It is widely believed that W. C. Handy, after hearing an old man singing about "where the Southern cross the Yellow Dog", was moved by the sound and began what came to be known as the "blues".
According W. C. Handy, locals assigned the words "Yellow Dog" to the letters Y.D. on the freight trains that they saw.
W. C. Handy wrote about his first experience of the blues when he encountered a blues musician in Tutwiler, Mississippi, on this line.
John Handy | W. C. Handy | L. Irving Handy | Handy Manny | Handy Andy | Charles Handy | Truman Handy Newberry | The Tales of Para Handy | James Handy | Handy Township, Michigan | Craig Handy |
Beale Street Blues written by W.C. Handy (most recently recorded by Joyce Cobb), this is the oldest and most famous of all musical references to Beale Street.
Noble Sissle has been quoted as saying that W.C. Handy's song "The Memphis Blues" inspired Vernon Castle to create the dance when he heard James Reese Europe play the Memphis blues and Castle liked the rhythm.
Together with Noble Sissle, W.C. Handy and Dick Campbell, in 1937 Washington was a founding member with Alan Corelli of the Negro Actors Guild of America (NAG) in New York.
In the 1930s he played with Kaiser Marshall, the Savoy Bearcats, and W.C. Handy, then returned to Puerto Rico, playing there into the 1960s.
Claxton learned piano at age 11 and was playing professionally with Clarence Davis by age 17, whose band was working with W.C. Handy.
APO’s first title – Jimmy Rogers/Blue Bird – won the 1995 W.C. Handy Traditional Blues Album of the Year.
He played in Charlie Musselwhites band and got a Blues Music Award (formerly W.C. Handy Award) for best contemporary blues album for Charlie Musselwhite's Delta Hardware.