Robert Brown
b. 15 July 1910. Walnut Ridge, Arkansas, USA, d. 13 November 1966, Chicago, Illinois, USA. Aka 'Washboard Sam', 'Ham Gravy', 'Shuflin Sam'. In the increasingly sophisticated world of urban blues in the late '30s, when clarinets, trumpets and saxophones were becoming more popular as the music edged towards R&B, Robert Brown was something of an oddball. He played the washboard, an instrument described as ‘semi-legitimate' at best. His strength was his deep, strong voice and his ability to deliver lyrics that were both pertinent to the times and often than not, humorous. He was a close friend of Big Bill Broonzy, who often joked that Brown was his half-brother, a claim that cannot be affirmed although, they did both come to Chicago from the same rural area of Arkansas. Brown's popularity is emphasized by the fact that he was recorded constantly between 1935 and 1949 by Victor Records and that almost everything was issued. He was a mainstay of a shifting group of musicians centred on A&R man Lester Melrose which included Broonzy, Tampa Red, Jazz Gillum and Memphis Slim. They often played on each others sessions and joined together in groups like the Hokum Boys and the State Street Swingers, thus giving rise to what writer Sam Charters described as ‘the Bluebird Beat’. Brown's popularity declined sharply as the '50s arrived and he recorded under his own name for only one more label, Chess in 1953, and one of these records was issued as being by Little Walter. He played on the Spivey recordings made by John Henry Barbee in 1964 but died before he could take advantage of the revived interest in blues.