“Banker’s Blues” - Big Bill Broonzy (1930)
“Big” Bill Broonzy was easily one of the most prolific of the early bluesmen with over 300 songs to his credit. His musical career spanned from the 1920’s until his death in 1958. Broonzy played in a vast variety of musical styles including blues, country blues, spirituals, ragtime, and hokum. He was also one of the prime architects of the post-war Chicago Blues sound, later refined and popularized by artists such as Muddy Waters and Willie Dixon.
His career began in the 1920s when he played ”country blues” to mostly black audiences. Through the ‘30s and ‘40s he successfully navigated a transition in style to a more “urban” blues sound popular with white audiences. In the 1950s a return to his traditional folk-blues roots made him one of the leading figures of the emerging American folk music revival and an international star.
Big Bill Broonzy was born in Scott County, Mississippi on June 26, 1898 but spent most of his youth in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. He began playing the fiddle at an early age. After moving to Chicago in the early 1920’s Broonzy switched instruments and began playing the guitar. He learned guitar from minstrel and medicine show veteran Papa Charlie Jackson. Broonzy was able to get an audition with Paramount executive J. Mayo Williams. His initial test recordings made with his friend John Thomas on vocals, were rejected, but Broonzy persisted, and his second try, a few months later, was more successful.
Broonzy recorded for many record labels throughout his career including, Paramount, American Recording Corporation, Bluebird, Vocalion, and Mercury. Big Bill Broonzy died of throat cancer on August 15, 1958.
“Banker’s Blues” was recorded in 1930 for the “Paramount” label.
