W.C. Spencer

Baltimore-area bluesman W.c. Spencer plays guitar, harmonica, drums, and organ and sings on his recordings, and his live shows are a spectacle, as he plays drums, guitar, and sings all at the same time, not unlike Mr. Satan of the Satan & Adam blues duo, who recorded for a variety of blues labels in the 1990s. Using an invention of his own creation, an eight-piece Alectroset hybrid drum kit that he plays with just one foot, Spencer can play an organist's bass pedals with the other foot. He plays all the instruments while singing the blues.

Spencer launched his performing career in 1974, after graduating from Lynchburg College in Virginia. Through his performing career, he's had plenty of inspiration from unique guitarists like Roy Buchanan and Danny Gatton. Spencer opened shows and shared stages with both of them during the 1970s and '80s. Spencer began playing guitar in his native Baltimore as a ten-year-old and quickly took his cues from people like Libba Cotten to teach himself acoustic guitar. He wrote his first original composition as a 14-year-old, and by the time he was 15 he got his first electric guitar. In high school he formed his first band, The Heathens, who specialized in British blues and rock & roll bands like The Rolling Stones and The Animals.

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