Although both have recorded extensively as soloists, Brownie & Sonny were a team
from 1939 on. Their styles fit hand and glove, Brownie is a superbly smooth guitarist
and singer, while Sonny plays harp and sings in a rough country style complete with
whoops and hollers. Sonny's solo "Mountain Blues" from the 1938 Spirituals to Swing
concert is one of his finest recordings and is sung completely in falsetto.
Sonny was born Saunders Tedell, October 24,1911 near Durham, North Carolina. Nearly blind since
childhood Sonny had almost always played music, at first on street corners, later in
recording studios with Blind Boy Fuller. Around the time of Fuller's death in 1939,
Sonny meet his partner of many many years, Brownie McGhee (Born 1915 Knoxville, Tenn).
Together they became THE folk-blues musicians - recording and gigging with people
like Leadbelly, Woody Guthrie, and Rev. Gary Davis. Sonny always kept his "down home"
roots pretty intact, and he was one of the most explosive "down-home" harpmen in
the business.
Brownie McGhee continued to play after Sonny's death, and on this cut
"Key to the Highway" sings the Broonzy classic with Sonny in a supporting role.
A little equipment, a couple of chairs and two great players and the room exploded,
it was 20 some years ago I last seen them play live and the performance they put on
is still crystal clear, just as if it was last night. First class people
Brownie and Sonny
"Climbing On Top Of The Hill"
