The Promise True And Grand - Muziek

The Promise True And Grand by Washington White

Washington White

Biografie van de kunstenaar Washington White

Washington White Bukka White Booker T. Washington White November 12 1909 - February 26 1977 Was An American Delta Blues Guitarist And Singer. Performing In Memphis White Met Ralph Lembo A White Mississippi Furniture Dealer Who Served As An Agent For The Victor Label And He Enthusiastically Stepped Into Victor's Memphis Studio To Record 14 Sides In 1930. Several Of Them Were Gospel Pieces One "I Am In The Heavenly Way " Was Billed As A "Sermon Sung For You By Washington White 'The Singing Preacher ' With Guitars And Women Singers." With The Depression Underway Victor Released Only Four Of White's Recordings. After Wandering The Country As A Freight-Train-Riding Hobo For A Time White Returned To Mississippi And Married Again Settling Near Aberdeen And Performing Occasionally With His Wife's Uncle Singer And Harmonica Player George "Bullet" Williams. Pitching For The Birmingham Black Cats Of Baseball's Negro Leagues Stepping Into The Ring As A Boxer Occasionally And Making Moonshine Liquor He Managed To Eke Out A Living During Extremely Hard Times. The World Of Mississippi's Honky Tonks Was A Violent One And White Claiming Self-Defense Shot A Man After Being Ambushed By A Group On A Dark Road. Sentenced To Two Years At Parchman Farm On Assault Charges White Traveled To Chicago To Record Two Sides For The Vocalion Label Before Beginning His Sentence In The Fall Of 1937. According To Legend Which Surrounds White Even More Thickly Than It Does Many Other Early Blues Figures He Jumped Bail And Was Re-Arrested By A Mississippi Sheriff In The Recording Studio. It Is Likelier That He Benefited From The Intervention Of Agent Lester Melrose An Industry Figure Who Did Much To Help White's Career In The Windy City. One Of White's Two 1937 Recordings "Shake 'em On Down " Was A Hit And Became Part Of The Repertoire Of Chicago Blues. White's Musical Skills Helped Keep Him Off The Prison's Field And Work Gangs For The Most Part He Was Allowed To Organize A Prison Band That He Recalled Entertained The Visiting Governor Of Mississippi. He Recorded Two Songs For Library Of Congress Investigator Alan Lomax. Still Life At The Prison Was A Harsh Isolating Experience And White Had Little To Do But Think About New Songs As He Watched Other Prisoners Give In To Loneliness And Feelings Of Impending Death And Suffered Through Those Fears Himself. White's Music Deepened And As Urban Blues Began To Take On Elements Of Good-Time Party Music Around 1940 He Headed In An Entirely Different Direction Creatively. Bukka White's Classic Mississippi Blues Music Was Simple Intense And Above All Personal. Accompanying Himself Ferociously With A National Steel-Bodied Guitar Played Slide-Style With A Short Metal Tube He Sang In Unvarnished Terms About His Own Life Experiences And He Made What Are Generally Considered His Greatest Recordings After Serving Two Years In The Notorious Parchman Farm Prison. Forgotten For Many Years White Enjoyed A Career Revival During The Folk Music Boom Of The 1960s. Booker T. Washington White Was Born Near Houston Mississippi Probably On November 12 1906. He Was One Of Seven Children. White Was Raised On A Sharecropper's Farm By His Maternal Grandfather The Rev. Punk Davisson. His Father John White Was A Railroad Fireman And Part-Time Musician When He Was In Town He Taught White To Play The Guitar And Took Him And His Other Children To The Local Baptist Church. Houston Was In Chickasaw County In North-Central Mississippi East Of The Mississippi River Delta. When White Moved To Grenada Mississippi To Work On An Uncle's Farm Around 1919 The Chronology Of His Early Life Is Hazy He Found Himself In The Midst Of The Vital Delta Music Tradition. White Heard The Greatest Of The Early Bluesmen Charley Patton And Was Inspired By Him Although His Musical Style Was His Own. As He Worked Long Hours In The Fields "none Of The Other Boys They Didn't Have Any Idea What I Was Thinking About " He Said In An Interview Quoted By Blues Historian Samuel Charters. He Learned To Play The Piano As Well As Guitar And He Began To Perform Wherever He Had The Chance—in Delta Juke Joints And Honky Tonks At Dances In Pool Rooms And Bars Up The River In Memphis And St. Louis Or On The Streets. In St. Louis Working In A Roadhouse White Was Befriended By An Older Musician Named Johnny Thomas Who Gave Him Some Lessons On Guitar And Piano. Pay For White's Performances Was Scanty If It Was Given At All Often He Was Quoted As Saying By F. Jack Hurley And David Evans "I Played For A Rabbit Sandwich Piece Of Egg Pie Or Tater Pie And All The Water I Could Drink." In 1925 White Married And Was Given A New Stella Guitar By His Father As A Present. Tragically His Wife Died A Painful Death Three Years Later After Suffering A Ruptured Appendix.