Howard Armstrong

Howard "Louie Bluie" Armstrong (March 4, 1909 – July 30, 2003) was an American string band and country blues musician, who played fiddle, mandolin, and guitar and sang. He was also a notable visual artist and raconteur.

Early life William Howard Taft Armstrong was born in Dayton, Tennessee, and grew up in LaFollette, Tennessee. He was the middle son from a musically talented family of nine children. His father was also a musician but supported his family with a job in a local steel mill.

As a young teenager he taught himself to play the fiddle and joined a band led by Blind Roland Martin and his brother Carl Martin. They toured the United States performing a wide range of music, from work songs and spirituals through popular Tin Pan Alley tunes and foreign-language songs. For a few years, Armstrong attended Tennessee State Normal School as an arts student studying painting and design, while also playing cello in the symphony orchestra as well as fiddle in a jazz band.

After serving in World War II, Armstrong moved to Detroit and worked in the auto industry until 1971. With a revival of interest in old-time African-American music, Martin, Bogan and Armstrong reunited. The band recorded, performed at clubs and festivals and went on a tour of South America sponsored by the U.S. State Department. They played together until Martin's death in 1979.

Armstrong was a recipient of a 1990 National Heritage Fellowship awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts, which is the United States government's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts. He and his wife, Barbara Ward Armstrong, were the subject of the 2002 POV documentary Sweet Old Song.

Later life He continued to perform with a younger generation of musicians and released his first solo album, Louie Bluie, in collaboration with Ralphe Armstrong and Ray Kamalay in 1995. The album earned him a W.C. Handy Blues Award nomination for Acoustic Album.

Armstrong was also an avid painter, designing album covers for his group and occasionally for other artists, including Wald. He designed the juke joint set for the 1985 Oscar-nominated film version of The Color Purple.

Discography Louie Bluie (Blue Suit Records, 1995) Louie Bluie (Arhoolie Records, 1985) Martin, Bogan, & The Armstrongs: That Old Gang Of Mine (Flying Fish, 1978) Martin, Bogan & Armstrong: Martin, Bogan & Armstrong (Flying Fish, 1974) Martin, Bogan & Armstrong: The Barnyard Dance (Rounder Records, 1973)

Filmography Louie Bluie (1985), directed by Terry Zwigoff Sweet Old Song (2002), directed by Leah Mahan

Awards and honors 1990 – National Heritage Fellowship 1996 – W.C. Handy Blues Award nomination for Acoustic Album: Howard Armstrong, Ralphe Armstrong, & Ray Kamalay – Louie Bluie 2000 – W.C. Handy Blues Award nomination for Blues Instrumentalist - Other (Violin) 2003 – W.C. Handy Blues Award nomination for Blues Instrumentalist - Other (Mandolin) 2003 – Tennessee Governor's Award in the Arts