Charlie Musselwhite
| Charlie Musselwhite | |
|---|---|
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Charles Douglas Musselwhite |
| Also known as | Memphis Charlie |
| Born |
January 31, 1944 Kosciusko, Mississippi, United States |
| Genres | Electric blues,blues rock, southern rock, country blues, boogie woogie |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, singer, songwriter |
| Instruments | Harmonica, guitar, vocals |
| Years active | 1967–present |
| Labels | Vanguard, Arhoolie, Capitol, Crystal Clear, Kicking Mule, Blue Rock'It, Alligator, Virgin, Real World, Narada |
| Website | charliemusselwhite |
Charles Douglas "Charlie" Musselwhite (born January 31, 1944) is an American electric blues harmonica player and bandleader, one of the non-black bluesmen who came to prominence in the early 1960s, along with Mike Bloomfield and Paul Butterfield, or bands such as Canned Heat. Though he has often been identified as a "white bluesman", he claims Native American heritage. Musselwhite was reportedly the inspiration for the character played by Dan Aykroyd in the Blues Brothers.
Musselwhite was born in Kosciusko, Mississippi. He has said that he is of Choctaw descent, born in a region originally inhabited by the Choctaw. In a 2005 interview, he said his mother had told him he was actually Cherokee. His family considered it natural to play music. His father played guitar and harmonica, his mother played piano, and a relative was a one-man band.
At the age of three, Musselwhite moved to Memphis, Tennessee. When he was a teenager, Memphis experienced the period when rockabilly, western swing, and electric blues and other forms of African-American music were combining to give birth to rock and roll. That period featured Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, and lesser-known musicians such as Gus Cannon, Furry Lewis, Will Shade, and Johnny Burnette. Musselwhite supported himself by digging ditches, laying concrete and running moonshine in a 1950 Lincoln automobile. This environment was a school for music as well as life for Musselwhite, who eventually acquired the nickname Memphis Charlie.
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