FRANK HOVINGTON
Franklin "Frank" Hovington comenzó a tocar de muy niño , al principio el ukulele y el banjo eran sus " juguetes " preferidos . Se unió a Willliam Walker a finales de los años 30 y los 40 tocando junto en fiestas y bailes en Frederica, DE. Hovington se trasladó a Washington, D.C., a finales de los años 40, y apoyó a grupos como Stewart Dixon Golden Stars y Ernest Ewin Jubilee Four. También trabajó con la banda de Billy Stewart. Hovington se trasladó a Delaware en 1967, llegando a grabar para Flyright en 1975. Su 1975 LP está considerado como una obra maestra, y alertó a mucha gente de sus habilidades , que decubrieron en él un gran trabajador del Blues.
Franklin "Frank" Hovington (January 9, 1919 – June 21, 1982), also known as Guitar Frank, was an American blues musician. He played the guitar and banjo and sang in the Piedmont blues style. He lived in the vicinity of Frederica, Delaware.
Hovington was born in Reading, Pennsylvania. On a tip from the folklorist Peter B. Lowry, he was recorded by Dick Spottswood and Bruce Bastin, with an album released on Flyright Records in the UK (available on CD) and on Rounder Records in the US). Selections were recorded by Axel Küstner and Siggi Christmann for German release, most recently issued by Evidence Records in the US.
He disliked travel and did not play away from his Delaware home, afraid that he would lose his welfare support payments, and so did not get the publicity from music festival appearances that his talent deserved.
Recorded October 11, 1980 in Frederica, Delaware by Siegfried Christmann and Axel Küstner
Bruce Bastin called Franklin Hovington or Guitar Frank as he was also known, "one of the finest singers to have been recorded during the 1970's...steeped in a tradition which is as much part of him as is the countryside about him." Bastin and Dick Spotswood recorded Frank in 1975, issuing the album Lonesome Road Blues on the Flyright label (reissued in 2000 as Gone With The Wind with several additional tracks). Frank was still in fine form when he reluctantly agreed to perform for Axel Küstner and Siegfried Christmann in 1980. The results were issued as part of their remarkable Living Country Blues series. Hovington started on ukulele and banjo as a child and teamed with Willliam Walker in the late '30s and '40s playing at house parties and dances in Frederica, Delaware. Hovington moved to Washington D.C. in the late '40s, and backed such groups as Stewart Dixon's Golden Stars and Ernest Ewin's Jubilee Four. Hovington moved to Delaware in 1967 where he passed in 1982. ~ source: Big Road Blues
Photography by O.Winston Link; Alfred Eisenstaedt; Frank Hovington: Flyright FLYLP 522 (UK)
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