Blind Willie McTell

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Blind Willie McTell (May 5, 1901 - August 15, 1959) was an influential blues singer and guitarist. He was born in Thomson, Georgia and died in Milledgeville, Georgia.

McTell was a twelve-string finger picking guitarist and singer who recorded from 1927 to 1955. One of his most famous songs, “Statesboro Blues” has been covered by many artists including Taj Mahal and The Allman Brothers Band. In 1983, Bob Dylan recorded a tribute song for McTell, using the folk melody of “St. James Infirmary Blues,” although the track went unreleased until 1991. In 1993, Dylan paid further tribute to McTell by recording McTell’s song “Broke Down Engine.”

Blind from late childhood and an adept reader of Braille, McTell showed an inherent proficiency in music from an early age and learned to play the six-string guitar as soon as he could. His father left the family when McTell was still young, so 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 of Atlanta.

In the years before World War II, he recorded prodigiously, for a wide variety of labels under an equal variety of names, but his style was singular: a form of country blues, bridging the gap between the raw blues of the Mississippi Delta and the more refined Piedmont Blues sound. The style is well documented on Alan Lomax’s 1940 recordings of McTell for the Library of Congress. Post-war, he recorded briefly for Atlantic Records, but the recordings met with less commercial success than his previous works. He continued performing some live shows in his hometown of Atlanta, but his continued career was cut short by ill health, predominantly diabetes. In 1959, a year after the death of his wife of 24 years, he died of a stroke.

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blues, delta blues, classic blues, country blues, folk
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Best of Blind Willie McTell: Classic Recordings…
Blind Willie McTell
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The Essential
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Atlanta Twelve String
Blind Willie McTell
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The Early Years (1927-1933)
Blind Willie McTell
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Top Tracks

1	Delia full track	510
2	Statesboro Blues full track	244
3	Broke Down Engine Blues full track	113
4	Travelin' Blues full track	98
5	Southern Can Is Mine full track	84
6	Low Rider's Blues full track	83
7	Dark Night Blues full track	76
8	Georgia Rag full track	75
9	Drive Away Blues full track	73
10	Broke Down Engine full track	68
11	Dying Crapshooter's Blues full track	64
12	Love Changing Blues full track	57
13	Three Women Blues full track	55
14	Loving Talking Blues full track	54
15	Atlanta Strut full track	46

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jalopy22 wrote:
September 2009

looky yonda!

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Dani_Gabarrot wrote:
August 2009

I discovered him thanks to the song that Dylan dedicated to him.

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vmsolo wrote:
August 2009

nobody ain't got shit on Blind Willie.

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kerouacid wrote:
July 2009

"You should remember that you were born to die."

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oohlawdylawdy wrote:
July 2009

there's a brilliant biography of Blind Willie - "HAND ME MY TRAVELIN' SHOES: In Search Of Blind Willie McTell" - by Michael Gray, full of newly-found facts about his life and work. It even shows he was born in 1903, NOT 1901! It comes out in the States on September 1st from Chicago Review Press; it's already out in the UK, from Bloomsbury. First Willie biog ever! Great stuff.

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BillyIdolsHair wrote:
June 2009

"You'll never find another hotshot like me"... haha oh man

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bcwilliamson wrote:
June 2009

great blues. you might want to check out B.C. Williamson, who is a fictional blues artist with an endlessly complicated backstory, spanning over 60 years. and now he has a 22-track compilation album coming out. "The Greatest Blues Singer Who Never Lived."

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Oppressotron wrote:
May 2009

PPPPFFFFF! I love the banter about Jack White and Blind Willie McTell. I have to toss my two cents in too, mainly because I just popped in my Blind Willie McTell CD that I bought yesterday and Lordy, Lordy, track 4 was “Send me an angel down” which was covered by… Yep, the White Stripes (they also took lyrics from Searchn’ the desert blues and added to their version). What really gets me is the fact that Jack sounds (at times) just so much like McTell. Even if you dislike one or the other, if you REALLY sit down and listen to both you’ll agree with me I’m sure.

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davidboner wrote:
May 2009

I was hitting on this girl at the bar and started singing her "Southern Can" and begged me to have her. I took her home and reminded her her southern can was mine.

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DrCaligari wrote:
May 2009

woah. one blind bluesman who was really blind :F

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solartarkovski wrote:
May 2009

old man... very very super

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Chiaroscurist wrote:
May 2009

<3

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Chiaroscurist wrote:
May 2009

lawdy lawdlawdlawd

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bcwilliamson wrote:
April 2009

i've never been able to play 12 string, and i'm not blind! will always continue to amaze long after his death. some of you people might like to check out my music of a similar era... http://www.last.fm/music/B.C.+Williamson god bless

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pgee13 wrote:
April 2009

it hardly seems right to compare [the bulk of] jack white's work and willie. jack has a lot more at his fingertips as far as production and instrumentation. This is not to say that he is in any way better than willie, but the times, culture and technology are far too different to be comparing them. that said, you can definitely hear the influence of willie and son house in jack's work.

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inkchris wrote:
March 2009

Grand!

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Eric_Blair wrote:
February 2009

I mean, they are not similar at all

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Eric_Blair wrote:
February 2009

What the fuck are people doing with these Jack White references. That guy pales when compared to Blind Willi McTell.

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CDPETE01 wrote:
February 2009

listen to dylan track bootleg 1-3 entitled Blind Willie Mctell,happy listening

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CDPETE01 wrote:
February 2009

who is this jack white bloke you are all raving about????????

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