I have written quite extensively about the Blues genre and it’s various geographic origins. I have many artists that “I like” but for this series I thought it best to try and choose a representative singer/songwriter as I did with Guy Clark for the Texas artists. Though I have mentioned Bill a few times I have not dedicated a separate post to him. Given he was not the first Bluesman I learned about I would not necessarily refer to him (like I did with Clark) as a “gateway” name but Broonzy is one of the few I took the time to read a book about. I Feel Good, The Life and Times of Big Bill Broonzy was written by Bob Riesman.

William Lee Conley Broonzy was born June 26, 1893 and died August 15, 1958. This is one fact you will find has been debated, no thanks to Bill himself. Born in Mississippi, he grew up in Arkansas and learned to play the fiddle when he was young. He found out that he was pretty good at it, making his own fiddle out of a cigar box which was a common base for a homemade guitar as well. He earned some money (as was common for Black musicians in the South at that time), playing the popular songs of the day at Picnics, Set Dances (Square Dance) and other gatherings held by White folk. There was some ‘blues’ being played but not necessarily in the same form as we understand it today. The term “Blues” was not yet commonly used. Black singers would not play the same songs for Whites that they played amongst themselves. No, these particular songs were referred to as “Reels” (as many fiddle tunes are) and would also include Folk, Spiritual and Country tunes and most of them instrumentals.

As so many did during The Great Migration that began around 1910, in 1921 Bill made the arduous trip to Chicago. It was there he took up the guitar for the first time. Early on he usually played the Gibson ‘O’ Style, which was a distinctive looking archtop acoustic guitar.

He was there at the beginning and is a pioneer of the Chicago Blues genre. His style is best described as Country Blues, but he also played electric guitar helping shape the Electric Blues. However audiences often wanted to hear him play his acoustic guitar, preferring the more authentic sound. so that makes up the bulk of his recordings.

A great bit of exposure came by way of an appearance at the John Hammond productions at Carnegie Hall called From Spirituals to Swing in 1938 and 1939. At the first show the flyers and posters were already printed when Hammond had just found out one of the “lesser known” performers, Robert Johnson had died earlier that year (August 16, 1938). Knowing how important Johnson was for people to hear, he had Broonzy play some of Johnson’s songs in addition to those played on a record player on stage. That should tell you something, Hammond was a serious music professional and a stickler for authenticity, he would not just throw anyone on stage to play Robert Johnson’s songs. In fact he could not have anyway, almost no one at that time could play like Robert Johnson.

The thing with Bill was, he was a great storyteller and it’s been revealed that in his autobiography Big Bill Blues facts did not always get in the way of a good tale. Researchers and writers, in particular Bob Reisman have proven many of his assertions and time-lines to be either untrue or to be stretching the limits let’s say. This by no means diminishes his significance. Since the time I had profiled Broonzy briefly on a post on The Delta Blues some years back, I read the book by Bob Riesman. It was quite educational, I know he undertook a tremendous amount of research and he presents a fair and balanced accounting of Bill’s life and career.

If you read the Wiki version and any number of sites that talk about Broonzy, you really are not getting a very accurate picture. So some of the things I said in the past I now believe to be wrong. I shan’t get into all the contradictions but what I say today I base on what I believe to be correct.

Like I said, I still feel he is an important figure. He was exceptionally good for someone who took up the guitar in his late twenties, and then he had to learn to play the Blues, this came from a street performer named Papa Charlie Jackson. There is so much more to tell, but to conclude I will present some more music and let you know some of the people he has influenced.

The forward/Appreciation for the book by Bob Riesman was written by Pete Townshend and the first line is, “A record by Big Bill Broonzy was the first blues record I purchased. I got it in the spring of 1960 at my local music store in Ealing”.

While Broonzy owes much to people like Alan Lomax, Studs Turkel, Pete Seeger and Win Stracke, we would not have the legendary Muddy Waters without the support he got from Big Bill.

Broonzy was a frequent visitor to Europe for many years and he was quite popular in France, Holland and the UK. Eric Clapton was influenced by his guitar playing and his songwriting. “Key to the Highway” is a favorite of Clapton’s that first appears on the album Derek and the Dominoes – Live at the Fillmore (1970). He has played it many many times in Concert and it appears on several live albums. He and B.B. King did it for the album Riding with the King (2000).