Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee

Operating primarily as a duo for over four decades, harmonica player Sonny Terry (born 1911 in Greensboro, Georgia; died 1986) and guitarist Brownie McGhee (born 1915 in Knoxville, Tennessee; died 1996) were essential ambassadors of the Piedmont blues tradition. Both men migrated to New York City in the early 1940s, initially finding an audience within the left-wing folk protest scene alongside Lead Belly and Woody Guthrie. Recording for labels like Folkways and Fantasy, their sound was defined by McGhee's articulate, rolling fingerpicking paired with Terry's heavily rhythmic, whooping harmonica style. While they originated in the pre-war era, their career truly flourished post-war as they became a commercially viable, highly accessible bridge between rural acoustic blues and the urban, predominantly white folk revival of the 1950s and 1960s.