Delta Blind Billy

Delta Blind Billy, or simply Blind Billy, was an American Delta blues artist and outlaw.[1] He performed with contemporaries such Arthur Big Boy Crudup, and Papa Charlie McCoy, as a traveling blues man throughout Mississippi.[2] One of his more notable songs, "Hidden Man Blues" was an early variant of "Man of Constant Sorrow" using the following lines, "Man of sorrow all my days Left the home where I been raised."[3] Delta Blind Billy's play on Man of Constant Sorrow suggests he traveled extensively, possibly through Appalachia. He is known for recording songs about being an outlaw, despite being blind.[4]

Delta Blind Billy is not to be confused with an earlier "Blind Billy" who was a former slave and musician.[5]

Here are links to free recordings of several of Delta Blind Billy's songs:


References

  1. ↑ "Watch Delta Blind Billy Video". Ovguide.com. Retrieved 2012-05-05.
  2. ↑ "In praise of … Delta bluesmen | Comment is free". The Guardian. 2007-09-26. Retrieved 2012-05-05.
  3. ↑ Xavier Zinn, Bob Dylan's Songs of the 1960's (Websters Digital Service, 2011) 32.
  4. ↑ "Delta Blind Billy / Waitin Round For you Woman : Delta Blind Billy : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive". Archive.org. 2001-03-10. Retrieved 2012-05-05.
  5. ↑ "African–American History Month 2008 at the Library of Virginia". Lva.virginia.gov. Retrieved 2014-06-14.