Spencer Bohren

Q: When did Spencer Bohren die?

Spencer Bohren died on June 8, 2019.

Q: How old was Spencer Bohren when they died?

Spencer Bohren was 69 years old at the time of death.

Q: What was Spencer Bohren's cause of death?

The cause of death of Spencer Bohren was prostate cancer.

Q: When was Spencer Bohren born?

Spencer Bohren was born on April 5, 1950 in Wyoming.

Q: What was Spencer Bohren's occupation?

Spencer Bohren was a singer-songwriter.

Spencer Ward Bohren (April 5, 1950 – June 8, 2019) was an American roots musician, singer, songwriter, teacher, and visual artist. He played guitar, lap steel guitar, banjo, and percussion, and utilized the roots of American traditional music to write songs in blues, country, gospel and folk styles. He has released fourteen albums since 1984.

Biography

Bohren's maternal ancestry is Scots-Irish, and his father's family came from Alsace-Lorraine. Born in Casper, Wyoming, he grew up in a Baptist family in Wyoming and spent time in Denver and Boulder, Colorado, southern Oregon, and Seattle, Washington in the early part of his career. In 1976 he began raising a family with his wife, Marilyn, in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Bohren performed throughout the United States as well as in Canada, England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Italy, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Switzerland, Spain, Mexico, and Japan. He has performed on the A Prairie Home Companion radio program and at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. He has also taught at the Fur Peace Ranch. In the late 1970s and early 1980s he hosted a weekly Monday-night jam session at the Tipitina's music club in New Orleans.

Although he most often worked as a soloist, he performed in several bands, including the Funston Brothers, the Eagle-Ridin' Papa, Butterfat, Rufus Krisp, the Earthtones, and Gone Johnson. He collaborated with folk blues performer Judy Roderick, diesel-billy guitarist Bill Kirchen, opera singer Karen Clift, Dr. John, the Blind Boys of Alabama, and the vocal duo The Tremors.

In the academic world, Bohren presented a musical overview of American roots music, a lecture-performance entitled Down the Dirt Road Blues, which traces the journey of a single song, "Dirt Road Blues," from Africa to the days of slavery in the American South, through the modern age. He used appropriate vintage instruments to orchestrate the story as the song evolves from a simple vocal melody to a blues song, a dance number, a hillbilly banjo piece, a country hit, and into the age of rock 'n' roll.

His CD Carry the Word was named "Best CD of the Year 2000 by a Louisiana Artist" by The Times-Picayune of New Orleans, and he has won the New Orleans Gambit Weekly's "Big Easy Award for Best Folk Artist" several times.

He recorded for the Virgin, Sony/France, Valve, Zephyr, Public Road, Last Call, Loft, Alpha, Great Southern, and New Blues labels.

Also a visual artist, Bohren created artworks that he calls "Reliquaries" and shares his philosophy and techniques with interested students of all ages.

Spencer Bohren and his wife Marilyn lived in New Orleans and home-schooled their four children. The family home suffered significant damage during Hurricane Katrina and Bohren wrote the song "Long Black Line" about the experience.

He appears in television drama HBO's "Treme" in 2012.

He died on June 8, 2019.

Discography

As leader

1984 - Born in a Biscayne (New Blues)
1986 – Down in Mississippi (New Blues)
1989 - Snap your Fingers (Loft Records)
1989 – Live in New Orleans (Great Southern)
1989 - Totta & Hot 'n' Tots featuring Spencer Bohren
1991 - Full Moon (Loft Records)
1994 – Vintage (Zephyr Artists)
1994 - Present Tense (Sony/France)
1997 – Dirt Roads (Zephyr Artists; rereleased in 1998 by Last Call)
2000 – Carry the Word (Zephyr Artists)
2002 – Solitaire (Valve)
2004 – Southern Cross (Valve)
2005 – Down the Dirt Road Blues (Zephyr)
2006 – The Long Black Line (Valve)
2008 – Live at the Tube Temple (Valve)
2010 – The Blues according to Hank Williams(Valve #2987)
2011 – Blackwater Music (Threadhead Records and Valve #4487)
2012 – Born in a Biscayne (Valve #3487)
2013 - Tempered Steel
2015 - Seven Birds
2018 - Makin' it Home To You (with The Whippersnappers)(Valve #7887)

About Spencer Bohren

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Full Biography

Biography

Discography

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Test Your Knowledge – Trivia Challenge

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1.Where was Spencer Bohren born?

2.In what year did Spencer Bohren begin raising a family in New Orleans, Louisiana?

3.What is the ancestry of Spencer Bohren's mother?

4.How many albums has Spencer Bohren released since 1984?

5.What is the name of the weekly jam session Spencer Bohren hosted in the late 1970s and early 1980s?

6.Which television show did Spencer Bohren appear in during 2012?

7.What was the name of the lecture-performance presented by Spencer Bohren in the academic world?

8.Which award did Spencer Bohren win several times from the New Orleans Gambit Weekly?

9.What is the name of the song Spencer Bohren wrote about the experience of Hurricane Katrina?

10.Which of these bands did Spencer Bohren perform in?

11.In what year did Spencer Bohren die?

12.What term does Spencer Bohren use to describe the artworks he creates as a visual artist?

13.Which of these artists collaborated with Spencer Bohren?

14.Which publication named Carry the Word as the Best CD of the Year 2000 by a Louisiana Artist?

15.Which instruments did Spencer Bohren play?

16.In which country did Spencer Bohren perform?

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