Biography
W.C. Spencer, a blues performer from the Baltimore region, handles guitar, harmonica, drums, and organ on his studio recordings while staging live shows that feature him playing drums and guitar simultaneously with vocals, in the manner of Mr. Satan from the Satan & Adam blues duo that appeared on several blues imprints throughout the 1990s. Employing his own eight-piece Alectroset hybrid drum kit, which he operates with a single foot, Spencer uses the other foot on an organist’s bass pedals so that he can perform every instrument while singing the blues.
He began his professional career in 1974 after finishing studies at Lynchburg College in Virginia. Distinctive guitarists such as Roy Buchanan and Danny Gatton supplied ongoing inspiration, and Spencer both opened for and shared bills with each of them across the 1970s and 1980s. He first picked up the guitar in his native Baltimore at age ten and absorbed lessons from players like Libba Cotten while teaching himself acoustic technique. At fourteen he wrote his earliest original composition, and at fifteen he acquired his first electric guitar. In high school he formed the Heathens, a band devoted to British blues and rock & roll groups such as the Rolling Stones and the Animals.
Following four years at college in Virginia without completing a degree, Spencer returned to Maryland and assembled a blues trio. When his bass and drums partners could not tour because of day jobs and family duties, he experimented with a harmonica rack and a tambourine attached to his foot. Working alongside an engineering student from the University of Virginia, he constructed a basic drum kit and hi-hat that could be played by foot while he handled guitar and harmonica. Continuing to refine his setup, he later added a foot bass pedal synthesizer plus snare, crash, and ride cymbals to expand the sounds produced by his right foot.
Spencer toured widely in the late 1970s and early 1980s, opening for Danny Gatton, Roy Buchanan, Merle Haggard, and Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee. He moved back to Baltimore in 1983 and received his college degree at age thirty-three. Throughout the remainder of the decade he held a series of conventional jobs while contending with a substance abuse problem. In 1991 W.C. married the partner who helped him overcome alcoholism and relocated to rural Maryland. After losing his job in 1994, he recorded his first album, Bluescat, which included Hammond B-3 organ contributions from Tommy Lepson and Marty Canelli on several tracks.
His second release for Catscan Records, Over Time, contains one blues composition from each decade of the twentieth century together with a selection of original songs. The album interprets material associated with Muddy Waters, Albert King, Tampa Red, and W.C. Handy. Powered by the reception for that record, Spencer toured extensively up and down the East Coast, impressing audiences with his multi-instrumental performances and the dexterity required to play every part at once. His most recent album, Blues Explorer, appeared in 2005 and mixes well-known covers such as “Kansas City,” “Key to the Highway,” and “Worried Life Blues” with brisk originals including “I Said the Blues.”
He began his professional career in 1974 after finishing studies at Lynchburg College in Virginia. Distinctive guitarists such as Roy Buchanan and Danny Gatton supplied ongoing inspiration, and Spencer both opened for and shared bills with each of them across the 1970s and 1980s. He first picked up the guitar in his native Baltimore at age ten and absorbed lessons from players like Libba Cotten while teaching himself acoustic technique. At fourteen he wrote his earliest original composition, and at fifteen he acquired his first electric guitar. In high school he formed the Heathens, a band devoted to British blues and rock & roll groups such as the Rolling Stones and the Animals.
Following four years at college in Virginia without completing a degree, Spencer returned to Maryland and assembled a blues trio. When his bass and drums partners could not tour because of day jobs and family duties, he experimented with a harmonica rack and a tambourine attached to his foot. Working alongside an engineering student from the University of Virginia, he constructed a basic drum kit and hi-hat that could be played by foot while he handled guitar and harmonica. Continuing to refine his setup, he later added a foot bass pedal synthesizer plus snare, crash, and ride cymbals to expand the sounds produced by his right foot.
Spencer toured widely in the late 1970s and early 1980s, opening for Danny Gatton, Roy Buchanan, Merle Haggard, and Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee. He moved back to Baltimore in 1983 and received his college degree at age thirty-three. Throughout the remainder of the decade he held a series of conventional jobs while contending with a substance abuse problem. In 1991 W.C. married the partner who helped him overcome alcoholism and relocated to rural Maryland. After losing his job in 1994, he recorded his first album, Bluescat, which included Hammond B-3 organ contributions from Tommy Lepson and Marty Canelli on several tracks.
His second release for Catscan Records, Over Time, contains one blues composition from each decade of the twentieth century together with a selection of original songs. The album interprets material associated with Muddy Waters, Albert King, Tampa Red, and W.C. Handy. Powered by the reception for that record, Spencer toured extensively up and down the East Coast, impressing audiences with his multi-instrumental performances and the dexterity required to play every part at once. His most recent album, Blues Explorer, appeared in 2005 and mixes well-known covers such as “Kansas City,” “Key to the Highway,” and “Worried Life Blues” with brisk originals including “I Said the Blues.”
Albums
