Willie Brown (musician)

Willie Brown
Brown's grave at Shepard Church, Prichard, Mississippi
Brown's grave at Shepard Church, Prichard, Mississippi
Background information
Birth nameWillie Lee Brown[1]
Born1899 or (1900-08-06)August 6, 1900
Shelby, Mississippi[2] or, Clarksdale, Mississippi, U.S.
Died(1952-12-30)December 30, 1952 (aged 52/53)
Tunica, Mississippi, U.S.
Genres
InstrumentGuitar

Willie Lee Brown (1899[2] or August 6, 1900 – December 30, 1952)[3] was an American blues guitar player and vocalist. He performed and recorded with other blues musicians, including Son House and Charlie Patton, and influenced Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters.[4][5] Brown is considered one of the pioneering musicians of the Delta blues genre.[3]

Brown worked as a side player, performing mostly with House, Patton, and Johnson.[6] He recorded six sides for Paramount Records in Grafton, Wisconsin in 1930, which were subsequently released on 78-rpm discs. He made three recordings for the Library of Congress in 1941, accompanied by House. In 1952, Brown briefly joined House in Rochester, New York, but soon returned to Tunica, Mississippi, where he died the same year.

Although normally an accompanist, Brown recorded three highly rated solo performances: "M & O Blues", "Make Me a Pallet on the Floor" and "Future Blues". He disappeared from the music scene during the 1940s, together with House, and died before the blues revival of the 1960s.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Dead was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Eagle, Bob L. (2013). Blues: A Regional Experience. ABC-CLIO. p. 187. ISBN 978-0313344244.
  3. ^ a b "The Blues: The Songs and the Artists". PBS. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
  4. ^ Grossman, Stefan (2007). Delta Blues Guitar. Alfred Music Publishing. p. 16. ISBN 978-0739042809.
  5. ^ "Robert Johnson Biography". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on January 23, 2011. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
  6. ^ Russell, Tony (1997). The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray. Dubai: Carlton Books. p. 61. ISBN 1-85868-255-X.