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Little Buddy Doyle

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Birth name
  
Charlie Doyle

Role
  
Singer

Name
  
Little Doyle


Instruments
  
Vocals, guitar

Died
  
Unknown

Albums
  
She's Got Dry Goods

Born
  
March 20, 1911 Forrest City, Arkansas, United States (
1911-03-20
)

Occupation(s)
  
Guitarist, singer, songwriter

Genres
  
Country blues, Memphis blues

Record labels
  
Vocalion Records, Okeh Records

Associated acts
  
Big Walter Horton, Hammie Nixon

Similar People
  
Big Walter Horton, Hammie Nixon, Will Shade, Memphis Jug Band, Frank Stokes

Little buddy doyle hard scufflin blues


Little Buddy Doyle (born March 20, 1911; died c. 1960) was an American Memphis blues and country blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was a working associate of the harmonica players Big Walter Horton and Hammie Nixon, the guitarist David "Honeyboy" Edwards, and the pianist Sunnyland Slim.

Contents

Little buddy doyle she s got good dry goods


Life and career

He was born Charley Doyle in Cordova, Tennessee. During the 1930s, he performed regularly on Beale Street, in Memphis, Tennessee.

It is generally accepted that Horton made his first recording backing Doyle on eight songs recorded in Memphis for Okeh Records and Vocalion Records in 1939. Doyle also recorded with Nixon around the same time; some of their recorded work remains unissued.

Most of what else is known about Doyle derives from the autobiography of Edwards, who met him in Memphis in 1935, where Doyle regularly performed in Handy Park. He was still performing in Handy Park when Edwards returned to Memphis in 1943, at which time Edwards sometimes performed in the park with Doyle, Horton and the young Little Walter. Edwards remembered Doyle clearly and described him as a charismatic figure. According to Edwards, Doyle was a red-eyed alcoholic, was drunk all the time and had two or three gold teeth. No photos of Doyle are known. His nickname, Little Buddy, was likely due to his diminutive stature; according to Edwards, Doyle "was a midget. His legs was so short that when he sat on the bench to play the guitar he couldn´t pat his feet. He had to just bump against the seat, his feet would be that far off the ground. He´d get to playing the blues and just bump, bump, bump."

When Edwards met him in 1935, Doyle was married to Hedda, who was six feet tall. According to Edwards, Hedda too was "a good guitar player in the key of G." She sometimes performed with Doyle.

Little else is known of Doyle's life apart from his recorded work. Details of his death seem to be undocumented, but it is known he died in Bolivar, Tennessee, around 1960.

Discography

Doyle's known tracks include "Bad in Mind Blues"; "Grief Will Kill You", "Hard Scufflin' Blues", "Lost Baby Blues", "Renewed Love Blues", "She's Got Good Dry Goods", "Slick Caper Blues", "Sweet Man Blues" and "Three Sixty Nine Blues". Several are featured on the following compilation albums.

References

Little Buddy Doyle Wikipedia