard Shuffle;" and then "Washboard Blues Pt. 1 & 2." His recording career continued until 1962 utilising

on piano accompaniment. The recordings were not issued until 1969 on

Barrelhouse Records Barrelhouse Records was an American blues and rockabilly record label, set up in 1969 by George Paulus. Its roster included musicians as varied as Washboard Willie, Big John Wrencher, Charlie Feathers, Harmonica Frank, Sleepy John Estes, Johnny " ...

. However, in 1966, Willie did release a single with the tracks "Natural Born Lover," and "Wee Baby Blues." His band remained in demand playing nightly in both Detroit and

Ann Arbor Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna (name), Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah (given name), Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie (given name), ...

. In 1973, he toured Europe with

Lightnin' Slim Otis Verries Hicks, known as Lightnin' Slim (March 13, 1913 – July 27, 1974), was an American blues musician who played Louisiana blues and swamp blues for Excello Records. The blues critic ED Denson ranked him as one of the five great blu ...

, Moses "Whispering" Smith,

Snooky Pryor James Edward "Snooky" Pryor (September 15, 1919 or 1921 – October 18, 2006) was an American Chicago blues harmonica player. He claimed to have pioneered the now-common method of playing amplified harmonica by cupping a small microphone in his ...

Homesick James Homesick James (April 30, 1910December 13, 2006 was an American blues musician known for his mastery of the slide guitar. He worked with his cousin, Elmore James, and with Sonny Boy Williamson II. Early years Homesick James was born in Somervil ...

and

; he also played at the

Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival is a music festival in Ann Arbor, Michigan, that started in 1972 from the Ann Arbor Blues Festival, which itself began in 1969. Although the festival has had a tumultuous history and suspended operations in 200 ...

that year on the Saturday afternoon "Detroit Blues" show. A

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

, ''American Blues Legends '73'' was issued on

Big Bear Records Big or BIG may refer to: * Big, of great size or degree Film and television * ''Big'' (film), a 1988 fantasy-comedy film starring Tom Hanks * '' Big!'', a Discovery Channel television show * ''Richard Hammond's Big'', a television show present ...

with Willie contributing the tracks, "I Feel So Fine" and "Kansas City." Six years later he stopped playing professionally. He died in Detroit in August 1991.

Recent discography

*''Motor Town Boogie'' (2007) –

P-Vine Records P-Vine Records is an independent record label based in Tokyo, Japan. History It was started in 1976 by Blues Interactions, a firm founded in 1975 by Yasufumi Higurashi and Akira Kochi, as a record label focused on black music. The label name c ...

References

External links

Illustrated discography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Washboard Willie 1900s births 1991 deaths American blues harmonica players American blues singers American blues drummers Detroit blues musicians Musicians from Columbus, Georgia Washboard players 20th-century American singers 20th-century American male singers

Biography

Recent discography

See also

References

External links