DESCRIPTION:
Walter Brown ("Brownie") McGhee (November 30, 1915 -- February 16, 1996) was a Piedmont blues singer and guitarist, best known for his collaborations with the harmonica player Sonny Terry.

Brownie McGhee was born in Knoxville, Tennessee and grew up in Kingsport, Tennessee. As a child he had polio, which incapacitated his leg. His brother Granville "Sticks" or "Stick" McGhee was nicknamed for pushing young Brownie around in a cart.

His father, George McGhee, was a factory worker known around University Avenue for playing guitar and singing. Brownie's uncle made him a guitar from a tin marshmallow box and a piece of board.

McGhee spent much of his youth immersed in music, singing with local harmony group the Golden Voices Gospel Quartet and teaching himself to play guitar. A March of Dimes-funded leg operation enabled McGhee to walk.

One of McGhee's final concert appearances was at the 1995 Chicago Blues Festival. McGhee died from stomach cancer in February 1996 in Oakland, California at age 80; he missed his planned return trip to Australia.

McGhee Solo albums.
-Traditional Blues - Vol. 1 (Folkways Records, 1951)
-Brownie McGhee Blues (Folkways, 1955)
-Brownie McGhee Sings the Blues (Folkways, 1959)
-Traditional Blues - Vol. 2 (Folkways, 1960)
-Brownie's Blues (Original Blues Classics, 1962)
-Blues Is Truth (Blues Alliance, 1976)
-Facts Of Life (Blues Rock'It, 1985)

Albums with Sonny Terry
-Brownie McGhee Blues (Folkways, 1955)
-Washboard Band - Country Dance Music (Folkways, 1956)
-Folk Songs of Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee (Roulette, 1958)
-Blues with Big Bill Broonzy, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee (Folkways, 1959)
-Sonny & Brownie (A&M Records, 1973)
-Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry Sing (Smithsonian Folkways, 1990)

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