Also known as Louie Bluie, Howard Armstrong was a fiddler whose eclectic music was informed by the Black string band tradition of the 1920s and '30s. He began performing as a teen alongside Knoxville performers Ted Bogan and Carl Martin in groups like the Tennessee Chocolate Drops and the Four Aces. Unlike many Black performers of the era who performed only "race music," their repertoire included old-time jigs, reels, waltzes, rags, and minstrel show favorites, as well as current jazz, blues, and Tin Pan Alley hits. Their career stalled at the end of the '30s, but Armstrong began performing again in the '70s, and was the subject of an acclaimed 1985 documentary, Louie Bluie.