CRAFT RECORDINGS AND BLUESVILLE RECORDS CLOSE 2026 WITH   

RARITIES FROM SONNY TERRY AND BROWNIE MCGHEE 

 

Remastered editions of Sonny’s Story and Brownie’s Blues arrive November 20th on 180-gram vinyl—in partnership with audiophile leader Acoustic Sounds—as well as on hi-res and standard digital formats 

Click here to pre-order/pre-save Sonny Terry’s Sonny’s Story and Brownie McGhee’s Brownie’s Blues 

  

Los Angeles, CA (September 22, 2026)—Craft Recordings and Bluesville Records are pleased to announce solo reissues from blues harmonica player/singer Sonny Terry and guitarist/singer Brownie McGhee. While Terry and McGhee were one of the most popular blues duos of the mid-20th century, Sonny’s Story(1960) and Brownie’s Blues (1962) showcase their individual talents as singers, songwriters, and musicians. 

As with all handpicked Bluesville titles, Sonny’s Story and Brownie’s Blues have been meticulously mastered from their original analog tapes by GRAMMY®-nominated engineer Matthew Lutthans (The Mastering Lab) and will be reissued on vinyl in partnership with audiophile leader Acoustic Sounds. Pressed on 180-gram vinyl at Quality Record Pressings (QRP) and housed in faithfully reproduced tip-on jackets, each LP is accompanied by an insightful obi strip with new notes by GRAMMY®-winning producer, writer, musician, and record executive Scott Billington. Arriving November 20th and available for pre-order/pre-savetoday, the remastered albums will also be available in hi-res and standard digital formats. Stream Terry’s “Telephone Blues” and McGhee’s “Killin’ Floor” as advanced singles from the album now. 

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Sonny Terry – Sonny’s Story  

Known for his lively and rhythmic harmonica stylings—which often imitated the sound of a train or a fox chase—Sonny Terry (1911–1986) was a defining figure of 20th-century blues. After an injury caused him to lose his sight at 16, Terry traded in farm work for music to survive—and thrive he did. Before long, the Georgia-born artist had relocated to North Carolina, where he played alongside popular Piedmont guitarists of the day, including Blind Boy Fuller. By the early 1940s, Terry had established a substantial following—thanks in part to the high-profile 1938 and 1939 Spirituals to Swing concerts at Carnegie Hall—and formed a fruitful musical partnership with guitarist Brownie McGhee. A full-time move to New York helped him stay busy in the studio—both for his own recordings, as well as for session work with the likes of Pete Seeger, Lead Belly, and Woody Guthrie.  

While Terry was best known for his albums with McGhee, 1960’s Sonny’s Story stands as a rare opportunity for fans to catch him solo. With a tracklist comprised entirely of original material, Terry takes center stage as a musician, singer, and songwriter—showing the breadth of his talents, from high-energy tracks like “High Powered Woman” and “My Baby Done Gone” to emotionally charged performances of “Telephone Blues” and “I Ain’t Gonna Be Your Dog No More.”   

Terry primarily performs solo here, with sparse accompaniment from Brownie’s brother, Sticks McGhee (guitar), Belton Evans (drums), and fellow harmonica player J.C. Burris. The recording, which was originally released on Prestige Records, was captured by legendary jazz engineer Rudy Van Gelder. AllMusic hails, “Sonny’s Story is positively infectious. It’s hard not to get caught up in Terry’s shouts and boogies, and that’s one major reason why this is among his best solo recordings.” 

Outside of music, Terry would also find fame on the stage and screen—with notable appearances in the 1947 original Broadway cast of Finian’s Rainbow, plus such classic films as The Jerk (with McGhee), The Color Purple, and Crossroads. Alongside McGhee, Terry was a recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts’ National Heritage Fellowship—America’s highest honor in the folk and traditional arts—and he was inducted posthumously into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1986. 

 

Click here to pre-order/pre-save Sonny’s Story and scroll down for the tracklist.  

 

Brownie McGhee – Brownie’s Blues 

One of the most venerated Piedmont blues guitarists of all time, Brownie McGhee (1915–1996) was also one of the era’s most versatile players, whose prolific career spanned a variety of acoustic and electric stylings. Raised in a musical family, the Tennessee native spent his youth performing across the Southeast, learning his finger-picking style from the great Blind Boy Fuller. 

