Blind Willie McTell was a country blues
singer/guitarist and probably the greatest performer of the Piedmont style of
blues playing. He also played ragtime music. McTell was born blind as William
Samuel McTier, in Thomson , Georgia , in 1898.
McTell learned to read and write music from
Braille, and acquired a six-string guitar in his early teens. He was born into
a musical family, and is a relation of gospel music pioneer, Thomas A. Dorsey.
When his mother died during the Twenties, the now parentless McTell began
wandering The South. He wound up in Atlanta ,
Georgia , in
1927, and scored a recording contract with Victor Records. He would remain in Atlanta and record for
several record companies.
McTell’s best known song is “Statesboro Blues,”
which was recorded by the Allman Brothers Band. The White Stripes have recorded
two of his tunes, “Southern Can Mama” and “Lord, Send Me an Angel.”
McTell’s albums, “Atlanta Twelve String:
Blues Originals Vol. 1” (1972), “The Definitive Blind Willie McTell” (1994),
and “King of Georgia Blues” (2007) are all essential listening.