Rabbit Brown (1880-1937)
".....earned extra money as a singing boatman"
Richard "Rabbit" Brown (1880–1937) was a United States blues guitarist and
composer. His music was characterized by a mixture of blues, pop songs, and
original topical ballads. He recorded six record sides for Victor Records on
May 11, 1927. Rabbit Brown was most likely born around 1880 in or near New
Orleans, Louisiana. He did live in New Orleans from his youth on, and
eventually moved to a rough district called the Battlefield. Here, several
events inspired some of his future songs. Rabbit Brown mainly performed at
nightclubs and street corners. He also earned extra money as a singing boatman
on Lake Pontchartrain. A couple of his most popular songs were his topical
ballads, The Downfall of the Lion and Gyp the Blood, which were
based on actual events that occurred in New Orleans. They were never recorded,
however, and only a verse from one of them has endured. The songs Brown recorded
in 1927 have been extensively re-released. His James Alley Blues is
included in the Harry Smith Anthology of American Folk Music and has
been covered by dozens of modern musicians, including Bob Dylan and Roger
McGuinn. His topical event songs Mystery of the Dunbar's Child and
Sinking of the Titanic also remain popular and the latter contained
within its verses a beautiful, if truncated, rendition of the old gospel music
standard Nearer My God to Thee, demonstrating the further versatility
of his repertoire. Not much is known about Rabbit Brown after 1930 other than
that he died in 1937, probably in New Orleans. In 2003 a widely acclaimed
anthology collection of rural acoustic gospel music titled Goodbye, Babylon
was released, bringing to renewed public attention one of the two known
recordings made by an otherwise undocumented singer named
Blind Willie Harris.
This piece, Where He Leads Me I Will Follow, was recorded in New Orleans
in 1929, and in describing it, the authors of the CD liner notes pointed out
its strikingly similar resemblance to the 1927 New Orleans recordings of
Richard Rabbit Brown. Since then, more discussion has ensued among early blues
and gospel collectors and scholars, leading some to state without equivocation
that Harris was a pseudonym of Brown's. Each listener will have to
decide for him or herself the truth of the claim, as no documentation has been
found to link
Blind Willie Harris
with Richard Rabbit Brown.
(quoted from wikipedia.org)
Where is Rabbit Brown's official website?
Please email us!
Visit also these related Sites:
Rabbit Brown Tribute Pages
Visit Rabbit Brown tribute page at myspace.com.
Biographical Information on Rabbit Brown
Rabbit Brown biography at wikipedia.org.
Rabbit Brown biography at thebluestrail.com.
Rabbit Brown biography at music.msn.com.
Various Articles on Rabbit Brown
Rabbit Brown article by Kevin S. Fontenot.
Rabbit Brown Discographies
Rabbit Brown discography at wirz.de.
Rabbit Brown Videos
Richard Rabbit Brown - James Alley Blues. Runtime 03:10.
Do you miss an important site? Anything wrong?
Is there any broken link? Please email us!
