Columbia, SC (WLTX) -- Many of you already know him as The Blues Doctor, who played on the same stage as B.B. King, Sam Cooke and Chubby Checker.
If you don't know Mr. Drink Small of Lee County, South Carolina, maybe you've seen him with his guitar on the Five Points mural facing Harden Street.
He's 87 years old, and although he lost his sight six years ago, he's still on stage making us groove to the music.
"You gotta talk to me to get my story."
Drink Small was born in Bishopville, South Carolina, January 28, 1933.
"I said, 'Lord, I can't crop no tobacco and I can't pick no cotton. Would you please make me a guitar picker?'" said Small. "The Lord took about 10 minutes. The Lord said, 'I tell you what I'll make you Drink Small, I'm gonna make you be a good guitar picker. 'Lord, I ain't gonna let you down. I'm gonna pick this guitar until my nose gets snotty and I ain't gotta worry about nobody.'"
When Small was young, he says he ran across the sibling of Alan Lomax, a folk music archivist who traveled the south in the early 1900's recording songs by other artists.
The Smithsonian writes, these recordings that included prison and field songs "...would have simply disappeared if he had not been there to document them."
"Alan Lomax was the man before the copyright," said Small.
He says Bess Lomax, Alan's sister, helped him hone his craft.
"She helped me with my guitar," said Small. "[They] put me on the Amtrak train to come back from Washington. She said, 'Drink Small,' I said, 'Yes ma'am.' 'No matter who you see, you tell them that Bess Lomax Hawes helped you with your guitar on the Amtrak train to come back [home]."
Since then, Small has played in venues across the nation - from the Township in Columbia to the Apollo in New York City.
His wife, Andrina, also tells us he's played at various international sites.
His first time playing at the famous Apollo, he says, was in 1957.
"I played at one theater in Philadelphia called the Met Theater off Broad Street," said Small. "I was there when Sam Cooke got booed off stage."
He's shared a stage with James Brown, Lou Rawls, Jerry Butler and Koko Taylor. He says he's witnessed Ray Charles and Louis Armstrong own the crowd.
"I got an N.E.A. That's the National Endowment for the Arts," said Small. "I've been playing since before some people were born."
Over 60 years and counting, Drink Small has played a pivotal role in the Columbia music scene.
With his guitar Geraldine, he still plays solo gigs and is still a member of a 3-piece band.
"What makes the 'Drinkism'? The way Drink thinks, the way he saw it, a little bit of his '-ism', with a little bit of rhythm, and you call that 'Drinkism'."
Small is planning to play with the band at his birthday celebration, February 28. He acknowledged that the party was a month late, and clarified that he celebrates his birthday year-round.