Granville Henry "Stick" McGhee^[2] (March 23, 1918 – August 15, 1961)^[3] was an Americanjump blues guitarist, singer and songwriter, best known for hisblues song "Drinkin' Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee", which he wrote withJ. Mayo Williams.^[4]

McGhee was born inKnoxville, Tennessee, and grew up inKingsport, Tennessee.^[1] He received hisnickname when he was a child. He used a stick to push a wagon carrying his older brotherBrownie McGhee, who had contractedpolio.^[5] Granville began playing the guitar when he was thirteen years old. After his freshman year he dropped out ofhigh school and worked with his father at theEastman Kodak subsidiary, Tennessee Eastman Company in Kingsport. In 1940, Granville quit his job and moved toPortsmouth, Virginia, and then toNew York City. He entered the military in 1942 and served in theU.S. Army duringWorld War II.^[5] After being discharged in 1946, he settled in New York.^[6]

In the military, McGhee often played his guitar. One of the songs he performed was "Drinkin' Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee", one of the earliestprototypical rock-and-roll songs.Cover versions were recorded byWynonie Harris,Lionel Hampton,Big John Greer,Johnny Burnette,Jerry Lee Lewis, andMike Bloomfield'sElectric Flag (as "Wine").^[1] The song lent its name to the alcoholic fruit drinkspodi. In 1946 Granville and Brownie McGhee wrote a version of the song that did not use profanity.^[5] Harlem Records released the new version in January 1947. It sold for 49 cents. It did not get muchairplay until two years later, when Stick re-created the song forAtlantic Records.^[1] It was on theBillboardR&Bchart for almost half a year, rising to number 2, where it stayed for four weeks.^[5]

Numerous cover versions of his songs were recorded over the years. The first cover was byLionel Hampton, featuringSonny Parker; next was a cover byWynonie Harris, followed by a hillbilly-bop version by Loy Gordon & His Pleasant Valley Boys. "Drinkin' Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee" continued to be popular throughout the 1950s in cover versions by various artists, includingMalcolm Yelvington in 1954,Johnny Burnette in 1957, andJerry Lee Lewis in 1959.^[5]

McGhee continued to make records for Atlantic and created popular songs such as "Tennessee Waltz Blues",^[1] "Drank Up All the Wine Last Night", "Venus Blues", "Let's Do It", and "One Monkey Don't Stop No Show", but his music career overall was not successful.^[5] McGhee moved from Atlantic toEssex Records, for which he recorded "My Little Rose". Therecord was not commercially successful, so he moved toKing Records in 1953.^[1] There he recorded a number ofrock-and-roll songs, such a "Whiskey, Women and Loaded Dice", "Head Happy with Wine", "Jungle Juice", "Six to Eight", "Double Crossin' Liquor", "Dealin' from the Bottom", and "Get Your Mind Out of the Gutter". However, he was unable to make money from his records, so he left King forSavoy Records in 1955. In the late 1950s McGhee recorded album tracks with Sonny Terry for the Folkways and Prestige-Bluesville labels. In 1960 he cut the songs "Sleep in Job" and "Money Fever" in New York with Terry. The tracks were released on Herald Records. This was McGhee's last recording session. He retired from themusic industry in 1960.^[5] He became ill shortly afterward and died in August 1961.^[6]

McGhee died oflung cancer inThe Bronx, New York, on August 15, 1961, at the age of forty-three.^[7] He left his old guitar to Brownie's son before he died.^[5] McGhee was interred atLong Island National Cemetery on August 21, 1961.^[8]

This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding to it.(October 2018)

WithSonny Terry

• Sonny's Story (Bluesville, 1960)

• List of people from Tennessee

• Stick McGhee discography

• 1918 births
• 1961 deaths
• People from Knoxville, Tennessee
• American blues guitarists
• American male guitarists
• American blues singers
• Songwriters from Tennessee
• Deaths from lung cancer in New York (state)
• Burials at Long Island National Cemetery
• Atlantic Records artists
• 20th-century American singers
• 20th-century American guitarists
• Guitarists from Tennessee
• 20th-century American male singers
• American male songwriters
• 20th-century American songwriters

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