Blind Dog Radio

Pink Anderson

Blues showman and medicine show huckster, a Carolina mainstay from the late 1910s til his death in '74. 

Pinkney Anderson, b. February 12, 1900 in Laurens, SC, d. October 12, 1974 in Spartanburg, SC. For much of his life, Anderson was Spartanburg’s most famous songster and medicine show huckster. He was 10 when he first learned to play the guitar in open tuning. He also earned money as a buck dancer on the streets of Laurens. In 1917 he joined ‘Doctor’ W.R. Kerr’s medicine show, learning every facet of the calling, and stayed with the show, with Peg Leg Sam as his straight man, until it ceased in 1945. When not on the road, he partnered Simmie Dooley, a blind guitarist from whom he learned to tune his guitar and play chords. In 1928 the pair recorded four titles for Columbia Records in Atlanta. One of the songs, ‘Every Day In The Week’, also featured on a May 1950 session, recorded while Anderson was performing at the State Fair in Charlottesville, and released in conjunction with titles by another Laurens musician, Rev. Gary Davis. Anderson continued to work the medicine shows, teaming up with Baby Tate, until heart trouble forced his retirement in 1957. In 1961 he recorded three albums for Bluesville, each with a theme: blues, medicine show songs and folk ballads. Gradually, deteriorating health prevented him from working. An album project for Trix, begun in 1970, was never realized.

He died in October 1974, of a heart attack at the age of 74. He is interred at Lincoln Memorial Gardens in Spartanburg. Anderson's son, known as Little Pink Anderson (b. July 13, 1954), is currently a bluesman living in Vermillion, South Dakota.