Reading Big Bill Broonzy

I have been listening to Big Bill Broonzy this afternoon because I was inspired to listen to him again after reading the Bert Jansch book. He was a hero to Bert and many others on the Folk and Blues scene in the early 60's. I first heard of Big Bill Broonzy when I listened to the Hymns To The Silence album by Van Morrison. I wrote a piece about Bill quite a while ago in 2012 so today I thought I would dust it off and republish it. This is it......................................

One of the many things I like about listening to Van Morrison's music is that he is such a name dropper. Van's songs are littered with references to the writers and musicians who have influenced him.Van is trying to turn on the listener to the things that he enjoys. He is saying "I dig this,check it out".It is very educational being a Van fan and I have discovered lots of great music because of Van and learned a lot about the history of music. In the song 'On Hyndford Street' Van says
'And reading Mr. Jelly Roll and Big Bill Broonzy
And Really The Blues by Mezz Mezzrow
And Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac
Over and over again'.

I have mentioned Really The Blues by Mezz Mezzrow and Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac in previous articles so today I would like to have a look at Big Bill Broonzy who I had been curious about for a while. I had heard the name and  knew that Eric Clapton and Keith Richards were big fans of him. I looked him up on Wikipedia and found that the book that Van must have read was 'Big Bill Blues', his autobiography which Bill narrated to Belgian writer Yannick Bruynogue. It was published in 1955. My curiosity was aroused and I knew I had to read this book. I looked on eBay and found a hardback edition published by the Jazz Book Club in the UK in 1957. "That will do nicely", I thought to myself and clicked 'Buy Now'. Then I thought that it was pointless reading the book without hearing the music so I bought a CD as well, 'Big Bill Broonzy, The Anthology' .A couple of days later they both arrived. The book is a wonderful read. It is divided into three sections, My Life, My Songs and My Friends in which Bill narrates his story in a very droll manner. It is full of amusing anecdotes about his life. There are also lots of great photos of himself and his friends such as Washboard Sam, Memphis Slim, Lonnie Johnson, Memphis Minnie, Jack Dupree, Sonny Terry and many others. I listened to the CD while reading the book and I must say that I really like it. Sometimes when I listen to Blues albums I find them a bit samey and I get bored, but not so with this double album because there is lots of variety in it. It contains his most famous song 'Key To The Highway' which as you know Eric Clapton recorded with Derek And The Domino's. The influence on Van can be seen on such songs as Outskirts Of Town, John Henry and Midnight Special. What really impressed me about the album though is the seemingly effortless blues guitar picking.You can see why the likes of Bert Jansch, Eric, and Keef looked up to him. Also you can see where the British Skiffle movement of the 50's got some of its ideas from, such as the use of a washboard as an instrument and Lonnie Donegan even took his name from Bill's friend Lonnie Johnson. Like a lot of American blues artists such as Champion Jack Dupree, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGee and Little Walter, Bill spent a lot of time touring Europe where he was a huge success and even met and fell in love with a lady in Amsterdam and had a son who still lives there. He died in 1958 from cancer. His influence lives on though and many great guitarists cite him as an influence.  During the inauguration of President Obama the words of his song Black,Brown And White Blues were used in the benediction, so thank you very much to Van for introducing me to the music of Big Bill Broonzy.