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Alabama Music Hall of Fame Achiever
CHARLIE BURSE
Instruments:
Guitar, Banjo
Date of Birth:
August 25, 1901
Place of Birth:
Decatur, Alabama
Date of Death:December 20, 1965
Charlie Burse was born August 25, 1901 in Decatur, Alabama where he learned to play banjo and guitar. In 1928 he relocated to Memphis, where he met Will Shade and joined the Memphis Jug Band. In 1939 Burse put together his own band, the Memphis Mudcats.
The band possessed a more modern sound than the traditional jug band - a bass replaced the jug and a saxophone replaced the harmonica. The group did not last long, however, and soon Burse was back performing with Shade. The two bluesmen continued to work Memphis house parties and street corners for nearly a quarter century. Burse died December 20, 1965 in Memphis, Tennessee.