Washboard Sam

Washboard Sam. . From the farm fields of Walnut Ridge to sold-out halls in Chicago, Washboard Sam became a major player on the blues scene in the 1930s and '40s. Born Robert Brown on July 15, 1910, Washboard Sam was a native son of Walnut Ridge, where he was born and spent his childhood years. As a teen, he moved to Memphis and pursued his passion for music., As his performance name indicates, Sam became an acknowledged master of the washboard, a popular rhythm instrument among blues performers of the day. He was also known for his strong voice and songwriting talents., Upon arriving in Memphis in the 1920s, Sam began performing as a street musician with the likes of Sleepy John Estes and Hammie Nixon. In 1932, he found his way to Chicago, a hotbed for blues music at the time, where he became a very popular performer and recording artist. , Sam is widely believed to have been the half- brother of blues legend Big Bill Broonzy, an Arkansas native from Pine Bluff, and the two often performed and recorded together. He also worked with such bluesmen as Memphis Slim, Bukka White, Willie Lacey and Jazz Gillum. , Washboard Sam played to packed halls and recorded over 160 tracks for the Bluebird and Vocalion labels in the 1930s and '40s. By the postwar years, however, the "hokum" style of blues for which Sam was known was losing its audience to the new, electrified blues sound. , He continued to record for such labels as RCA Victor and Chess, but with a declining fan base, he retired from music in the 1950s and even became a Chicago policeman for a time., Fellow performers lured Sam out of retirement during the blues revival of the 1960s. He began performing and recording again in Chicago, as well as playing several dates in Europe in 1964., His health declined soon afterward, and Washboard Sam died of heart disease on November 6, 1966, at the age of 56. Impoverished at the time of his death, he was buried in an unmarked grave in Homewood, Illinois. His memory and influence lived on, however, and a benefit concert in 2009 allowed his fans to finally place a headstone on the grave of Washboard Sam.