Charlie Segar

Who is Charlie Segar?

Charlie Segar was an American blues pianist and occasional singer, who is best known for the blues standard, "Key to the Highway" in 1940. Originally from Pensacola, Florida, Segar has been dubbed the "Keyboard Wizard Supreme". He relocated to Chicago, where he made recordings with other blues artists, such as Bumble Bee Slim and Memphis Minnie, as well as being the featured artist. "Key to the Highway" is one of eight known songs Segar recorded under his own name between 1934 and 1940 for Decca and Vocalion.

Charlie Segar's original "Key to the Highway" was done in the form of a mid-tempo twelve-bar blues. When Jazz Gillum recorded it later that year, the song became an eight-bar blues, as it is usually known.

Eight of Segar's song performances appear on the compilation album, Piano Blues, Vol. 2: 1927-1956.

Segar's version of "Key to the Highway" appears on Chicago Blues 1940 - 1947.