Big John Wrencher
Big John Wrencher | |
---|---|
Birth name | John Thomas Wrencher |
Also known as | One Arm John |
Born | Sunflower, Mississippi, United States | February 12, 1923
Died | July 15, 1977 Clarksdale, Mississippi, United States | (aged 54)
Genres | Blues |
Instrument(s) | Vocals, harmonica |
Years active | 1940s–1977 |
Big John Wrencher (February 12, 1923 – July 15, 1977),[1] also known as One Arm John, was an American blues harmonica player and singer, well known for playing at the Maxwell Street Market in Chicago in the 1960s. He toured Europe in the 1970s.[2]
Biography
John Thomas Wrencher was born in Sunflower, Mississippi, United States. He became interested in music as a child and taught himself to play the harmonica at an early age. Beginning in the early 1940s, he worked as an itinerant musician in Tennessee, Missouri, Indiana, and Illinois.[2] By the mid-1940s he had arrived in Chicago and was playing on Maxwell Street and at house parties with Jimmy Rogers, Claude "Blue Smitty" Smith and John Henry Barbee.[3] In the 1950s he moved to Detroit, where he worked with the singer and guitarist Baby Boy Warren and formed his own trio, which performed in the Detroit area and in Clarksdale, Mississippi.[2]
In 1958 Wrencher lost his left arm as a result of a car accident outside
During a trip to Mississippi to visit his family in July 1977, Wrencher died suddenly of a heart attack in Wade Walton's barbershop in Clarksdale, Mississippi.[1]
Discography
Big John Wrencher discography | |
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Studio albums | 2 |
Compilation albums | 1 |
Collaboration albums | 3 |
Albums recorded as sideman | 5 |
Anthologies | 9 |
Albums recorded as leader
Album | Album details |
---|---|
Maxwell Street Alley Blues |
Recorded September 14, 15, 19, 1969, Chicago; released 1969 ( CD )
|
Big John's Boogie |
Recorded February–April 1974, London; released 1975 ( CD )
|
Collaboration albums
Album | Album details |
---|---|
Modern Chicago Blues |
Recorded October 14, 1964, Chicago; released 1964 ( CD )
|
The Chicago String Band |
Recorded June 18, 1966, Chicago; released 1970 ( CD )
|
The American Blues Legends '74 |
Recorded February–March 1974, London; released 1974 ( CD )
|
Albums recorded as sideman
Album | Album details |
---|---|
Blues All Around My Bed, Blues Scene USA, vol. 3 |
Johnny Young, various artists, recorded 1964, Chicago; released 1964 (Storyville Records, LP) |
Masters of Modern Blues, vol. 4 |
CD )
|
Johnny Young & His Friends |
Johnny Young, recorded 1964, Chicago; released 1975 ( CD )
|
Mean & Evil Blues |
CD )
|
Original Chicago Blues |
Joe Carter & CD )
|
Compilations
Album | Album details |
---|---|
Don't Worry 'bout the Bear |
Released 2002 ( CD )
|
Anthologies
Album | Album details |
---|---|
Harpin' on It: An Anthology of Harmonica Blues |
Recorded September 14, 15, 19, 1969, Chicago; released 1983 (JSP Records, LP) |
A Taste of Harp |
Released 198? (Moonshine Blues, LP) |
Low Blows: An Anthology of Chicago Harmonica Blues |
Recorded 1975–1980; released 1988 ( CD )
|
Bottleneck Blues |
Recorded October 14, 1964, and June 18, 1966, Chicago; released 1995 ( CD )
|
Testament Records Sampler |
Released 1995 ( CD )
|
Down Home Harp |
Recorded June 18, 1966, Chicago; released 1998 ( CD )
|
And This Is Maxwell Street |
Recorded 1966, Chicago; released 1999 ( CD )
|
Blowing the Blues: A History of Blues Harmonica 1926–2002 |
Released 2003 ( CD )
|
Chicago Downhome Harmonica, vol. 1 |
Released 2011 ( CD )
|
References
- ^ a b c "Big John Wrencher: Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved August 14, 2009.
- ^ ISBN 978-0306801556
- ISBN 978-1550222968
- ISBN 978-1578590308
- ^ "Maxwell Street Alley Blues". AllMusic. Retrieved September 2, 2009.