Columbus S. Perry (January 20, 1922 – February 5, 2009), better known as Piney Brown, was an American R&B and blues singer and songwriter, who has been described as a "fine, big-voiced shouter". He released a string of singles between 1948 and 1988 and issued two albums late in his career. His songs have been recorded by Little Milton and James Brown. Less famous than Big Joe Turner or Wynonie Harris, Piney Brown was a gifted blue shouter who recorded a long string of singles and CDs, spanning a career of five decades.
Perry was born in Birmingham, Alabama and raised by his mother who was a housekeeper in Kansas City, Missouri. As a young boy he started to sing in a Gospel group The Young Blue Jays while attending a lot of Vaudeville and Tent Shows. There he met the famous Vaudeville artist Shepherd Sam who taught him how to dance, sing, tell tales, acrobatics.
At the end of the 1930's, Colombus tried his luck in Kansas City with no success but he had there the opportunity to watch and meet many of the blues and jazz acts of the time. It was here that he took the stage name Piney Brown from a club owner. He then went to Baltimore around 1940, singing and dancing in several night clubs of this big harbour. He even replaced at the Royal Theatre and backed by the Lucky Millinder Orchestra, an ill Wynonie Harris from who he knew all the songs.
In 1946, he formed a singing and dancing duo with Estelle Young. Estelle took the stage name of Caldonia (cashing on Louis Jordan's hit) and Colombus Perry became Piney Brown, the title of a smash hit by Big Joe Turner about a famous Kansas City bartender! The duo enjoyed some success and Piney Brown started to tour across the USA with several shows, sharing the bill with Billy Eckstine, Gatemouth Brown, Percy Mayfield, Lester Young and even a very suspicious (at first) Big Joe Turner.
Thanks to Sonny Thompson, Piney made his recording debut in 1947 for Miracle. Of the four songs that were recorded, only one was released, which was “That's Right, Little Girl", issued by Esquire Records in the UK several years later. Perry was invited to make a session the next year at New York for the prestigious Apollo label of Bess Berman, cutting several sides in 1948, including the single "Morning Blues" backed with "Gloomy Monday Blues". “My Baby's Gone” enjoyed some success and Piney appeared at many famous clubs and venues like the Apollo Theatre, the Cotton Club, while embarking of several tours of US Military bases.
In 1953 Brown recorded "Ooh You Bring Out the Wolf in Me" backed with "Don't Pass My By" for Jubilee Records and "Walk-a-Block-and-Fall" backed with "Whispering Blue" for King Records. None of his records made the national charts, but they sold well locally, and Brown was a top-performing attraction who regularly toured the country. He performed with the young guitarist Albert Collins in the early 1950s.
In the music polls in the Pittsburgh Courier, Brown was regularly nominated as the "top blues artist". He performed as a duo with Billy Brooks, and they played for a time at the Club DeLisa in Chicago, as a result of which both of them recording for Duke Records. In 1959, Brown recorded "Sugar in My Tea (Cream in My Coffee)" backed with "My Love" for Mad Records, a label founded by Tommy "Madman" Jones two years earlier.
After an unsuccessful attempt to own a night club in Kansas City, Piney had to come back to Birmingham to help his aging mother, although he continued to tour more locally. Then he recorded for the Heart label and helped launch Jerry McCain career. In 1964, Piney finally settled down permanently in Dayton (Ohio) where he married, singing at local clubs (The Village) or US Air Force bases while still recording for the small Dayton label, Deep Groove in a style more and more leaning towards Soul and Funk (Everything but you). During the late 1960's Piney also recorded several sessions for John Richbourg's 77 label in Nashville, backed by a young Country band.
When Delmark reissued his Jubilee tracks, Piney contacted the Chicago label for his royalties. Delmark spread the news among blues buffs around the world and after a lengthy article and interview on the British Juke Blues magazine, Piney embarked himself on several tours of Europe. In 2000, after 48 years apart musically, Brown and Wiley reunited to perform at the Blues Estafette, in Utrecht, Netherlands. Brown's debut album, My Task, was issued in 2004. His last album, One of These Days, was issued by Bonedog Records, of McKeesport, Pennsylvania, in 2006. Brown supported its release by playing some local gigs.
Another album was programmed for Delmark but Piney Brown died on February 5, 2009, at the age of 87, in Dayton, Ohio, his home since 1963.
(Edited from Brian Baumgartner @ Juke Blues #48 & Wikipedia)
Here’s a collage of Piney Brown performing his classics with the Bonedog Allstars... McKeesport, PA., 2006.