Big Bill Broonzy

Big Bill Broonzy (1898-1958) was the first acoustic blues guitarist that I learned about. Like Tampa Red and Lonnie Johnson, Broonzy performed both as a soloist and accompanied by others. He recorded more than 300 songs between the 1920s and the late 1950s. Once again, I prefer his solo performances - especially his acoustic instrumentals -- to his other songs.

The defining feature of Broonzy's playing was his heavy/thumping monotonic bass lines played behind his melodies. A lot of his songs are played in the key of C, but he played in E, A, and G as well.

Wikipedia Biography