| Blind Willie McTell | |
|---|---|
McTell recording for John Lomax in an Atlanta hotel room, November 1940. Photograph by the archivist's wife, Ruby Lomax. |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | William Samuel McTier |
| Also known as | Blind Sammie, Georgia Bill, Hot Shot Willie, Blind Willie, Barrelhouse Sammy, Pig & Whistle Red, Blind Doogie, Red Hot Willie Glaze, Red Hot Willie |
| Born | May 5, 1898 Thomson, Georgia, U.S. |
| Origin | Statesboro, Georgia, U.S. |
| Died | August 19, 1959 (aged 61) Milledgeville, Georgia, U.S. |
| Genres | Country blues, Piedmont blues, ragtime, Delta blues, gospel |
| Occupations | Musician, songwriter, songster, accompanist, preacher |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar, harmonica, accordian, kazoo, violin |
| Years active | 1927–1956 |
| Labels | Victor, Columbia, Okeh, Vocalion, Decca, Atlantic, Regal |
| Associated acts | Curley Weaver, Kate McTell |
| Notable instruments | |
| Stella Jumbo Twelve-String, Stella Grand Concert Twelve-String, Stella Long Scale Grand Concert Twelve-String, Harmony Twelve-String, Harmony-Stella 922[1] | |
Blind Willie McTell (born William Samuel McTier May 5, 1898 – August 19, 1959), was an influential Piedmont and ragtime blues singer and guitarist. He played with a fluid, syncopated fingerstyle guitar technique, common among many exponents of Piedmont blues, although, unlike his contemporaries, he used exclusively a twelve-string guitar. As well as this, McTell was an adept slide guitarist, unusual among many ragtime bluesmen. His vocal style, a smooth and often laid-back tenor, differed greatly from many of the harsher and more expressive voice types employed by Delta bluesmen such as Charlie Patton. McTell embodied a variety of musical styles, including blues, ragtime, religious music, and hokum.
Born blind in the town of Thomson, Georgia, McTell learned how to play the guitar during his teens. He soon became a street performer around several Georgia cities, namely Atlanta; and first recorded in 1927 for Victor Records. Although he never produced a major hit record, McTell's recording career was prolific, recording for different labels under different names all throughout the 1920s and 30s, often with other people. In 1940, he was recorded by John Lomax for the Library of Congress's folk song archive. He would remain active throughout the 1940s and 50s, playing on the streets of Atlanta, often with his longtime partner Curley Weaver. Twice more he recorded professionally. McTell's last recordings originated during an impromptu session recorded by Atlanta record store owner Edward Rhodes in 1956; these were released posthumously. McTell would die three years later after suffering for years from diabetes and alcoholism. Despite his mainly failed releases, McTell was one of the few archaic blues musicians that would live to actively play and record during the 1940s and 50s (although, McTell never lived to be "rediscovered" during the imminent American folk music revival, where many other bluesmen would be rediscovered and given a chance to record).[2]
McTell's influence extended over a wide variety of artists, including The Allman Brothers Band, who famously covered McTell's "Statesboro Blues", and Bob Dylan, who paid tribute to McTell in his 1983 song "Blind Willie McTell". Other artists include Taj Mahal, Alvin Youngblood Hart, The White Stripes, and Chris Smither.
