Big Bill Broonzy (1893 or 1898-1958) was a prolific United States composer, recorder and performer of blues songs. Born in Mississippi, he arrived in Chicago in 1924, where he met Papa Charlie Jackson, who taught him to play guitar (Broonzy had previously been a fiddler). Broonzy first recorded as a self-accompanied singer in 1929, and continued to record in that style. Around 1936, he became one of the first blues singers to use a small instrumental group, including "traps" (drums) and acoustic bass as well as one or more melody instruments (horns and/or harmonica). These discs were usually issued as Big Bill and his Chicago Five. At that time, Broonzy was recording for the American Record Corporation on their line of less expensive labels (Melotone, Perfect Records, et al). In 1939, ARC was acquired by CBS, and Broonzy then appeared on Vocalion (later Okeh) and, after 1945, on Columbia Records. One of his best-known songs was written at that time, "Key To the Highway." Jump to: navigation, search 1893 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Jump to: navigation, search 1898 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... Jump to: navigation, search 1958 was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Jump to: navigation, search A composer is a person who writes music. ... Jump to: navigation, search For other uses, see blues (disambiguation) Blues is a vocal and instrumental music form which emerged in the African-American community of the United States. ... Jump to: navigation, search State nickname: Magnolia State Other U.S. States Capital Jackson Largest city Jackson Governor Haley Barbour (R) Senators Thad Cochran (R) Trent Lott (R) Official languages English Area 125,546 km² (32nd)  - Land 121,606 km²  - Water 3,940 km² (3%) Population (2000)  - Population 2,697... Chicago (officially named the City of Chicago) is the third largest city in the United States (after New York City and Los Angeles), with an official population of 2,896,016, as of the 2000 census. ... Papa Charlie Jackson was an early male bluesman to record. ... Jump to: navigation, search The acoustic archtop guitar used in Jazz features steel strings The guitar is a stringed musical instrument. ... The violin is a stringed musical instrument that has four strings tuned a fifth apart. ... The American Record Company, often known as ARC Records or simply ARC, was a United States based record company. ... Melotone Records has been the name of two unrelated record companies, one based in Australia and the other in the United States of America. ... Perfect Records was a United States based record label of the 1920s. ... CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System) is a major television network and radio broadcaster in the United States. ... Vocalion Records was a record label historically active in the United States and in the United Kingdom. ... Okeh Records began as an independent record label based in the United States of America in 1918; from the late 1920s on was a subsidiary of Columbia Records. ... Jump to: navigation, search Columbia Records is the oldest continually used brand name in recorded sound, dating back to 1888. ...

During this time, Broonzy usually played South Side clubs, and also toured with Memphis Minnie during the 1930s. When the second American Federation of Musicians strike ended in 1948, Broonzy was picked up by the Mercury Records label, for whom he made a handful of records through 1951. After that, Broonzy returned to his solo folk-blues roots, and traveled extensively (and recorded) across Europe into early 1956. Although he had been a pioneer of the Chicago blues style and had employed electric instruments as early as 1942, his new, white audiences wanted to hear him playing his earliest songs unaccompanied on acoustic guitar, considering those to be more "authentic". Broonzy returned to Chicago in 1956 and continued to perform, though his health was beginning to fail; he would eventually die of throat cancer in 1958, and is buried in Chicago. During his folk-blues period, he recorded with Pete Seeger, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, and Leadbelly. A considerable portion of his early ARC/CBS recordings have been reissued in anthology collections by CBS-Sony; as well, other earlier recordings have been collected on blues reissue labels, as have his later European and Chicago recordings of the fifties. Jump to: navigation, search // Events and trends The 1930s were described as an an abrupt shift to more radical lifestyles, as countries were struggling to find a solution to the global depression. ... The American Federation of Musicians (AFM) is a labor union of professional musicians in the United States and Canada. ... Mercury Records was a record label founded in Chicago, Illinois in 1945 by Irving Green, Berle Adams and Arthur Talmadge. ... The Chicago blues is a form of blues music that developed in Chicago by adding electricity, drums, piano, bass guitar and sometimes saxophone to the basic string/harmonica Delta blues. ... Jump to: navigation, search This article is about the year. ... Jump to: navigation, search Pete Seeger, 1944 Peter Seeger (born May 3, 1919 in New York City), almost universally known as Pete Seeger, is a folk singer and political activist. ... Saunders Terrell, better known as Sonny Terry, was born in Greensboro, North Carolina in 1911 and died on March 11, 1986 in Mineola, New York. ... Jump to: navigation, search Walter Brownie McGhee (November 30, 1915 - February 16, 1996) was a folk-blues singer and guitarist, best known for his collaborations with the harmonica player Sonny Terry. ... Jump to: navigation, search Leadbelly, circa 1942; shown with an accordion, though he typically played guitar Leadbelly (born Huddie William Ledbetter; January 29, 1885 – December 6, 1949) was an American folk musician, notable for his strong, clear voice, for his forceful singing, and for his virtuosity as a twelve string...

Since Broonzy was never a spectacular electric guitarist in the manner of others of his early-fifties contemporaries, he is not as well known as others of that period, and was not extensively covered during the "British Blues Revival" of the sixties; however, his work is well worth searching out for those who love blues and the history of the genre. He was an excellent acoustic guitar player, and a major source of inspiration to men like Muddy Waters and Memphis Slim. McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1915 – April 30, 1983), better known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician and is generally considered the father of Chicago blues. ... Memphis Slim (1915 in Memphis, Tennessee-1988 Paris, France) was a blues pianist and singer. ...

Big Bill Broonzy recorded over 350 compositions, and was discovered in the fifties by a young, white, college-educated audience, and spent the rest of his life performing at folk festivals nationwide.

External links

• General page on Big Bill