Cootie Stark

Biography

Johnny Miller (December 27, 1927 – April 14, 2005), known as Cootie Stark, was an American Piedmont blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. His best remembered recordings were "Metal Bottoms" and "Sandyland." Stark was known as the "King of the Piedmont Blues."

Biography

Stark was born Johnny Miller in Abbeville, South Carolina, the son of sharecroppers, and grew up in Anderson County. Stark was given his first guitar by his father at the age of 14, having then relocated to Greenville, South Carolina. His poor eyesight meant that he was unable to find regular employment. He began busking on street corners, and learned his art from fellow street performers such as Peg Leg Sam, Pink Anderson and Josh White plus, particularly in his earliest days, from Baby Tate. He acquired the nickname, Sugar Man, and continued to work his trade as a songster in the area. His performing name of Cootie Stark was an amalgam of a childhood nickname and his grandfather's surname.
His eyesight deteriorated until he was legally registered as blind, but Stark continued to perform across the State and beyond, often using the name Blind Johnny Miller. However, by the 1980s, with playing prospects diminishing, Stark settled in Greenville. "By then, the real Piedmont blues was pretty much gone," he stated. "All them guys were dead and gone and I wasn't making no headway." In 1997, when Stark was over 70 years old, he was heard playing Fats Domino songs by Tim Duffy, the founder of the Music Maker Relief Foundation. Their record label released Stark's debut album, Sugar Man×Sugar ManReleaseSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Metal Bottoms4:402Someday Baby3:273Jigroo5:474Padlock Blues4:395Lonely Blues3:596Cut Down That Old Pine Tree3:337Howlin Wolf5:148Leaving Here, Sure Don't Want to Go4:109Send You Back to Georgia3:2310Sandyland4:0311Blue Smokey Mountain4:2412Were You There, When They Crucified My Lord?15:37, in 1999. In 2003, Stark released his second and final album, Raw Sugar×Raw SugarStudio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 14 tracks1High Yellow4:162Keep On Walkin'3:323I'm So Lonely6:034Big Leg Women4:585Alberta4:536Shuckin Corn4:467U-Haul5:398Sarah5:279Blues Around My Bed5:3810Lay it on You3:2511So Sweet4:2012Set a Date6:2013Cootie's Testimony7:2814Baby Tate4:23, when he was again accompanied on record by Taj Mahal. He received the South Carolina Folk Heritage Award in 2005.
Stark died at the age of 77, in Greenville, in April 2005.