Sonny Terry started playing harp in his teens, as a blind street musician in North Carolina. After a stint with a medicine show, he hooked up with the popular ragtime singer-guitarist, Blind Boy Fuller. When he was 23 he made his recording debut, backing up Fuller. Barely a year later in 1938, he was wowing New York audiences at Carnegie Hall, appearing solo as part of John Hammond's Spirituals To Swing concert. After Fuller's death in 1940, Terry teamed with Brownie McGhee and the two began a long lived musical partnership. It took them from the socially conscious New York folk music scene of the 1940s, where they lived, worked and recorded with people like Leadbelly, Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie, to the concert halls of Europe as premier blues artists in the 1960s. Along the way Sonny's rhythmically infectious country-styled harp backed up dancers in the Broadway musical, Finian's Rainbow. Sonny and Brownie recorded copiously and were regulars in folk clubs and festivals, paving the way for todays spate of "unplugged" blues artists. In 1982 the duo split up and Sonny worked solo even recording an album with Johnny Winter. Terry died in 1986, leaving behind many recordings and numerous fans - as well as harp players trying to duplicate his virtuosity. Sonny Terry was a true originator and a powerful entertainer.
Tracklisting: - Crazy About You Baby
- Buck Dance
- Hand Jive
- Burnt Child (Afraid of Fire)
- Rock Island Line
- Shoutin' the Blues
- My Baby Done Changed the Lock
- Sweet Woman Blues
- John Henry
- Motorcycle Blues
- I Got My Eyes on You
- My Baby's So Fine
- Poor Man - Fighting a Losing Battle
- Midnight Special
- Packing Up and Whoopin' the Blues
We use cookies to help you navigate our website and to keep track of our promotional efforts. Some cookies are necessary for the site to operate normally while others are optional. To find out what cookies we are using please visit Cookies Policy.