Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective
Boogie Bill Webb
American singer From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Remove ads
Boogie Bill Webb (March 24, 1924 – August 22, 1990)[2] was an American Louisiana blues and rhythm-and-blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. His music combined Mississippi country blues with New Orleans R&B.[1] His best-known recordings are "Bad Dog" and "Drinkin' and Stinkin'".[2] Despite a lengthy (albeit intermittent) career, Webb released only one album.[1]
Remove ads
Biography
Summarize
Perspective
Webb was born in Jackson, Mississippi. His got his first guitar at the age of eight, made from a cigar box and strung with screen wire.[1] His greatest influence was Tommy Johnson.[3] With a real guitar obtained when he was a teenager, he won a talent show in 1947. He subsequently appeared briefly in the musical film The Jackson Jive. He moved to New Orleans in 1952.[1]
In New Orleans Webb became friends with Fats Domino and was thus introduced to Dave Bartholomew and obtained a recording contract with Imperial Records, for which Domino and Bartholomew recorded.[3] In 1953 Webb released his debut single, "Bad Dog," a noncommercial slice of country boogie-woogie. Frustrated by lack of recognition, Webb relocated to Chicago, where he worked in factories.[1] There he met and played with Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Jimmy Reed, and Chuck Berry.[4]
Webb returned to New Orleans in 1959 to work as a stevedore, performing music infrequently. However, in 1968 he recorded several songs for the folklorist David Evans, which eventually appeared on the Arhoolie Records album Roosevelt Holts and His Friends.[3] The 1972 compilation album The Legacy of Tommy Johnson contains five tracks recorded by Webb.[5]
Exposure at home and in Europe led to visits to Webb from blues fans and invitations to tour. In 1982 he appeared at the Utrecht Festival, in the Netherlands.[1] In 1989, with financial assistance from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, he released the album Drinkin' and Stinkin'.[1] An encounter with three women who had been out drinking for three days without bathing inspired the lyrics of the title track.[6]
Webb died in New Orleans in August 1990, at the age of 66.[2]
Remove ads
Discography
Albums
- Drinkin' and Stinkin' (1989, Flying Fish Records)[7]
Compilation albums
- Rural Blues, vol. 2, Saturday Night Function, various artists (1968, Imperial Records)
- Rural Blues, vol. 3, Down Home Stomp, various artists (1968, Imperial Records)
- The Blues of Snooks Eaglin & Boogie Bill Webb (2004)
- The Blues of Robert Lockwood Jr. & Boogie Bill Webb (2004, Storyville Records)
Filmography
Films
- The Jackson Jive (1947)
DVDs
- Blues of Boogie Bill Webb (2002, Storyville)[8]
See also
References
Wikiwand - on
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Remove ads