Better known as "Blind" simply because he's blind, Sonny Terry, an atypical character, appears before the public armed with his harmonica, playing percussion with a set of knucklebones, all the while executing dance steps. Before making his living from music, he flirted with quackery by selling miracle potions. A street musician, his first public performances took place outside factories. He was hired by John Hammond, who could not resist the original style of this unusual musician and opened the doors of Carnegie Hall to him. He stayed in New York, where he formed one of the best-known duos in blues history with Brownie McGhee. He recorded extensively in the 40s and 50s, primarily for black audiences. As a musician and actor, he appeared on Broadway and in films. The duo's popularity grew, firstly because they crossed stylistic boundaries, and secondly because they were recognized as authors of protest blues. Sonny Terry had to answer to the U.S. administration for his political involvement, so he pretended to be naive in order to avoid legal complications and pursue his activism. As the tastes of the black public evolved towards styles other than the blues, the duo became the darling of the white public. At the end of his career, Sonny Terry recorded with Johnny Winter and Willie Dixon, continued to perform on stage and to appear on cinema screens - for example, with director Steven Spielberg in "The Color Purple". His character remains attached to Piedmont Blues, his music being a reference to the essence of blues in the days of the slave plantations.
photo : © Rue des Archives
