Howard Armstrong (musician)
| Howard Armstrong | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | William Howard Taft Armstrong |
| Also known as | Louie Bluie |
| Born |
March 4, 1909 Dayton, Tennessee, United States |
| Died | July 30, 2003 (aged 94) Boston, Massachusetts, United States |
| Genres | Country blues |
| Instruments | Fiddle, mandolin, guitar, vocals |
| Years active | 1920s–1990s |
| Associated acts | The Tennessee Chocolate Drops Martin, Bogan and Armstrong |
Howard "Louie Bluie" Armstrong (March 4, 1909 – July 30, 2003) was an African-American string band and country blues musician, who played fiddle, mandolin, and guitar and sang. He was also a notable visual artist and raconteur.
William Howard Taft Armstrong was born in Dayton, Tennessee, and grew up in LaFollette, Tennessee. As a young teenager he taught himself to play the fiddle and joined a band led by Blind Roland Martin and his brother Carl Martin. They toured the United States performing a wide range of music, from work songs and spirituals through popular Tin Pan Alley tunes and foreign-language songs. Armstrong, his brother Roland Armstrong, and Carl Martin, billed as the Tennessee Chocolate Drops, recorded for Vocalion Records at the St. James Hotel in Knoxville, Tennessee, on April 3, 1930. Adding guitarist Ted Bogan, the band toured as part of a medicine show and backed blues musicians such as Big Bill Broonzy and Memphis Minnie. As Martin, Bogan and Armstrong, they also performed at the 1933 World's Fair in Chicago. In 1934 Armstrong and Bogan recorded "State Street Rag" and "Ted's Stomp" for Bluebird Records, with Armstrong using the stage name Louie Bluie, which had been given to him by a fan.
Armstrong's early recordings are country rags or blues, but this was not his sole repertoire as a performer. According to his sometime accompanist, the writer Elijah Wald, his early theme song was the Gershwin standard "Lady Be Good", and his group's repertoire included a wide range of hit songs of the period, including Italian, Polish, Mexican and country songs, which he would play to meet the varying demands of his audience.
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