In the early 1940s, McGhee scored his first recording contract with Okeh Records. There, he met harmonica player Sonny Terry, with whom he would form a long and prolific musical partnership. Together, they settled in New York’s Greenwich Village, where the pair found their groove in the burgeoning folk scene—with McGhee recording alongside the likes of Reverend “Blind” Gary Davis, the Almanac Singers, and Woody Guthrie, and finding international stardom through European blues tours in the ’50s.  

McGhee also ventured beyond the folk-blues scene, finding success with “jump blues” (a rock’n’roll precursor) both solo and with Terry. His 1962 album, Brownie’s Blues, originally released on Prestige Records, straddles these two styles with rhythmic originals like “Jump Little Children,” “The Killin’ Floor,” and “Lonesome Day,” plus deft covers of Memphis Slim’s “Everyday I Have the Blues” and Richard M. Jones’ “Trouble in Mind.” Thanks to support from guitarist Bennie Fletcher, as well as Terry, McGhee is free to show the breadth of his talents, rather than having to hold down the full arrangements. Legendary jazz engineer Rudy Van Gelder beautifully captures the artist’s sophisticated single-string solos and his warm vocals. AllMusic praises Brownie’s Blues as “a nicely understated record that’s distinguished by surprisingly harmonically complex and jazzy guitar work.” 

A multi-hyphenate talent, McGhee also enjoyed work on the stage and screen: making his mark on Broadway in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Langston Hughes’ Simply Heavenly, and Finian’s Rainbow; performing in films like The Jerk and Angel Heart; and appearing on such popular TV series as Matlock and Family Ties.Alongside Terry, McGhee was a recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts’ National Heritage Fellowship—America’s highest honor in the folk and traditional arts—and he was posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1996. 

 

Click here to pre-order/pre-save Brownie’s Blues 

 

Sonny’s Story Track Listing 

Side A: 

1. I Ain’t Gonna Be Your Dog No More 

1. My Baby Done Gone 

1. Worried Blues 

1. High Powered Woman 

1. Pepperheaded Woman 

Side B: 

1. Sonny’s Story 

1. I’m Gonna Get on My Feets Afterwhile 

1. Four O’Clock Blues 

1. Telephone Blues 

1. Great Tall Engine 

 

Brownie’s Blues Track Listing 

Side A: 

1. Jump, Little Children 

1. Lonesome Day 

1. One Thing for Sure 

1. The Killin’ Floor 

1. Little Black Engine 

Side B: 

1. I Don’t Know the Reason 

1. Trouble in Mind 

1. Everyday I Have the Blues 

1. Door to Success 

 

About Bluesville Records:   

In 2024, Craft Recordings relaunched Bluesville Records, originally an acclaimed 1959 imprint of Prestige Records, to celebrate America’s bedrock music genre as well as the trailblazing musicians who contributed to its rich traditions. All titles are handpicked and culled from the catalogs of such legendary labels as Stax, Prestige, Vee-Jay, Vanguard, Rounder, and Riverside. For more information, follow @BluesvilleRecords on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. 

 

About Craft Recordings: 

Craft Recordings is home to one of the largest and most essential collections of master recordings and compositions in the world. Its storied repertoire includes landmark releases from icons such as Joan Baez, John Coltrane, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Celia Cruz, Miles Davis, Isaac Hayes, John Lee Hooker, Little Richard, R.E.M., and Joan Sebastian. Plus, the catalog recordings of celebrated contemporary acts including A Day to Remember, Daddy Yankee, Evanescence, Alison Krauss, Nine Inch Nails, Taking Back Sunday and Violent Femmes, to name just a few. Renowned imprints with catalogs issued under the Craft banner include Fania, Fantasy, Fearless, Musart, Nitro, Panart, Prestige, Riverside, Rounder, Specialty, Stax, Vanguard, Varèse Sarabande, Vee-Jay and Victory, among many others. Craft creates thoughtfully curated packages, with a meticulous devotion to quality and a commitment to preservation—ensuring that these recordings endure for new generations to discover. Craft is also home to the Billie Holiday and Tammy Wynette estates which preserve and protect their respective names, likeness and music through day-to-day legacy management of these cultural trailblazers. Craft Recordings is part of BMG.  

 

For more, visit CraftRecordings.com and follow on Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.