Big Bill Broonzy's 'Key to the Highway'

Big Bill Broonzy

Source: Blues やねん！

Guitarist, Big Bill Broonzy (Lee Conley Bradley), is responsible for more than 300 compositions, one of which is the music to the blues standard, 'Key to the Highway'. Bill was born in Scott, Mississippi, on 26 June 1893 by his own claim or in Lake Dick, Arkansas, in 1903 per Bob Reisman. His sister claimed it was 1898 per his birth certificate. Whenever it was, he is thought to have served in Europe in the U.S. Army from 1917 to 1919 during World War I. He later worked as a grocer for perhaps $12 per week and in foundries for perhaps $35. During the Great Depression he found work through the WPA (Works Progress Administration) and was later employed at Chicago's Merchandise Mart into the World War II years.

Chicago was home base for Broonzy where he performed old-style blues until the fifties when he got shadowed by younger rhythm and blues artists like Muddy Waters. He is said to have taken up guitar in 1925, the year he made his first unissued recordings including 'House Rent Stomp', 'Big Bill Blues', et al. He first recorded to issue in 1927, but there is no sessionography to which I can presently point. Surprisingly, my usual blues source that is Stefan Wirz' American Music doesn't document Broonzy. DAHR doesn't pick him up until 1930. There was a discography including Broonzy's early sessions written by Chris Smith titled 'Hit The Right Lick: The Recordings of Big Bill Broonzy' published in 1995 in Bedford, UK, by Blues & Rhythm Magazine, but this seems no longer in print. The chronology of Broonzy's recordings may be otherwise followed in the thirteen volumes of 'Big Bill Broonzy In Chronological Order' released by Document Records covering 1927 to 1951. Document Records is a highly applauded outfit in the realm of early recording, but those stop six years shy of Broonzy's final titles gone down in 1957. See 'The Bill Broonzy Story' recorded on 12 and 13 July of 1957. The fifties had also seen the release of a few LPs.

Broonzy's first tracks of 1927 were 'Big Bill Blues' on the back of 'House Rent Stomp', those with John "Thomps" Thomas issued by Paramount. Not receiving royalties until 1939, Broonzy's career sputtered until the latter thirties when it picked up steam toward his becoming one of the most highly regarded blues musicians on the Chicago scene. He held this favored status throughout the forties, but began to fall into the shade of a younger generation of R&B artists in the fifties. Per 'Key to the Highway' below, pianist, George Segar, is credited with its first recording in 1940 as well as its composition on the label. Although Broonzy's 1941 version borrows the lyrics of Segar's rendition, perhaps derived from a traditional, its melody is from his own 1934 'Mississippi River Blues' (a title shared by numerous artists though composed independently). Samples of each may be compared below. Peculiarly, Wikipedia's account of 'Key to the Highway' nowhere mentions Broonzy's melody of 1934 to which it would appear that Broonzy set the lyrics of Segar's 1940 release (the inverse of more commonly setting music to lyrics). It is that combination by which 'Key to the Highway' became famous.

In November of 1923 Virginia Liston recorded 'House Rent Blues' authored by DeKoven Thompson and Will H. Hendrickson. Broonzy's 'House Rent Stomp' below was composed by himself:

Composition: Big Bill Broonzy

Composition: Big Bill Broonzy

Composition: Big Bill Broonzy

Composition: Big Bill Broonzy

Composition: Ollie Shepard   1937

Composition: George Segar

Music: Broonzy   Lyrics: George Segar

Composition: Broonzy

Music: Broonzy   Lyrics: George Segar

Composition: Broonzy

Composition: Broonzy

Composition: Broonzy

Composition: Broonzy

Composition: Broonzy 1952

Music: Richard Whiting   Lyrics: Walter Bullock   1936

Composition: Broonzy 1952

Music: Broonzy   Lyrics: George Segar

Broonzy died on 14 August 1958 of throat cancer.

Recordings: Compilations:

The Anthology (Not Now Music NOT2CD401 / 2011)

Big Bill Broonzy In Chronological Order by Document / 1927-51):

Vol 1 (1927-32)

Vol 2 (1932-34)

Vol 3 (1934-35)

Vol 4 (1935-36)

Vol 5 (1936-37)

Vol 6 (1937)

Vol 7 (1937-38)

Vol 8 (1938-39)

Vol 9 (1939)

Vol 10 (1940)

Vol 11 (1940-42)

Vol 12 (1945-47)

Vol 13 (1949-51)

The Bill Broonzy Story (1957 / final recordings / Polygram / 1999)

House Rent Stomp (1951-57 / Blues Encore BE LP 1507 / 1990)

Trouble In Mind (1956-57 / Spotlite Records SPJ900 / 1978):

Discogs   Wikipedia

Mississippi River Blues (1930-46 / Nothing But The Blues History 20.1935-HI / 1994)

Recordings: EPs: 45 Cat

Recordings: LPs:

Big Bill Broonzy and Washboard Sam (1953)

Big Bill Broonzy Sings Country Blues (1957)

Blues With Big Bill Broonzy · Sonny Terry · Brownie McGhee (1957)

Recordings: Sessions:

Steven Abrams (Melotone series 13000-13500 / 1933-35)

DAHR (1930-53)

DAHR (with Frank Brasswell / 1930)

Honking Duck (alphabetical)

Jazz Discography Project (Mercury 1949)

Tom Lord: leading 7 of 42 sessions 1932-55

Further Reading:

David C. Barnett (Big Bill Broonzy: History's Musical Chameleon / NPR / 2011)

Bibliography:

Kevin D. Greene (The Invention and Reinvention of Big Bill Broonzy / U of North Carolina Press / 2018)

Bob Riesman (I Feel So Good: The Life and Times of Big Bill Broonzy / U of Chicago Press / 2011)

Chris Smith (Hit The Right Lick: The Recordings of Big Bill Broonzy / sessionography / Blues & Rhythm Magazine / Bedford, UK / 1996)

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