ReverendPearly Brown was an American singer and guitarist, known primarily as a street performer. He also played harmonica and accordion. His repertoire included gospel blues, blues, country, and what he called "slave songs" ; but always from a religious standpoint.
Biography and legacy
He was born in Abbeville, Wilcox County, Georgia, and was blind from birth. While still young, he relocated with his family to Americus, Sumter County, Georgia. A schoolteacher, recognizing his determination to succeed, asked him if he'd like to get an education. When he said yes, she arranged a place for him at the Georgia Academy for the Blind in Macon, Georgia; where he completed eight grades in six years, and learned Braille. After graduating, he was ordained as minister by the Friendship Baptist Church of Americus. He began singing and playing on the streets of Americus in 1939, and later "from Atlanta to Thomasville". He worked with white blind musicians, and recalled their all having been run off the streets. He later concentrated his efforts on Macon, Georgia, where he was once jailed for singing on the street. Photographs and videos show him playing both six-string guitar and twelve-string guitar. The 1977 documentary It's a Mean Old World captures the style of his street performance: walking slowly along the sidewalk, singing and playing, with a handwritten sign around his neck reading "I am a blind preacher. Please help me, thank you. Rev. Pearly Brown, Americus, GA". There is a collection cup attached to the neck of his guitar. Most passers-by ignore him; but one stops to put something in the cup, and to talk briefly with him. He was influenced by earlier musicians such as Blind Willie Johnson, whose recording of the song "If I Had My Way" he plays and listens to in It's a Mean Old World. He played at the Newport Folk Festival, accompanied on backing vocals by his wife, Christine; and at the Monterey Jazz Festival. In 1966, he played at Carnegie Hall, where he won a twelve-string guitar for his performance in a competition. In the early 1970s, he presented a regular weekly 15-minute program on the Macon, GA radio station WIBB. There are unsubstantiated stories that he tutored Duane Allman and Dickey Betts in playing slide He ceased performing on the streets in 1979, due to ill health. He died in Plains Nursing Home, Plains, Georgia in 1986, and is buried in Eastview Cemetery, Americus, GA. Steve Leggett, Allmusic reviewer, has called him "Quite possibl the last of the great blues street singers". Charles Farmer said in the liner notes to a 2011 re-release of the 1975 album It’s a Mean Old World to Try to Live In, "He played what he called the holy blues with every bit of the rawness of the rural blues and every bit of the energy of the church". In 2010, Brown was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame.
Live performances of two of his songs, "Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning" and "What a Time", with his wife Christine singing backing vocals, are included on the 1995 album Gospel at Newport. They may have been recorded in 1966. In 2002, Arhoolie released the compilation You're Gonna Need That Pure Religion.
