Joseph Doctor, known as Washboard Doc, was an American New York blues musician, who specialised in playing the washboard.
10 Facts About Washboard Doc
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Washboard Doc recorded with Victoria Spivey, Alec Seward, Paul Oscher, Screamin' Jay Hawkins and Big Joe Turner among others.
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Washboard Doc was born in Johns Island, Charleston County, South Carolina, United States.
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Once established, using the 'stage name' of Washboard Doc, he performed on the streets of the city playing an improvised washboard with various percussive attachments.
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In May 1969, in Willie Dixon's basement recording studio in Chicago, Illinois, Washboard Doc provided backing on five tracks which, along with other performers work, was released on the 1970 album, Victoria Spivey Presents The All Star Blues World of Spivey Records in Stereo, issued unsurprisingly on Spivey Records.
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Washboard Doc similarly provided his washboard backing to a small number of tracks on two subsequent Spivey Records collections that were released that year.
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One music journalist noted that Washboard Doc "played with varying degrees of appropriateness".
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Washboard Doc had been present at a house party in 1966 in New York, that included fellow musicians Alec Seward, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee.
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In 1984, Washboard Doc backed Screamin' Jay Hawkins on his album, The Art of Screamin' Jay Hawkins, another Spivey Records offering.
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Washboard Doc died in Brooklyn, on September 16,1988, aged 77.