Nat Reese
Nat Reese is a stunning acoustic-blues singer who, at age eighty-six, plays with relentless passion and soul. Reese was born in Salem, Virginia, in 1924, but soon moved with his family to the coal camps of West Virginia. Nat learned songs from itinerant black musicians who rode the rails from one mountain coal camp to another.
- Coal Camp Blues
- Princeton, West Virginia
Nat Reese is a stunning acoustic-blues singer who, at age eighty-six, plays with relentless passion and soul. Reese was born in Salem, Virginia, in 1924, but soon moved with his family to the coal camps of West Virginia. Nat learned songs from itinerant black musicians who rode the rails from one mountain coal camp to another. Such camps were essentially company towns divided into “colored,” white, and Italian sections, and the musicians played venues across the sections, developing repertoires tailored for different audiences. As such, young Nat was exposed to the blues at rowdy mostly-black juke joints and to country music at mostly-white honky-tonks. He first performed publicly at age nine, and had a long string of performances at regional coal camps such as Black Bottom, Fireco, Pineville, and Welch. He later sang with the gospel quartet Kings of Harmony, and in 1939 joined the Harmonizing Four Gospel Quartet. Nat performed regularly with multi-instrumentalist Howard Armstrong until Armstrong’s death in 2003. Nat is a national treasure, and he will be joined in Richmond by gifted harmonica player Phil Wiggins for what truly will be one of the most memorable sets of the festival.
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Nathaniel Hawthorne Reese passed away today, 6/9/12, at age 88.