473 Big Bill Broonzy (1893/1898?-1958) “Key to the Highway” 1941

“Broonzy was drafted into the army during the First World War and shipped to France as part of the American Expeditionary Forces. He returned to Arkansas with a different outlook on life’s possibilities, seeing little opportunity in working as a field hand as farmwork became increasingly mechanized. Broonzy joined the trek of sharecroppers to the smokestack cities of the North—in his case, Chicago. Over time, he adjusted to urban life as a laborer and part-time musician, gaining a reputation as a blues singer who articulated the new outlook of the black working class. Broonzy later had the opportunity to introduce the blues of the black urban folk to white youths in the United States and Europe” (Roger House, Blue Smoke: The Recorded Journey of Big Bill Broonzy, 2010). 

Big Bill Broonzy “Key to the Highway”