J.C. Burris
b. 1928, Selby, North Carolina, USA, d. 15 May 1988, Greensboro, North Carolina, USA. Burris learned harmonica from his uncle Sonny Terry. He left his farm work in his early '20s and moved to New York, where between 1955 and 1960 he made some recordings with Granville ‘Sticks’ McGhee, Brownie McGhee and Terry. At the turn of that decade, he moved out to the west coast, settling eventually in San Francisco, where he began to make a name for himself on the local folk-blues scene. A stroke disabled him for some years, but he eventually returned to music, performing regularly and making an album in 1975. His style owed much to Terry's, but he added his own distinctive touches, performing solo, playing bones as well as his harmonica, and sometimes appearing with a wooden dancing doll.