HOWARD ARMSTRONG OBITUARY

Howard "Louie Bluie" Armstrong, 94, a musician, artist and storyteller who was recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts as a national treasure, died July 30 in Boston. A consummate performer and engaging raconteur whose musical career spanned nine decades, Mr. Armstrong was the subject of two documentaries, "Louie Bluie" and "Sweet Old Song." Both aired on the PBS series "P.O.V."

Mr. Armstrong, who lived in Boston, died of complications from a heart attack he suffered in recent months.

For more than a decade Mr. Armstrong was celebrated as the nation's last black string-band musician, having outlived a generation of African American musicians who traveled America's country roads and city streets in the 1920s and '30s. These string-band artists played Americana for black and white audiences, everything from tin pan alley tunes to gospel and blues.

Mr. Armstrong was known for his exuberant fiddle and mandolin playing and also played several other instruments. This past spring he was nominated as an instrumentalist for the Blues Foundation's prestigious W.C. Handy Award, an honor he won in 1996 for his only solo album, "Louie Bluie." In March, Mr. Armstrong was honored with a Governor's Award in the Arts — the Folk Heritage Award — by his native state of Tennessee.

Those who crossed his path fondly remember Mr. Armstrong's engaging presence, quick wit and brilliant storytelling. Musician and storyteller Guy Davis recalls, "I first met Howard in 1976 at the Hudson River Blues Revival and he was with Carl Martin and Ted Bogan — the trio Martin, Bogan and Armstrong. Howard was the most electrifying — his personality — the raconteur, the man of culture, the man of great mischief. Howard came from a line of musicians who lived on the streets, doing their work from bar-to-bar, club-to-club, corner-to-corner. The music was alive, present, right there in front of you. It wasn't something that was pre-packaged and sent out over the airwaves with money as its first object."

Daniel Gerwertz of the Boston Herald recently wrote an appreciation for Mr. Armstrong describing a visit to his home and studio in Boston, "An old-school Renaissance man, Howard 'Louie Bluie' Armstrong celebrated life daily. He painted, drew ... and wrote. His drawings immediately captured his rascally, passionate, deeply humorous take on life, often inspired by his Tennessee boyhood." Recalling his stage presence, Gewertz wrote, "Armstrong played ferocious, rhythmic fiddle and mandolin, and shouted his way through his gigantic repertoire almost until the day he died. He might well enter heaven with the same greeting he always gave his band: 'I want you fellas to step it up and go, 'cause I'm dustin' my broom and taking off.' "

Mr. Armstrong continued to perform professionally until this past winter. His last concert was on December 31, 2002 at the Providence, Rhode Island First Night celebration, a gig that kept him up well past 3 a.m. He gave a concert last summer at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, Tenn.

Mr. Armstrong was born William Howard Taft Armstrong in 1909 in Dayton, Tenn., to Thomas and Daisy Armstrong. His grandparents were slaves, and a great-grandfather of his was a slave owner. He grew up in LaFollette, Tenn., a segregated town where his father, a craftsman, musician and minister, worked in a factory and as a waiter to feed his nine children.

Despite extreme poverty, Mr. Armstrong found outlets for his creativity. His father taught him and his siblings to play a variety of stringed instruments, several of which he made. Mr. Armstrong's father used a pocket knife to carve his first fiddle from a wooden crate. As a young teenager Mr. Armstrong joined a band led by Knoxville fiddler Blind Roland Martin and organized his younger brothers into a band. (They once performed for the opera singer Grace Moore at the hotel where their father worked, in Jellico, Tenn.) Mr. Armstrong also picked up his father's passion for drawing and later studied art at Tennessee State Normal School in Nashville. Throughout his life he would use his love of sketching and painting to document his life experiences. He sometimes made a living as a sign painter and muralist.

In his late teens Mr. Armstrong worked on the L & N Railroad as a water boy before joining Carl Martin, Blind Roland's stepbrother, who became a lifelong musical partner. In 1930 they, along with Mr. Armstrong's brother Roland, made their first recording in Knoxville. They responded to an announcement that the Brunswick-Vocalion label was searching for black musicians in Knoxville. After an audition at a local barber shop they were invited to a recording session on April 3, 1930 at the Saint James Hotel. They recorded "Knox County Stomp" and "Vine Street Drag." The record company chose two different names for their group — the band was listed as the Tennessee trio in the "hillbilly" catalog (music marketed to white audiences that would later be known as country music) and as the Tennessee Chocolate Drops in the "race" catalog.

