 He played with Charlie Creath on riverboats, then led his Golden Melody Band from 1920 to 1923.In 1926 he performed with his St. Louis Charleston Peacock Band on the Streckfus Steamboat Lines' steamer "Capitol".He continued to be a regular performer on riverboats into the early 1940s, heading his groups and working as a sideman for Creath and Fate Marable.