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Born William Samuel McTier[3] in Thomson, Georgia, blind in one eye, McTell had lost his remaining vision by late childhood but became an adept reader of Braille. He showed proficiency in music from an early age, first playing harmonica and accordian and turning to the six-string guitar in his early teens.[3][4] Born into a musical family, both of his parents and an uncle played guitar; he is also a relation of bluesman and gospel pioneer, Thomas A. Dorsey.[3] His father left the family when McTell was still young, and when his mother died in the 1920s, he left his hometown and became a wandering busker. He began his recording career in 1927 for Victor Records in Atlanta.[5]
In the years before World War II, he traveled and performed widely, recording for a number of labels under many different names, including Blind Willie McTell (Victor and Decca), Blind Sammie (Columbia), Georgia Bill (Okeh), Hot Shot Willie (Victor), Blind Willie (Vocalion and Bluebird), Barrelhouse Sammie (Atlantic), and Pig & Whistle Red (Regal).The "Pig 'n Whistle" appellation was a reference to a chain of Atlanta Bar-B-Que restaurants, one of which was located on the south side of East Ponce de Leon between Boulevard and Moreland Avenue. Blind Willie frequently played for tips in the parking lot of this location, which later became the Krispy Kreme. He was also known to play behind the nearby building that later became Ray Lee's Blue Lantern Lounge. His style was singular: a form of country blues bridging the gap between the raw blues of the early part of the 20th century and the more refined east coast "Piedmont" sound. He took on the less common and more unwieldy 12-string guitar because of its volume. The style is well documented on John Lomax's 1940 recordings of McTell for the Library of Congress. McTell earned $10 from these sessions, the equivalent of $154.56 in 2011.[5]
In 1934, he married Ruthy Kate Williams (now better known as Kate McTell).[6] She accompanied him on stage and on several recordings before becoming a nurse in 1939. Most of their marriage from 1942 until his death was spent apart, with her living in Fort Gordon near Augusta and him working around Atlanta.
Postwar, he recorded for Atlantic Records and Regal Records in 1949, but these recordings met with less commercial success than his previous works. He continued to perform around Atlanta, but his career was cut short by ill health, predominantly diabetes and alcoholism.
In 1956, an Atlanta record store manager, Edward Rhodes, discovered McTell playing in the street for quarters and enticed him with a bottle of corn liquor into his store, where he captured a few final performances on a tape recorder. These were released posthumously on Prestige/Bluesville Records as Last Session.[7]
McTell died in Milledgeville, Georgia, of a stroke in 1959. He was buried at Jones Grove Church, near Thomson, Georgia, his birthplace. A fan paid to have a gravestone erected on his resting place. The name given on his gravestone is Eddie McTier.[2]
He was inducted into the Blues Foundation's Hall of Fame in 1981,[8] and into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 1990.
One of McTell's most famous songs, "Statesboro Blues," was frequently covered by The Allman Brothers Band and is considered one of their earliest signature songs. A short list of some of the artists who also perform it includes Taj Mahal, David Bromberg, The Devil Makes Three and Ralph McTell, who changed his name on account of liking the song.[9] Ry Cooder covered McTell's "Married Man's a Fool" on his 1973 album, Paradise and Lunch. Jack White of The White Stripes considers McTell an influence, as their 2000 album De Stijl was dedicated to him and featured a cover of his song "Southern Can Mama". The White Stipes also covered McTell's "Lord, Send Me an Angel", releasing it as a single in 2000.
Bob Dylan has paid tribute to McTell on at least four occasions: Firstly, in his 1965 song "Highway 61 Revisited", the second verse begins with "Georgia Sam he had a bloody nose", referring to one of Blind Willie McTell's many recording names; later in his song "Blind Willie McTell", recorded in 1983 but released in 1991 on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3; then with covers of McTell's "Broke Down Engine" and "Delia" on his 1993 album, World Gone Wrong.;[10] also, in his song "Po'Boy", on 2001's "Love & Theft", which contains the lyric, "had to go to Florida dodging them Georgia laws", which comes from McTell's "Kill It Kid".[11]
A blues bar in Atlanta is named after McTell and regularly features blues musicians and bands. The Blind Willie McTell Blues Festival is held annually in Thomson, Georgia.[12] A new stage production about Blind Willie McTell will premier at the Averritt Arts Center in Willie's hometown of Statesboro, Georgia, in the summer of 2011. The show is entitled "Blind Willie: The Musical".
