PD Productions
Latest update: ... 9th April 2026
Rev Pearly Brown.
Quite possibly the last of the great blues street singers, Rev. Pearly
Brown was born August 18, 1915, in Abbeville, Georgia. Blind from birth,
he grew up in Americus, Georgia, where he reportedly learned to play
guitar at the age of seven. As a young man he began to busk on the
streets in Americus, eventually moving on to Macon, where he was a
fixture on the streets for several decades.
His repertoire drew heavily
on Blind Willie Johnson, whose slide style he made his own. Like
Johnson,
he played a kind of blues gospel, singing spirituals and what Brown
called "slave songs," along with country songs like "Great Speckled
Bird" that had a strong spiritual content.
Reverend Pearly Brown - Oh what a morning