"Dr.Ross"

Ross was a throwback to a bygone era, harking back to the itinerant country-blues players wandering the Delta region during the earlier years of the 20th century.He was a one-man band, playing guitar, harmonica and hi-hat simultaneously.
Born Charles Isaiah Ross on October 21, 1925 in Tunica, Mississippi, he took early inspiration from the music of Robert Johnson, Blind Boy Fuller and Sonny Boy Williamson I; primarily a harpist — hence his nickname "The Harmonica Boss".(The "Doc" moniker was acquired because he carried his harmonicas in a doctor's bag.)

During the early 1950s, Ross recorded his first sides — among them "Chicago Breakdown" — for labels including Sun and Chess; in 1954 he settled in Flint, Michigan, where he went to work as a janitor for General Motors, a position he held until retiring. In 1965 he cut his first full-length LP, Call the Doctor.

His harmonica playing is rooted in the old fashioned, rythmic styles of Sonny Terry and John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson. He mostly plays simple riffs to understate his rythm guitar and the stomping beat on the hi-hat.