Herschel Brown

Almost nothing is known of Herschel Brown's life, even as far as years of birth or death, or precisely where he came from, although he apparently hailed from Georgia. What has survived of his music, however, is an extraordinary body of interracial blues and comedy. Whatever the particulars of his life or career, Brown was apparently a star in rural Georgia and neighboring states as a virtuoso of the spoons and the washboard, leading his own bands at least from the late '20s, if not earlier. He also sang and acted in a broad, burlesque style, and his total repertory as an enter...