Drink Small is an African American

African American

African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

 soul blues

Soul blues

Soul blues is a style of blues music developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s that combines elements of soul music and urban contemporary music...

 and electric blues

Electric blues

Electric blues is a type of blues music distinguished by the amplification of the guitar, bass guitar, drums, and often the harmonica. Pioneered in the 1930s, it emerged as a genre in Chicago in the 1940s. It was taken up in many areas of America leading to the development of regional subgenres...

 guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is known as the 'Blues Doctor', and has been influenced by gospel

Gospel music

Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....

 and country music

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 and Blind Boy Fuller

Blind Boy Fuller

Blind Boy Fuller was an American blues guitarist and vocalist. He was one of the most popular of the recorded Piedmont blues artists with rural Black Americans, a group that also included Blind Blake, Josh White, and Buddy Moss.-Life and career:Fulton Allen was born in Wadesboro, North Carolina,...

.

Biography

Small was born in Bishopville, South Carolina

Bishopville, South Carolina

Bishopville is a city in Lee County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 3,670 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Lee County.-Geography:Bishopville is located at ....

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. He was self taught on the guitar and organised a local gospel group, the Six Stars. He had eclectic musical influences including Tennessee Ernie Ford

Tennessee Ernie Ford

Ernest Jennings Ford , better known as Tennessee Ernie Ford, was an American recording artist and television host who enjoyed success in the country and Western, pop, and gospel musical genres...

, Merle Travis

Merle Travis

Merle Robert Travis was an American country and western singer, songwriter, and musician born in Rosewood, Kentucky. His lyrics often discussed the life and exploitation of coal miners. Among his many well-known songs are "Sixteen Tons", "Re-Enlistment Blues" and "Dark as a Dungeon"...

, John Lee Hooker

John Lee Hooker

John Lee Hooker was an American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist.Hooker began his life as the son of a sharecropper, William Hooker, and rose to prominence performing his own unique style of what was originally closest to Delta blues. He developed a 'talking blues' style that was his trademark...

 and Fats Domino

Fats Domino

Antoine Dominique "Fats" Domino, Jr. is an American R&B and rock and roll pianist and singer-songwriter. He was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Creole was his first language....

.

He was rated as one of the best gospel

Gospel music

Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....

 guitarists in the 1950s, before he turned his attention to secular music later in that decade. In 1959, he released the single

Single (music)

In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

 "I Love You Alberta" on Sharp Records. Small had a long career, recording spasmodically for small record label

Record label

In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...

s, before issuing six album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

s between 1990 and 2008. He recorded dirty blues

Dirty blues

Dirty blues encompasses forms of blues music that deal with topics that are sometimes considered taboo in society, including sexual metaphors and/or references to drug use of some kind. Due to the sometimes graphic subject matter, such music was often banned from radio and only available on a jukebox...

 tracks such as "Tittie Man" and "Baby, Leave Your Panties Home", with more righteous offerings such as "The Lord Been Good to Me".

Small appeared at the 2005 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival

New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival

The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, often known as Jazz Fest, is an annual celebration of the music and culture of New Orleans and Louisiana...

. He also performed at the first Julius Daniels

Julius Daniels

Julius Daniels was an American Piedmont blues musician. His song "99 Year Blues" appeared on the box set Anthology of American Folk Music and has been covered by Jim Kweskin, Chris Smither, Johnny Winter, Charlie Parr and Hot Tuna on their album Burgers...

 Memorial Blues Festival in Denmark, South Carolina

Denmark, South Carolina

Denmark is a city in Bamberg County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 2,934 at the 2009 census.-Geography:Denmark is located at .According to the...

, in October 2010.

Albums

Year	Title	Record label
1976	I Know My Blues Are Different	Southland (Select-O-Hits)
1990	The Blues Doctor	Ichiban Ichiban Records Ichiban Records was a hip hop record label founded in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1985. Wrap Records and Nastymix Records were some of its subsidiary labels. Urgent! Records was distributed by Ichiban. Most of its discography is now out of print. Besides hip hop groups, Ichiban also released albums by...
1991	Round Two	Wild Dog Blues
1994	Electric Blues Doctor Live	Mapleshade
2003	Does It All	Bishopville
2006	Blues Doctor: Live & Outrageous!	Erwin
2008	Tryin' to Survive at 75	Bishopville