Big Bill Broonzy: Hey Babe

Instrumental guitar by honorary Iowan Big Bill Broonzy:-)

Big Bill Broonzy - Guitar Shuffle
Uploaded by nighttripper

Short Big Bill Broonzy Film

This is a great little film of honorary Iowan, and former Iowa State employee, Bill Big Broonzy performing in Belgium in 1956. Bill sounds great as always, and it is always nice to find films of Big Bill, because they are hard to find. BTW, it is important that you get ahold of your congresmen about the BS deal that Viacom has with Google/youtube. Trust me they are up to no good. Viacom will have your IP address and know your viewing habits. Not only that, but trust me they are looking for people who post videos and plan to sue them. Read this article from the Washington Post for more info.

Enough politics check out this cool Big Bill concert!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Big Bill Broonzy - 1956
Uploaded by pigfoot

Artist Of The Week Big Bill Broonzy

One of the coolest stories from Iowa Blues history, and Iowa State University history,(My alma mater!) is that for about a year Big Bill Broonzy called ISU, and Iowa home. In the early 50s Bill was having health problems due to the smoky clubs in Chicago. He had played a concert at ISU, and was hoping to find a job on a farm in Iowa! He wrote to a professor at ISU who found him work as a janitor. For a year Big Bill recuperated in Ames, and eventually got well enough to perform for students and faculty. Bill enjoyed his brief stay in Ames, and joked that he went to college there. Eventually Bill was offered several thousand dollars to perform in France. Once he left for France Big Bill restarted his career, and only returned to Ames to pick up his stuff. However, he died of throat cancer in 1958.