Pink Anderson
Encyclopedia
"Pink" Anderson was a blues
singer and guitarist
, born in Laurens
, South Carolina
.
and Spartanburg, South Carolina
, he joined Dr. Frank Kerr of the Indian Remedy Company in 1914 to entertain the crowds whilst Kerr tried to sell a concoction purported to have medicinal qualities.
In 1916 in Spartanburg, Anderson met Simeon "Blind Simmie" Dooley
, from whom he learned to be a blues singer, this after experience in string bands. When Anderson was not traveling with Dr. Kerr, he and Dooley would play to medicine shows in Greenville, Spartanburg, and other neighboring communities, as well as recording
four tracks
for Columbia Records
in Atlanta in April, 1928.
After Dr. Kerr retired in 1945, Anderson stayed more close to home in Spartanburg, keeping his musical talents in tune with an old Gibson J-50 guitar
and a harmonica
. He still "went out" annually when he could with Leo "Chief Thundercloud" Kahdot (of the Potawatomi
native Americans) and his medicine show, often with the Jonesville
, South Carolina based harmonica-player Arthur "Peg Leg Sam
" Jackson. In May 1950, Anderson was recorded by folklorist Paul Clayton at the Virginia State Fair. Heart problems eventually forced Anderson to retire from the road in 1957. He was once more recorded at his home in 1962 by Samuel Charters
.
"Anderson went on to make an album
on his own after the blues revival commenced in the early 1960s" and played some folk clubs, "establishing him as a minor but worthy exponent of the Piedmont
school, versed in blues, ragtime
, and folk songs". He also appeared in the 1963 film
, The Bluesmen. A stroke in the late 1960s curtailed his musical activity. Attempts by folklorist Peter B. Lowry in 1970 to get Anderson on tape were not successful, although apparently he could occasionally summon up some of his past abilities. A final tour took place in the early 1970s with the aid of Roy Book Binder
, one of his "students", taking him to Boston and New York
.
He died in October 1974, of a heart attack
at the age of 74. He is interred at Lincoln Memorial Gardens in Spartanburg. Anderson's son, known as Little Pink Anderson (b. July 13, 1954), is currently a bluesman living in Vermillion, South Dakota.
, of English
progressive rock
band
Pink Floyd
, came up with the band's name by juxtaposing the first names of Anderson and North Carolina
bluesman, Floyd Council
. Barrett noticed the names in the liner notes of a 1962 Blind Boy Fuller
album
(Philips BBL-7512). The text, written by Paul Oliver
, read: "Curley Weaver
and Fred McMullen, (...) Pink Anderson or Floyd Council - these were a few amongst the many blues singers that were to be heard in the rolling hills of the Piedmont
, or meandering with the streams through the wooded valleys."
(Carolina Street Ballads: "John Henry"
- "Everyday In The Week"
- "The Ship Titanic"
- "Greasy Greens"
- "Wreck Of The Old 97"
- "I've Got Mine"
- "He's In The Jailhouse Now")
- Pink Anderson (recorded May 29, 1950 by Paul Clayton)
("My Baby Left Me This Morning"
- "Baby, Please Don't Go"
- "Mama Where Did You Stay Last Night"
- "Big House Blues"
- "Meet Me In The Bottom"
- "Weeping Willow Blues"
- "Baby I'm Going Away"
- "Thousand Woman Blues"
- "I Had My Fun"
- "Every Day In The Week"
- "Try Some Of That")
("You Don't Know My Mind"
- "That's No Way To Do"
- "Weeping Willow Blues"
- "Meet Me in the Bottom"
- "I Got a Woman 'Cross Town"
- "Greasy Greens"
- "Boweevil"
- "Chicken"
- "He's In The Jailhouse Now"
- "The Titanic"
- "The Boys Of Your Uncle Sam"
- "Baby Tate"
- "See What You Done Done")
(recorded live in Spartanburg, 1961-62 by Samuel Charters
)
("I Got Mine"
- "Greasy Greens"
- "I Got A Woman 'Way Cross Town"
- "Travelin' Man"
- "Ain't Nobody Home But Me"
- "That's No Way To Do"
- "In The Jailhouse Now"
- "South Forest Boogie"
- "Chicken"
- "I'm Going To Walk Through the Streets Of...")
("The Titanic"
- "Boweevil"
- "John Henry"
- "Betty And Dupree"
- "Sugar Babe"
- "The Wreck Of The Old 97"
- "I Will Fly Away"
- "The Kaiser"
- "In The Evening")
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
singer and guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
, born in Laurens
Laurens, South Carolina
Laurens is a city in Laurens County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 9,916 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Laurens County.-History:...
, South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
.
