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Blind Willie McTell
Piedmont blues and ragtime singer and guitarist (1898–1959)
Blind Willie McTell was an American Piedmont blues and ragtime singer, songwriter and guitarist. He played in a fluid, syncopated finger picking guitar style common among many East Coast, Piedmont blues players.
Like his Atlanta contemporaries, he came to use twelve-string guitars exclusively. McTell was also adept at slide guitar, unusual among ragtime bluesmen.
He sang in a smooth and often laid-back tenor which differed greatly from the harsher voices of many Delta bluesmen such as Charley Patton. He performed in various musical styles including blues, ragtime, religious music, and hokum and recorded more than 120 titles during fourteen recording sessions.
labels: Bluebird Records, Columbia Records, Victor Talking Machine Company
genres: blues
plays: guitar, harmonica
Facts from Wikidata and Discogs, free to use.
bluescountry bluespiedmont bluesacoustic bluesprewar blues
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Influence
McTell's influence extended over a wide variety of artists. His most famous song, "Statesboro Blues" was adapted by Taj Mahal on his debut album with Jesse Ed Davis on slide guitar, then covered and frequently performed by the Allman Brothers Band. It also shows up on Canned Heat's "Goin' Up the Country" album. A short list of some of the artists who have performed the song includes David Bromberg, Dave Van Ronk, The Devil Makes Three, Chris Smither and Ralph McTell, who changed his name because he liked the song. “Statesboro Blues" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2017. 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; the...
Born: May 05, 1898 in Thomson, GA, United States
Died: August 19, 1959 in Milledgeville, GA, United States
McTell was a prolific 12-string blues guitarist and vocalist who recorded a great deal of 78s for the Victor, Columbia, ARC, OKeh, and Decca labels during the 1920s and '30s, often performing under pseudonyms. In 1940, the field recordist John A. Lomax located McTell working as a street performer in his homebase of Atlanta, Georgia, and recorded him for the Library of Congress. McTell's career revived briefly in 1949 when he recorded sessions for the Atlantic and Regal labels, but was never able to re-establish in these post-war years the level of fame he had enjoyed during the heyday of the "race records." McTell died of a stroke in 1959.
Was married to .
Also shown in BMI files as Ernest B McTell.
Also known as: "Blind" Willie McTell, 'Blind' Willie McTell, (Blind Willie McTell), B. W. McTell, B. Willie Mctell
From Discogs (free to use). Their entry
Liner notes
Blind Willie McTell, the records, oldest first
Last Session
1962 album
The Complete 1940 Library of Congress Recordings
2000 album
Trying To Get Home
2011 album
Records from MusicBrainz; covers from the Cover Art Archive.
