Also known as The Blues Doctor Name Drink Small Instruments Guitar, vocals Role Singer | Years active Mid 1950s – present | |
 | ||
Occupation(s) Guitarist, singer, songwriter Albums The Blues Doctor, Electric Blues Doctor Live, Does It All Similar People Cootie Stark, Ironing Board Sam, Beverly Watkins, John Dee Holeman, Rahim AlHaj | ||
Drink Small at the Carolina Downhome Blues Fest 2018 Camden, South Carolina
Drink Small (born January 28, 1933) is an African-American soul blues and electric blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is known as the Blues Doctor and has been influenced by gospel and country music and by the blues guitarist and singer Blind Boy Fuller.
Contents
Biography
Small was born in Bishopville, South Carolina. He taught himself to play the guitar and organized a local gospel group, the Six Stars. He had eclectic musical influences, including Tennessee Ernie Ford, Merle Travis, John Lee Hooker and Fats Domino.
He was considered one of the best guitarists in gospel music in the 1950s, before he turned his attention to secular music later in that decade. In 1959, he recorded the single "I Love You Alberta", released by Sharp Records. Small had a long career, recording occasionally for small record labels and issuing six albums between 1990 and 2008. He recorded dirty blues tracks, such as "Tittie Man" and "Baby, Leave Your Panties Home", and more righteous songs, such as "The Lord Been Good to Me".
Small performed at the 2005 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. He also performed at the first Julius Daniels Memorial Blues Festival in Denmark, South Carolina, in October 2010.
He was awarded a National Heritage Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts in 2015.
