Jinx

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Blind Willie McTell (5 Mei, 1898 – 19 Augustus, 1959)


Blind Willie was een van my eerste posts op my blog en het sederdien soos sokkies in die was verdwyn?
Die laaste paar dae, sedert die Willie Joe Duncan post het 'n paar mense navraag gedoen oor Blind Willie.
Ek het hom nou maar gaan soek en afgestof.
My vriend Paul  stuur op 'n keer vir my 'n skakel na die volgende webwerf 78rpm records and cylinder recordings Archive  Een aand laat ontdek ek toe hier 'n song  Statesboro Blues wat  meer as 27,000 keer al afgelaai was. My aand is toe daarmee heen, want tot in die vroë oggendure het Blind Willie my met sy verhaal en musiek gefassineer.

Blind Willie was gebore in Thomson, Georgia en het naby Statesboro grootgeword. Blindgebore, alhoewel hy in sy kinderdae effens uit een oog kon sien, het hy vroeg begin mondfluitjie speel en later kitaar.
Sy ouers het albei kitaar gespeel en sy oom was die legendariese Tom Dorsey. In sy tienerjare het Willie oorgeskakel na 'n 12 snaar kitaar. Willie se 12 snaar tegniek was egter uniek en anders as die ander bluesman het Willie die resonansies van 'n 12 snaar geignoreer en met sy elegante,  unieke druk en fingerwerk tegniek, die 12 snaar laat klink soos twee kitare wat speel. Willie het by verskillende blinde skole in Georgia skool gegaan, later in New York en Michigan en was 'n bedrewe braile leser.
 Mooi voorbeelde van sy musiek kan hier na geluister en bekom word.


Bruce Eder- skryf soos volg oor Willie
Blind Willie McTell was one of the giants of the blues, as a guitarist and as a singer and recording artist. Hardly any of his work as passed down to us on record is less than first rate, and this makes most any collection of his music worthwhile. A studious and highly skilled musician whose skills transcended the blues, he was equally adept at ragtime, spirituals, story-songs, hillbilly numbers, and popular tunes, excelling in all of these genres. He could read and write music in braille, which gave him an edge on many of his sighted contemporaries, and was also a brilliant improvisor on the guitar, as is evident from his records. Willie always gave an excellent account of himself, even in his final years of performing and recording.

Searching The Desert For The Blues

You may search the ocean, you might go 'cross the deep blue sea
But Mama, you'll never find another hot shot like me
I followed my baby from the station to the train
And the blues came down like night and showered me
I left her at the station wringing her hands and crying
I told her she had a home, just as long as I had mine
I've got two women, and you can't tell them apart
I've got one in my bossom, and one I got in my heart
The one in my bossom, she's in Tennessee
And the one in my heart, don't even give a darn for me
I used to say a married woman was the sweetest thing that ever been born
But I've changed that thing, you better leave married women alone
Take my advice: let these married women be
'Cause their husbands'll grab you, beat you ragged as a cedar tree
When a woman say she love you 'bout good as she do herself,
I don't pay her no attention, tell that same line to somebody else
I really don't believe no woman in the whole round world do right,
act like an angel in the daytime, mess by the ditch at night
I'm going, pretty mama, please don't break this rule;
that's why I'm searching these deserts for the blues
I'm going, pretty mama, searching these deserts now
That's why I'm walking my baby home anyhow
Lord, oh Lord
Lordy, Lordy, Lord
Oh Lordy Lord
Lord, Lord, Lord
When a woman say she love you 'bout good as she do herself,
I don't pay her no attention, tell that same line to somebody else
Lord, Lord
Lord, Lord, Lord


McTell worked under a variety of names, and with a multitude of partners, including his one time wife Ruthy Kate Williams (who recorded with him under the name Ruby Glaze), and also Buddy Moss and Curley Weaver. McTell cut some of his best songs more than once in his career. Like many bluesmen, he recorded under different names simultaneously, and was even signed to Columbia and Okeh Records, two companies that ended up merged at the end of the 1930s, at the same time under two names. His recording career never gave Willie quite as much success as he had hoped, partly due to the fact that some of his best work appeared during the depths of the Depression. He was uniquely popular in Atlanta, where he continued to live and work throughout most of his career, and, in fact, was the only blues guitarist of any note from the city to remain active in the city until well after World War II.
Willie was well known enough that Library of Congress archivist John Lomax felt compelled to record him in 1940, although during the war, like many other acoustic country bluesmen, his recording career came to a halt. Luckily for Willie and generations of listeners after him, however, there was a brief revival of interest in acoustic country blues after World War II that brought him back into the studio. Amazingly enough, the newly founded Atlantic Records — which was more noted for its recordings of jazz and R&B — took an interest in Willie and cut 15 songs with him in Atlanta during 1949. The one single released from these sessions, however, didn't sell, and most of those recordings remained unheard for more than 20 years after they were made. A year later, however, he was back in the studio, this time with his longtime partner Curley Weaver, cutting songs for the Regal label. None of these records sold especially well, however, and while Willie kept playing to anyone who would listen, the bitter realities of life had finally overtaken him, and he began drinking on a regular basis. He was rediscovered in 1956, just in time to get one more historic session down on tape.
It's your time to worry

In 1956 het 'n  Atlanta platewinkel bestuurder , Edward Rhodes, ontdek McTell speel op die straathoek vir pennies en hy lok hom toe in sy winkel in met 'n bottel whiskey  Hier neem hy toe Willie se finale optrede op met 'n weggesteekte bandopnemer . Dit was na Willie se dood vrygestel op die Prestige/Bluesville Records Label as Blind Willie McTell se laaste sessie. Bob Dylan het 'n pragtige lied Blind Willie Mctell oor Blind Willie geskryf en dit word mooi hier opgevoer deur The Highlights, 'n Bob Dylan Tribute Band.

Rest in Peace



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