Life and career
After being raised in GreenvilleGreenville, South Carolina
-Law and government:The city of Greenville adopted the Council-Manager form of municipal government in 1976.-History:The area was part of the Cherokee Nation's protected grounds after the Treaty of 1763, which ended the French and Indian War. No White man was allowed to enter, though some families...
and Spartanburg, South Carolina
Spartanburg, South Carolina
thgSpartanburg is the largest city in and the county seat of Spartanburg County, South Carolina, United States. It is the second-largest city of the three primary cities in the Upstate region of South Carolina, and is located northwest of Columbia, west of Charlotte, and about northeast of...
, he joined Dr. Frank Kerr of the Indian Remedy Company in 1914 to entertain the crowds whilst Kerr tried to sell a concoction purported to have medicinal qualities.
In 1916 in Spartanburg, Anderson met Simeon "Blind Simmie" Dooley
Blind Simmie Dooley
Simeon "Blind Simmie" Dooley was an American country blues singer and guitarist.- Biography :Dooley was born in Hartwell, Georgia....
, from whom he learned to be a blues singer, this after experience in string bands. When Anderson was not traveling with Dr. Kerr, he and Dooley would play to medicine shows in Greenville, Spartanburg, and other neighboring communities, as well as recording
Sound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
four tracks
Song
In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...
for Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
in Atlanta in April, 1928.
After Dr. Kerr retired in 1945, Anderson stayed more close to home in Spartanburg, keeping his musical talents in tune with an old Gibson J-50 guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
and a harmonica
Harmonica
The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
. He still "went out" annually when he could with Leo "Chief Thundercloud" Kahdot (of the Potawatomi
Potawatomi
The Potawatomi are a Native American people of the upper Mississippi River region. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, a member of the Algonquian family. In the Potawatomi language, they generally call themselves Bodéwadmi, a name that means "keepers of the fire" and that was applied...
native Americans) and his medicine show, often with the Jonesville
Jonesville, South Carolina
Jonesville is a town in Union County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 911 at the 2010 United States Census.-Geography:Jonesville is located at ....
, South Carolina based harmonica-player Arthur "Peg Leg Sam
Peg Leg Sam
Peg Leg Sam was an American country blues harmonicist, singer and comedian. He recorded "Fox Chase" and "John Henry", and worked in medicine shows...
" Jackson. In May 1950, Anderson was recorded by folklorist Paul Clayton at the Virginia State Fair. Heart problems eventually forced Anderson to retire from the road in 1957. He was once more recorded at his home in 1962 by Samuel Charters
Samuel Charters
Samuel Charters, born Samuel Barclay Charters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, August 1, 1929 , is an American music historian, writer, record producer, musician, and poet...
.
"Anderson went on to make an album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
on his own after the blues revival commenced in the early 1960s" and played some folk clubs, "establishing him as a minor but worthy exponent of the Piedmont
Piedmont blues
Piedmont blues refers primarily to a guitar style, the Piedmont fingerstyle, which is characterized by a fingerpicking approach in which a regular, alternating thumb bass string rhythmic pattern supports a syncopated melody using the treble strings generally picked with the fore-finger,...
school, versed in blues, ragtime
Ragtime
Ragtime is an original musical genre which enjoyed its peak popularity between 1897 and 1918. Its main characteristic trait is its syncopated, or "ragged," rhythm. It began as dance music in the red-light districts of American cities such as St. Louis and New Orleans years before being published...
, and folk songs". He also appeared in the 1963 film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, The Bluesmen. A stroke in the late 1960s curtailed his musical activity. Attempts by folklorist Peter B. Lowry in 1970 to get Anderson on tape were not successful, although apparently he could occasionally summon up some of his past abilities. A final tour took place in the early 1970s with the aid of Roy Book Binder
Roy Book Binder
Roy Book Binder is an American blues guitarist. A student and friend of the Rev. Gary Davis, he is equally at home with blues and ragtime, he is known to shift from open tunings to slide arrangements to original compositions, with both traditional and self-styled licks...
, one of his "students", taking him to Boston and New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
He died in October 1974, of a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
at the age of 74. He is interred at Lincoln Memorial Gardens in Spartanburg. Anderson's son, known as Little Pink Anderson (b. July 13, 1954), is currently a bluesman living in Vermillion, South Dakota.
The Pink in Pink Floyd
Syd BarrettSyd Barrett
Syd Barrett , born Roger Keith Barrett, was an English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and painter, best remembered as a founding member of the band Pink Floyd. He was the lead vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter during the band's psychedelic years, providing major musical and stylistic...
, of English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
band
Band (music)
In music, a musical ensemble or band is a group of musicians that works together to perform music. The following articles concern types of musical bands:* All-female band* Big band* Boy band* Christian band* Church band* Concert band* Cover band...
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
, came up with the band's name by juxtaposing the first names of Anderson and North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
bluesman, Floyd Council
Floyd Council
Floyd Council was an American blues guitarist and singer. He became a well-known practitioner of the Piedmont blues sound from that area, popular throughout the southeastern region of the US in the 1930s....