Mr. Armstrong later said the group was never paid royalties for its music. Producers, in his words, would come through town "scouring to see a little old raggedy string band." He said he and his fellow musicians hadn't understood the value of their recorded music and just "wanted our name on a piece of wax." (Recordings at the time were made on wax cylinders.)

For several years Mr. Armstrong and Carl Martin toured the South and Appalachia, playing wherever people would offer some change when they passed the hat — from coal mines and medicine shows to white-society dances. They would play whatever the crowd wanted to hear: swing, blues, country, folk, spiritual and foreign-language songs. Mr. Armstrong prided himself on the songs he could sing in Italian, German, Polish and Chinese. He acquired an ability for languages from the immigrant factory workers in LaFollette. His skill came in handy with audiences at country dances in the South and ethnic clubs in Chicago and Detroit.

In their travels Mr. Armstrong and Martin met guitarist Ted Bogan and in 1933 the trio joined the Great Migration north, arriving in Chicago in time to perform at the World's Fair. They worked as street musicians, performed in clubs and made recordings with well-known artists including Amos "Bumble Bee Slim" Easton and Big Bill Broonzy and performed with greats like Memphis Minnie. In 1934 Mr. Armstrong and Bogan recorded "State Street Rag" and "Ted's Stomp" on the Bluebird label. On this recording Mr. Armstrong used the stage name "Louie Bluie," which he had picked up from a drunken fan.

In the mid-1930s Mr. Armstrong returned home to Tennessee for several years, where he met and married his first wife, Celestine Crook. They had a son, Thomas, who died in 1996.

During World War II, Mr. Armstrong worked in Hawaii for the civil service and witnessed the attack on Pearl Harbor. Mr. Armstrong's marriage to Celestine ended and in 1945 he moved to Detroit, where he met and married Anna Gordon. The couple had three boys, William, Robert and Ralphe, who live in the Detroit area.

Two of Mr. Armstrong's sons, Thomas and Ralphe, became accomplished bass players who performed and recorded with him over the years.

After the war, Mr. Armstrong found it difficult to make a living as a musician. String-band music had faded from popularity, and he was forced to support his family by working on the assembly line in Detroit's auto industry. Mr. Armstrong retired from Chrysler in 1971, and a revival of interest in oldtime African American music led to the reunion of his old band, Martin, Bogan and Armstrong. The band recorded, performed at clubs and festivals and went on a tour of South America sponsored by the State Department. They played together until Martin's death in 1979. In 1985 Mr. Armstrong was the subject of a documentary by Terry Zwigoff, "Louie Bluie." For the feature film "The Color Purple," music producer Quincy Jones invited Mr. Armstrong to help design a set for a juke joint scene.

After a lifetime of performing Mr. Armstrong released his first solo album in 1995 and continued to perform with a younger generation of musicians, including his longtime companion, artist Barbara Ward, who managed the band. The two met in Boston in 1983 when Mr. Armstrong was in town for a performance. They had a long distance relationship until 1996, when Mr. Armstrong moved to Boston, where they collaborated on artistic projects including an illustrated children's book. They were married in 2001. Their relationship is the subject of "Sweet Old Song," a documentary by Leah Mahan that was nominated in February by the Directors Guild of America for Outstanding Directorial Achievement.

Mr. Armstrong is survived by his wife, Barbara Ward Armstrong, his sons William, Robert and Ralphe and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Mr. Armstrong was laid to rest in Forest Hills Cemetery in Boston, Mass. on August 8, 2003. Donations can be made to Club Passim in Cambridge, Mass., a nonprofit music center where Mr. Armstrong performed. In honor of Mr. Armstrong, Club Passim will host a fund-raiser in September to provide music lessons for low-income children. Howard Armstrong Fund/Club Passim, 47 Palmer St., Cambridge, MA 02138 (617-491-2382).

Read a discography of Howard Armstrong's recordings.

Learn more about Howard Armstrong's life and art or listen to his music on P.O.V.'s "All Howard All the Time" streaming radio station.

Read the obituary that appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle and in the New York Times (registration and fee required to pull from the archive).

Read an appreciation written by mandolinist Marilynn Mair.


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