WASHBOARD SAM
The washboard was the rhythm instrument of choice for street musicians playing the Blues in the early days, but Washboard Sam took it into the studio and made himself a strong career as a session musician in Chicago. He also had a great voice and a talent for songwriting that saw him record more than 160 tracks as a solo artist. Sam was a great showman and bandleader too, and he could pack out big theatres with fans of his good-time music. When the Blues went electric after WWII, Sam’s style seemed old-fashioned, so he switched careers to become an unlikely Police Officer. However, with the Folk/Blues revival, he returned to the Blues in the mid-60s, touring Europe and recording again.
Robert Brown was born in 1910 in Walnut Ridge AK, and is believed to be the illegitimate son of Frank Broonzy, which makes him Big Bill Broonzy‘s half-brother. As a teenager Robert moved to Memphis to work as a street musician, where he picked up the ‘Washboard Sam’ tag and often performed in a trio with guitarist Sleepy John Estes and harp player Hammie Nixon. By 1932, Sam had moved to Chicago where his half-brother Bill and his friend Tampa Red were established Blues recording stars. Sam’s fine voice, his sunny personality and his rhythmic skills soon saw him playing on their records and producer Lester Melrose recruited him to the Bluebird label’s ‘house band’. This ‘house style’ idea of Lester’s was copied many times down the years, notably by Chess, Stax and Motown in their heyday, and Sam played behind Bluebird’s biggest stars, like John Lee ‘Sonny Boy’ Williamson, Roosevelt Sykes, Bukka White and many more.
Big Bill helps out on the rocking ‘Diggin’ My Potatoes’;
Washboard Sam Discography
This gives a taste of the good-time Blues of Washboard Sam, with a mixture of Hokum songs with straight Blues, performed with a cast of Chicago stars.