. Barrett noticed the names in the liner notes of a 1962 Blind Boy Fuller
Blind Boy Fuller
Blind Boy Fuller was an American blues guitarist and vocalist. He was one of the most popular of the recorded Piedmont blues artists with rural Black Americans, a group that also included Blind Blake, Josh White, and Buddy Moss.-Life and career:Fulton Allen was born in Wadesboro, North Carolina,...
album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
(Philips BBL-7512). The text, written by Paul Oliver
Paul Oliver
-Biography:Oliver was a researcher at the Oxford Institute for Sustainable Development , and from 1978-88 was Associate Head of the School of Architecture. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Gloucestershire...
, read: "Curley Weaver
Curley Weaver
Curley James Weaver was an American blues musician, also known as Slim Gordon.-Early years:He was born in Covington, Georgia, United States, and raised on a farm near Porterdale...
and Fred McMullen, (...) Pink Anderson or Floyd Council - these were a few amongst the many blues singers that were to be heard in the rolling hills of the Piedmont
Piedmont (United States)
The Piedmont is a plateau region located in the eastern United States between the Atlantic Coastal Plain and the main Appalachian Mountains, stretching from New Jersey in the north to central Alabama in the south. The Piedmont province is a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian division...
, or meandering with the streams through the wooded valleys."
Singles
- "Papa's About To Get Mad" / "Gonna Tip Out Tonight" - Pink Anderson and Simmie Dooley (recorded 14 April 1928) - Columbia 14336-D
- "Every Day In The Week Blues" / "C.C. And O. Blues" - Pink Anderson and Simmie Dooley (recorded 14 April 1928) - Columbia 14400-D
Albums
- American Street Songs - Rev. Gary Davis and Pink Anderson - Riverside RLP 12-611
(Carolina Street Ballads: "John Henry"
- "Everyday In The Week"
- "The Ship Titanic"
- "Greasy Greens"
- "Wreck Of The Old 97"
- "I've Got Mine"
- "He's In The Jailhouse Now")
- Pink Anderson (recorded May 29, 1950 by Paul Clayton)
- Pink Anderson: Vol. 1 Carolina Bluesman (1961) Prestige/Bluesville BV 1038
("My Baby Left Me This Morning"
- "Baby, Please Don't Go"
- "Mama Where Did You Stay Last Night"
- "Big House Blues"
- "Meet Me In The Bottom"
- "Weeping Willow Blues"
- "Baby I'm Going Away"
- "Thousand Woman Blues"
- "I Had My Fun"
- "Every Day In The Week"
- "Try Some Of That")
- Pink Anderson: Carolina Medicine Show Hokum & Blues with Baby TateBaby TateBaby Tate was an American Piedmont blues guitarist, who in a sporadic career spanning five decades, worked variously with guitarists Blind Boy Fuller, Pink Anderson, and Peg Leg Sam...
(1962) Folkways RecordsFolkways RecordsFolkways Records was a record label founded by Moses Asch that documented folk, world, and children's music. It was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution in 1987, and is now part of Smithsonian Folkways.-History:...
FS 3588
("You Don't Know My Mind"
- "That's No Way To Do"
- "Weeping Willow Blues"
- "Meet Me in the Bottom"
- "I Got a Woman 'Cross Town"
- "Greasy Greens"
- "Boweevil"
- "Chicken"
- "He's In The Jailhouse Now"
- "The Titanic"
- "The Boys Of Your Uncle Sam"
- "Baby Tate"
- "See What You Done Done")
(recorded live in Spartanburg, 1961-62 by Samuel Charters
Samuel Charters
Samuel Charters, born Samuel Barclay Charters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, August 1, 1929 , is an American music historian, writer, record producer, musician, and poet...
)
- Pink Anderson: Vol. 2 Medicine Show Man (1962) Prestige/Bluesville BV 1051 / OBCCD-587-2
("I Got Mine"
- "Greasy Greens"
- "I Got A Woman 'Way Cross Town"
- "Travelin' Man"
- "Ain't Nobody Home But Me"
- "That's No Way To Do"
- "In The Jailhouse Now"
- "South Forest Boogie"
- "Chicken"
- "I'm Going To Walk Through the Streets Of...")
- The Blues Of Pink Anderson: Ballad & Folksinger, Vol. 3 (1963) Prestige/Bluesville BV 1071 / OBCCD 577-1
("The Titanic"
- "Boweevil"
- "John Henry"
- "Betty And Dupree"
- "Sugar Babe"
- "The Wreck Of The Old 97"
- "I Will Fly Away"
- "The Kaiser"
- "In The Evening")
See also
- List of blues musicians
- List of Piedmont blues musicians
- List of Country blues musicians
- List of people from South Carolina
External links
- Introducing Pink Anderson
- Illustrated Pink Anderson discography
- Grave Marker
- Anderson Discography at Smithsonian FolkwaysSmithsonian FolkwaysSmithsonian Folkways is the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution. It is a part of the Smithsonian's Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, located at Capital Gallery in downtown Washington, D.C. The label was founded in 1987 after the family of Moses Asch, founder of Folkways...