Songster
A songster is the name for a special form of traveling musician in the southern United States at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. The songsters' repertoire consisted of ballads, spirituals and popular melodies. The songsters had a significant influence on the blues that formed , with many early blues musicians starting out as songsters.
Songsters were not only on their own, but also often accompanied so-called medicine shows that went from place to place to sell ointments and elixirs. Songsters fulfilled the task of attracting an audience as entertainers, who were then offered the preparations afterwards.
The singer and guitarist Funny Papa Smith had a typical songster career in the Dallas area in the 1920s .