Brownie McGhee Quotes & Sayings

Blues is not a dream, blues is truth. — Brownie McGhee

Everybody would grab a guitar and listen to somebody else and call themselves a folk singer. When they didn't know no more songs, they'd run out of them. — Brownie McGhee

That's what I liked about hitch-hiking. If a crowd wasn't big enough, I kept walkin.' — Brownie McGhee

I met Sonny after (Blind Boy) Fuller died, and me and Sonny played in the streets like everybody else. — Brownie McGhee

I got Sonny up to Harlem, and we started street playin' in New York. We did that for three or four years and survived. We brought it back to the streets again. — Brownie McGhee

My guitar was loud as hell, and I had no sympathy for anybody else. — Brownie McGhee

Long made it possible for me to get on records, so what little money he did take from me, if any at all, he was entitled to it. He didn't take something from me. — Brownie McGhee

Logically, when you talkin' about folk music and blues, you find out it's music of just plain people. — Brownie McGhee

The last thing that the blues needs is another smart-ass white boy with an attitude. — Brownie McGhee

I only write about what I do, what happens to me. — Brownie McGhee

From then on in, me and Sonny started makin' records. My first records, Sonny was backin' me up. Sonny wasn't singin' natural at the time; he was singin' falsetto. — Brownie McGhee

When I was hitch-hiking, people had to follow me, 'cause I didn't stay long. — Brownie McGhee

Something is better than nothing. Doin' anything for a man, there's investments involved, there's time and production. It's better to give him ten bucks and get a record out than to never record the cat. — Brownie McGhee

I never had the blues; the blues always had me. — Brownie McGhee

Anywhere I'm wanted, I'll go. I've got to be wanted, though. — Brownie McGhee

I was playing with steel picks on a steel guitar, and there was no amplification needed. — Brownie McGhee

I don't sit here and dream because I don't care about the future. I wouldn't take nothin' for my past and I've got enough behind me that I can write forever. — Brownie McGhee

There's a lot of good musicians who are unheard of. Get it down before they pass away. — Brownie McGhee

When somebody blazes a path to a highway that never end, you should appreciate 'em some. — Brownie McGhee