groyster1
1912 posts
Jun 17, 2012
9:38 AM
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although sonny terry & brownie mcghee were together a long time,there has always been talk that there was persistent discord between them....as far as somebody playing harp over somebodies vocals,it seems that sonny was the worst violater of this unwritten rule in the way he blew all over brownies vocals....what do you think?
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billy_shines
566 posts
Jun 17, 2012
9:40 AM
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sonny terry is a god a god can tell anyone to shut the hell up musically.
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eharp
1833 posts
Jun 17, 2012
10:06 AM
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if you listen to other harp/guitar duos, you will notice that rule gets brought in very infrequently.
i think a guitar player or singer with a grudge against harpsters made that one up.
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barbequebob
1940 posts
Jun 17, 2012
12:19 PM
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In the last 10 years they were together, they woulds constantly bicker licks little kids, and at times, purposely trying to screw each other up, and even wouldn't hit the stage walking together at all, and this I saw happen, including purposely trying to screw each other's time up, and I can't make that up.
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nacoran
5869 posts
Jun 17, 2012
1:30 PM
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Me, I'm just the opposite. I get frustrated when the singer tries to sing vocals over my harmonica! :)
You often hear people saying the harmonica is the instrument most like the human voice. There are regular duets where both people sing at the same time, but they also take solos. There are also times when yo are playing more like a rhythm instrument. Rhythm guitar doesn't stop for the vocal. So, basically, I think it all depends on what you are playing.
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bharper
179 posts
Jun 17, 2012
1:58 PM
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In the last 10 years or so of Sonny Terry's life, when he and Brownie did gigs they did not actually appear on stage together. When you went to a Sonny and Brownie show during that time you saw Brownie's set first and Sonny's later.
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waltertore
2349 posts
Jun 17, 2012
6:08 PM
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I helped Sonny get around their NYC club gigs. I have posted about the fist fight onstage I got inbetween. For as many years and hard times as they endured coupled with one not really able to gig the big stages without the other, it sort of followed to standard show biz scenario. I can testify that even in his old age Brownie's roundhouse packed a lot of punch (it connected with my head). That gig lasted 1/2 a song. As bad as it was it is pretty impressive that audiences continued to pack clubs when they played. People mostly had no idea of their fighting unless they experienced it live. Today you will fry yourself quickly due to the info age phenomenon. Cures out an audience and it is on the worldwide web. In todays "be a super nice guy, squeaky clean blues world" I miss those old days....... Those guys has more personality. Todays players feel much more generic to me due to being so careful before speaking. Walter
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walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year.
" life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
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Last Edited by on Jun 17, 2012 6:14 PM
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timeistight
630 posts
Jun 17, 2012
7:02 PM
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Laurel and Hardy didn't like each other either.
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shadoe42
178 posts
Jun 17, 2012
7:36 PM
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There are plenty of guys who eitehr don't get along or are just in a business relationship. One does not have to be friends to make great music. I think it helps but all that is really required is mutual respect and sometimes maybe not even that haha
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The Musical Blades
My Electronic Music World
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NiteCrawler .
186 posts
Jun 18, 2012
4:50 AM
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I once saw S&B at the Main Point in Brynmar,Pa. in the early 80,s.There was an early show as well as the later.After a few tunes in the first set Brownie got a hair up his ass about Sonny playing over the top of him and said "Fine if you came to hear him I ain,t gonna play"So Sonny and the drummer Red finished out the set and Brownie just sat up there doing nada.When the set was over the manager approached our group(approx 6 of us)and said after 40 yrs of playing together they have a sort of love/hate relationship and offered for us to stay and watch the later show,we did and they played together like two peas in a pod.Poor Red,I wonder how many times he had to deal with they,re bickering on that tour.
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The Gloth
652 posts
Jun 18, 2012
7:15 AM
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I wonder if they were friends in the beginning, their relationship eventually getting sour, or if they never really got along but found convenient to play together ; from what I read, both were "disciples" of Blind Boy Fuller. When BBF died, McGhee was even (although briefly) advertised as "Blind Boy Fuller II".
On the question of "playing harp on top of the vocals", Sonny Terry was not the only one to do that, it was quite common in the old days.
Last Edited by on Jun 18, 2012 7:17 AM
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shadoe42
179 posts
Jun 18, 2012
7:38 AM
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I think you can play harp on top of vocals. But the trick is to not drown the vocal or overshadow the vocal. You can play behind the vocal without blowing it up
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The Musical Blades
My Electronic Music World
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mr_so&so
570 posts
Jun 18, 2012
8:45 AM
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I'm a huge fan of Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee.
Wikipedia says Sonny and Brownie first began their long association in 1942 after the death of Blind Boy Fuller (Sonny's original partner) and that they continued to perform together (off and on) until 1980. Personally I don't know or care what caused their later animosity. I think if the problem was Sonny's stomping all over Brownie's singing that would have caused them to go separate ways long before they did.
I have a lot of Sonny and Brownie stuff including a compilation of Sonny Terry with Blind Boy Fuller and flowing into his early partnership with Brownie McGhee (as Blind Boy Fuller II). I find with that style of acoustic playing and Sonny's emphasis on rhythmic comping the effect of the harp is to fill out the sound when played behind the singing. Sonny was a master at that comping style. My favourite CD compilation of theirs is called California Blues. This compilation really demonstrates how well they could work together. They took turns singing lead; they harmonized with each other; they supported each other really well. There is one song, Lose Your Money, where they are singing together and keep getting the words mixed up, and there is a little mumbling-grumbling before they start to get it right. The song also appears earlier under a different name and they do a great job with it. So this period might have been the start of their split, who knows. But it was also when they had really honed their act.
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waltertore
2353 posts
Jun 18, 2012
10:19 AM
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the playing harp over his vocals was not the cause. It was decades of living on the edge, bad deals made and blamed, ego getting in there, differences in musical direction (brownie played lots of different kinds of music but couldn't make a dime with it compared to playing with sonny) and all the other stuff that goes along with a long term intimate relationship. I never asked why to sonny but the encounters I witnessed led me to belive this. The star factor also jacks it up to nuts levels. Be thankful you are not famous. Walter
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walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year.
" life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
4,000+ of my songs
continuous streaming - 200 most current songs
my videos
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bharper
181 posts
Jun 18, 2012
8:44 PM
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This may be blasphemy, but I really don't care for Sonny Terry's playing...
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