Blind Willie McTell - Statesboro Blues: Collected Recordings 1927-1950 / 2CD set

Acrobat has devoted a number of collections to the blues guitarists and singers who represent what is known as the Piedmont school of blues – artists whose roots were in the region surrounding Atlanta, Georgia, and developed a distinctive style of blues during the late 1920s and through the ‘30s, the best-known names including Blind Blake, Barbecue Bob, Curley Weaver, Josh White, Blind Boy Fuller and Buddy Moss. Blind Willie McTell was one of the most prominent of that coterie of performers, and one of the best-known in later years. He had a highly distinctive style, with a fluid fingerstyle technique, playing music that incorporated ragtime, jug band and hokum influences and chord sequences that differentiated it from pure blues more typical of the Delta. This 48-track 2-CD collection comprises a significant proportion of his releases during this era on the Victor, Okeh, Columbia, Bluebird, Vocalion, Decca, Atlantic and Regal labels. It features recordings with his sister Kate McTell and with singer Ruby Glaze, and releases under the names Blind Sammie, Georgia Bill and Barrelhouse Sammy, and with Curley Weaver as The Pig ‘n’ Whistle Band. He is also accompanied by Curley Weaver on second guitar on a number of the recordings. He was a highly individual and stylish performer, with a very extrovert and entertaining approach, and this collection is an enjoyable showcase for his very particular contribution to the Piedmont blues tradition.

- Disc 1 -
1 Stole Rider Blues
2 Mr McTell Got the Blues
3 Mama Ain't Long Fo' Day
4 Writing Paper Blues
5 Three Women Blues
6 Statesboro Blues
7 Loving Talking Blues
8 Dark Night Blues
9 Love Changing Blues
10 Drive Away Blues
11 Kind Mama Blues
12 Atlanta Strut
13 Come Around to My House Mama
14 Traveling Blues
15 Razor Ball
16 Talking to Myself
17 Broke Down Engine Blues
18 Southern Can Is Mine
19 Georgia Rag
20 Low Rider Blues
21 Stomp Down Rider
22 Scarey Day Blues
23 Rolling Mama Blues
24 Mama Let Me Scoop for You

- Disc 2 -
1 Searching the Desert for the Blues
2 Savanah Mama
3 B and O Blues No. 2
4 Death Cell Blues
5 Warm It Up to Me
6 Runnin' Me Crazy
7 It's a Good Little Thing
8 Lord Have Mercy, If You Please
9 Don't You See How This World Made a Change
10 My Baby's Gone
11 Ticket Agent Blues
12 Bell Street Blues
13 Dying Gambler
14 God Don't Like It
15 Hillbilly Willie's Blues
16 Your Time to Worry
17 We Got to Meet Death One Day
18 Cold Winter Day
19 Lay Some Flowers on My Grave
20 Kill It Kid
21 It's My Desire
22 Hide Me in Thy Bosom
23 Talking to You Mama
24 How About You