Product Code Database
Robert Clifford Brown (2025). 9780313344237, Praeger. ISBN 9780313344237 (July 15, 1910 – November 6, 1966), known professionally as Washboard Sam, was an American blues musician and singer.
In 1935, he began recording in his own right for both Bluebird and Vocalion Records,Tony Russell (1997). 185868255X, Carlton Books. 185868255X becoming one of the most popular Chicago blues performers of the late 1930s and 1940s, selling numerous records and playing to packed audiences. He recorded over 160 tracks in those decades.Tony Russell (1997). 185868255X, Carlton Books. 185868255X His strong human voice and songwriting talent overcame his stylistic limitations. (1995). 9780851126739, Guinness Publishing. ISBN 9780851126739
By the 1950s, his audience had begun to shrink, largely because he had difficulty adapting to the new electric blues. His final recording session, for RCA Victor, was in 1949. He retired from music for several years and became a Chicago police officer.Pearlin, Victor (1993). Washboard Sam: Complete Recorded Works, vol. 7, 31 July 1942 to 27 October 1949. Document Records. He recorded a session in 1953 with Broonzy and Memphis Slim. Samuel Charters included Brown's "I've Been Treated Wrong" on the compilation album The Country Blues for Folkways Records in 1959. Brown made a modest and short-lived comeback as a live performer in the early 1960s.
He died of heart disease in Chicago, in November 1966, and was buried in an unmarked grave at the Washington Memory Gardens Cemetery, in Homewood, Illinois.
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