Tommy McClennan
| Tommy McClennan | |
|---|---|
| Born | January 4, 1905 Durant, Mississippi, United States |
| Died | Error: Need valid death date (first date): year, month, day Chicago, Illinois, United States |
| Genres | Delta blues, country blues, blues |
| Instruments | Guitar |
| Years active | 1939–1942 |
| Labels | Bluebird |
| Associated acts | Robert Petway |
Tommy McClennan (January 4, 1905[1] – May 9, 1961) was an American Delta blues singer and guitarist.[2]
Life and career
McClennan was born in Durant, Mississippi, United States, and grew up in the town. He played and sang blues in a rough, energetic style.
He made a series of recordings for Bluebird Records from 1939[3] through 1942, and regularly played with his friend Robert Petway. His voice is heard in the background on Petway's recording of "Boogie Woogie Woman" (1942).[4] McClennan's singles in this period included "Bottle It Up and Go", "New Highway No.51", "Shake 'Em on Down", and "Whiskey Head Woman".[4]
Several of his songs have been covered by other musicians, including "Cross Cut Saw Blues" (covered by Albert King) and "My Baby's Gone" (Moon Mullican).[5] McClennan's "I'm A Guitar King" was included on the 1959 collection issued by Folkways Records, The Country Blues.
McClennan died of bronchopneumonia in Chicago, Illinois on May 9, 1961.[6][1]
Citation
"He had a different style of playing a guitar", Big Bill Broonzy said. "You just make the chords and change when you feel like changing"[4]
In John Fahey's "Screaming and Hollerin' the Blues" there is an interview conducted with Booker Miller, who was a contemporary of Charlie Patton, he makes mention of someone who is most likely Tommy McClennan, though he does not know his name: "... and I saw another fella he put some records out, they (him and Willie Brown) be together, but he be by himself when I see him, they called him "Sugar"... I ain't never known him as nothing but Sugar, he put out a record called Bottle Up and Go... I sold him my guitar."
Bob Dylan covered Tommy McClennan's "Highway 51" on his self-named debut album in 1962.
See also
References
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />
Cite error: Invalid <references> tag; parameter "group" is allowed only.
<references />, or <references group="..." />External links
- Tommy McClennan on yazoo.org - with photograph of McClennan
- Article on cascadeblues.com
- Illustrated Tommy McClennan discography
- Works by or about Tommy McClennan in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ [1] Archived June 23, 2006 at the Wayback Machine
- Pages with reference errors
- Age error
- Articles with hCards
- 1905 births
- 1961 deaths
- Delta blues musicians
- Country blues musicians
- African-American musicians
- American blues singers
- American blues guitarists
- American male singers
- Blues musicians from Mississippi
- Bluebird Records artists
- People from Yazoo City, Mississippi
- People from Yazoo County, Mississippi
- 20th-century American singers
