Doug Quattlebaum

Born on 22 January 1927 in Florence, South Carolina, Quattlebaum relocated to Philadelphia during the early 1940s. There he began to study guitar in earnest and joined several gospel ensembles on tour, later asserting that he had cut sides in Texas with the Bells Of Joy. A solo session for the Gotham label followed in 1952, presenting him strictly as a blues vocalist. By 1961 he was working as accompanist for the Ward Singers, yet a field researcher found him performing blues and popular numbers over the loudspeaker of his ice-cream van—an episode that supplied the title of his album Softee Man Blues. The recording revealed a commanding vocal style, guitar work patterned after Blind Boy Fuller, and a wide-ranging selection of material drawn chiefly from phonograph records. Occasional bookings on the folk circuit ensued, after which he returned to Philadelphia and cut a single in the late 1960s. Soon afterward he is believed to have joined the ministry.