Died On This Date (August 14, 1958) Big Bill Broonzy / Blues Icon
themusicsover Big Bill Broonzy
June 26, 1898 – August 14, 1958
Big Bill Broonzy was a popular blues singer and guitarist whose career ran from the early ’20s until his death in the late ’50s. First playing country blues to black audiences in and around his hometown in Arkansas, Broonzy moved to Chicago in the early ’20s and began playing a more polished urban blues, eventually attracting a white audience. As a composer, he was very prolific, with over 300 songs or adaptations to his name. He stayed very busy recording and touring through the ’30s and ’40s, but by the ’50s, his career ran stale and he considered retiring from music. But with the birth of the folk revival, Broonzy’s traditional songs were back in fashion and he found success touring with the likes of Pete Seeger, Lead Belly, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. He died of throat cancer at the age of 60.
What You Should Own
The son of a sharecropper, Sleepy John Estes began to perform while working as a field hand at the age of 19. He played guitar and sang at local picnics and parties around his neighborhood in Brownsville, TN. At 30, he entered the studio to record such sides as “Drop Down Mama” and “Someday Baby Blues” first on Victor Records and later Delmark, Decca and Bluebird. Not an exceptional guitarist, Estes was recognized for a great voice that was filled with the passion and pain he sang about. 
