Born Alec Seward on March 16, 1902, in Charles City, VA, as a child (he had 14 siblings), he picked up the guitar and began playing regularly at local dances. When he turned 18, he packed up and moved to New York with the intention of professionally playing music. Along the way, Seward struck up a friendship with two bluesmen who played in the same acoustic Piedmont style as he did, Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry.

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