Longtime blues fans remember Brownie McGhee as half of the world-famous duo of Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. Being remembered as half of anything is not so great, but on top of that Brownie himself was, for the most part, greatly underrated. His sophisticated Piedmont guitar style was a bit delicate for fans of more primitive pickers. And his warm voice was certainly more articulate than the raw Delta squallers. But, along with Sonny's earthy harp, the twosome struck exactly the right chord for a large segment of bluesfans, and were a popular act on the folk/blues circuit for almost 40 years. And recorded for every label from A to Z. Their drawing power together always proved to be more than double what it was apart. Trouble was… offstage, they couldn't stand each other. This 1978 photo was taken at McCabe's Guitar Shop where they occupied separate dressing rooms and politely (but adamantly) refused to pose together. Consequently, we shot Sonny separately and he has his own photo here. Brownie died in 1996 at the age of 80.

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