Martin, Bogan & The Armstrongs

Violinist, storyteller, and philosopher Howard Armstrong was a member of the remarkable Black string band Martin, Bogan & the Armstrongs. In their prime, Virginia-born guitar and mandolin blues artist Carl Martin, guitarist Ted Bogan, and string player Howard Armstrong, the group enjoyed multiple incarnations, starting in the 1930s as the Four Keys, then morphing into the Tennessee Chocolate Drops and then the Wandering Troubadours before they stuck with the name Martin, Bogan & the Armstrongs. They played individually and collectively throughout the mid-South on the radio, at medicine shows, and passing the hat at taverns. The group reunited as Martin, Bogan & the Armstrongs in the early '70s and enjoyed substantial blues revival acclaim. After Carl Martin died, Bogan and Armstrong continued -- the duo were still the greatest living exponents of the Black string-band style, equally at home playing blues, swing, jazz, ragtime, and older string band material.