| Year | A-side | B-side | Label | Cat. # | Moniker | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1927 | "Stole Rider Blues" | "Mr. McTell Got The Blues" | Victor | 21124 | Blind Willie McTell | |
| "Writing Paper Blues" | "Mamma, Tain't Long Fo' Day" | 21474 | ||||
| 1928 | "Three Women Blues" | "Statesboro Blues" | V38001 | |||
| "Dark Night Blues" | "Loving Talking Blues" | V38032 | ||||
| 1929 | "Atlanta Strut" | "Kind Mama" | Columbia | 14657-D | Blind Sammie | |
| "Travelin' Blues" | "Come On Around To My House Mama" | 14484-D | ||||
| "Drive Away Blues" | "Love Changing Blues" | Victor | V38580 | Blind Willie McTell | ||
| 1930 | "Talking To Myself" | "Razor Ball" | Columbia | 14551-D | Blind Sammie | |
| 1931 | "Southern Can Is Mine" | "Broke Down Engine Blues" | 14632-D | |||
| "Low Rider's Blues" | "Georgia Rag" | OKeh | 8924 | Georgia Bill | ||
| "Stomp Down Rider" | "Scarey Day Blues" | 8936 | ||||
| 1932 | "Mama, Let Me Scoop For You" | "Rollin' Mama Blues" | Victor | 23328 | Hot Shot Willie | *w/Ruby Glaze |
| "Lonesome Day Blues" | "Searching The Desert For The Blues" | 23353 | ||||
| 1933 | "Savannah Mama" | "B And O Blues No. 2" | Vocalion | 02568 | Blind Willie | |
| "Broke Down Engine" | "Death Cell Blues" | 02577 | ||||
| "Warm It Up To Me" | "Runnin' Me Crazy" | 02595 | ||||
| "It's A Good Little Thing" | "Southern Can Mama" | 02622 | ||||
| "Lord Have Mercy, If You Please" | "Don't You See How This World Made A Change" | 02623 | *w/"Partner" (Curley Weaver) | |||
| "My Baby's Gone" | "Weary Hearted Blues" | 02668 | ||||
| 1935 | "Bell Street Blues" | "Ticket Agent Blues" | Decca | 7078 | Blind Willie McTell | *w/Kate McTell |
| "Dying Gambler" | "God Don't Like It" | 7093 | ||||
| "Ain't It Grand To Be A Christian" | "We Got To Meet Death One Day" | 7130 | ||||
| "Your Time To Worry" | "Hillbilly Willie's Blues" | 7117 | ||||
| "Cold Winter Day" | "Lay Some Flowers On My Grave" | 7117 | ||||
| 1950 | "Kill It Kid" | "Broke-Down Engine Blues" | Atlantic | 891 | Barrelhouse Sammy | |
| "River Jordan" | "How About You" | Regal | 3260 | Blind Willie | ||
| "It's My Desire" | "Hide Me In Thy Bosom" | 3272 | ||||
| "Love Changing Blues" | "Talkin' To You Mama" | 3277 | Willie Samuel McTell | *w/Curley Weaver *attributed to "Pig and Whistle Band" |
| Year | Artist | A-side | B-side | Label | Cat. # | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1927 | Alfoncy and Bethenea Harris | "Teasing Brown" | "This Is Not The Stove To Brown Your Bread" | Victor | V38594 | |
| 1931 | Ruth Day | "Experience Blues" | "Painful Blues" | Columbia | 14642-D | |
| 1931 | Mary Willis | "Rough Alley Blues" | "Low Down Blues" | OKeh | 8921 | |
| "Talkin' To You Wimmin' About The Blues" | "Merciful Blues" | 8932 | ||||
| 1935 | Curley Weaver | "Tricks Ain't Walking No More" | "Early Morning Blues" | Decca | 7077 | |
| "Sometime Mama" | "Two-Faced Woman" | 7906 | *McTell plays only on B-side | |||
| "Oh Lawdy Mama" | "Fried Pie Blues" | 7664 | ||||
| 1949 | "My Baby's Gone" | "Ticket Agent" | Sittin' In With | 547 |
| Year | Title | Label | Cat. # | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1961 | Last Session | Bluesville | BV 1040 | *recorded in 1956 |
| 1966 | Blind Willie McTell: 1940 |
Melodeon | MLP 7323 | *subtitled The Legendary Library of Congress Session *recorded in 1940 |