Week 19: Statesboro Blues



Blind Willie McTell

The Man

Blind Willie McTell is an absolute legend of the blues. One of the most accomplished of the Piedmont guitarists, his recorded works cover a wide range of styles and his 12 string playing has a delicacy that is unique among the early blues players.

William Samuel McTier was born in Thompson, Georgia, on May 5th in either 1898 or 1901. His unwed mother was 14 year old Minnie Watkins and his father, Eddie McTier was a moonshiner and gambler and left the family after a few months. William was born blind in one eye, and soon lost his sight in the other. Minnie took the McTier name for her blind son and for herself, and moved to the tiny village of Stapleton, a few miles to the south.

Minnie worked in the cotton fields, the primary industry in Georgia, and the only work available for share croppers after the end of slavery. When William was 9, they moved to the nearby large town of Statesboro which was rapidly growing due to the cotton trade. William started school in Stateboro, where due to the phonetic pronunciation of his regional Georgian accent, he was taught his last name was spelt “McTell”.

Minnie was a competent guitar player, and started to teach William on a six string in Statesboro. He took to it like a duck to water, and by his early teens was good enough to play for money on the street. Despite his blindness, he took to the road as a teen, following travelling medicine shows. His mother remarried and had another son, but she died in 1920 bringing William back to Statesboro.

Due to the generosity of neighbours and local businesses, William attended schools for the blind in Macon, Georgia, Michigan and New York where he learnt to read and write braille. Between schoolings he stayed on the road working for minstrel and medicine shows, and playing on the street in the towns he visited. He would return to Statesboro often, but the town was in decline.

The bo weevil is a major pest of cotton crops and in the early 20s it had hit the primary industry of rural Georgia hard. From 1915 to 1923 the weevil had reduced Georgia’s cotton production by half, forcing the residents of towns like Statesboro to look for work in urban centres. Most headed to Atlanta and Augusta and Willie followed them in 1924.

Atlanta had a bustling music scene centred around the infamous Decatur Street in the segregated part of town. Willie found a talented group of bluesmen to play with including Peg Leg Howell, Buddy Moss, Curley Weaver, Charley Lincoln and his brother Barbecue Bob. In Atlanta Willie switched from the six string to the louder twelve string guitar and performed on street corners, fish fries, blacks-only clubs and at his local church every Sunday.

Willie’s growing reputation attracted the notice of Victor Records, and he entered their studio in Atlanta to record 4 tracks on October 21, 1927. They were realesed on two 78’s, and were moderately popular which resulted in another 4 track session on October 17, 1928, where Statesboro Blues was recorded.

The records were all successful, and were the start of a 30 year recording career. From 1929 to 1935, Willie recorded a number of records, under his own name and using pseudonyms such as “Blind Sammie”, “Blind Willie” and “Georgia Bill” to record for different labels; as a guitarist for Curley Weaver, Ruth Day aka. Mary Willis and Alfoncy and Bethenea Harris.

In 1931 he met Ruthy Kate Wiliams while attending a Christmas concert at a high school in Atlanta. Origininaly from Savannah, Ruthy Williams was a singer and McTell invited her to record with him. They recorded under the name “Ruth Glaze” in 1932. The two were married in 1934, and preformed and recorded under the name Blind WillieMcTell and Katie McTell.

As the Great Depression hit and money for musicians became scarce, Willie’s recordings became less frequent. He recorded unissued tracks with Vurley Weaver and William “Piano Red” Perryman in 1936,but these are lost. In 1940 John Lomax recorded him in a hotel room for the Library of Congress. After the Second World War, Willie continued recording under his own name (including two unreleased full albums for different labels), as a duet with Curley Weaver under their own names and “Pig and Whistle Band” and under the pseduonym “Barrelhouse Sammy”.

In 1957 he was a Baptist Minister, and Blind Willie McTell died of a stroke on August 19, 1959. He left behind a massive influence on Piedmont players, folk musicians and the blues as a whole. Bob Dylan was greatly influenced by McTell’s songwriting, guitar technique and singing and covered a number of his songs. In 1983 he honoured McTell’s legacy with the song “Blind Willie McTell” which contains the refrain “No body sings the blues like Blind Willie McTell” – Dylan played piano and was accompanied by Mark Knopfleron 12 string. Taj Mahall covered Statesboro Blues in 1968, as did the Allman Brothers in 1971 – a version which is generally regarded as one of the best slide blues songs of all time.

Blind Willie was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame as a foundation member in 1981.



The Song

Statesboro Blues is a masterpiece in every aspect. The guitar is a prefect example of Piedmont playing, the singing is mournful and lonesome, and the songwriting is absolutely first class. It has become one of the most influential blues songs ever recorded, nearly every line has been popularised by other artists either singularly, or as the inspiration for entire songs: “Going up the Country” by Canned Heat (though McTell borrowed the line from Sippie Wallace); snippets like “I Once loved a Woman”, “travelling shoes”, “you know by that” have become blues staples.

The song is played in drop D tuning, but the entire guitar is lower than standard – C# or there abouts. It’s a 12 bar but somewhat unusally doesn’t use the 5th chord in bar 9, instead using a higher voicing of the 1st chord. Willie adds bars when ever he wants to, which adds to the atmosphere created by the non-chronological narrative of the lyrics.

Willie was a master of Piedmont playing, so the song requires a strong right hand technique. It features an alternating bass line all throughout, with melodies improvised over the top. Willie’s genius is that in the 4 bar open “D” sections of each verse he employs different voicings of the D chord – from open, to open with an added major 3rd, to 5th fret to 7th fret. The other sections are fairly consistent – G section, back to D, then the turnaround of 5th fret D voicing and a descending on the beat bass run in G.

The song starts of nice and gentle and is hammering along by the end. The entire time the melody lines are played with an almost restrained feel to them. This song is quite difficult, so take your time, get it working at a slow speed then work up to Willies pace.



The Lyrics

D D7 Wake up mama, turn your lamp down low G D Wake up mama, turn your lamp down low D G D Have you got the nerve to drive Papa McTell from your door My mother died and left me reckless My daddy died and left me wild, wild, wild Mother died and left me reckless Daddy died and left me wild, wild, wild No, I'm not good lookin' I'm some sweet woman's Angel child You're a mighty mean woman, to do me this a way You're a mighty mean woman, to do me this a way When I leave this town, pretty mama, I'm going away to stay While I loved a woman, better than even I'd ever seen I once loved a woman, better than even I'd ever seen Treat me like I was a king and she was a doggone queen Sister, tell your brother, brother tell your auntie now Auntie tell your uncle, uncle tell my cousin now, cousin tell my friend Goin' up the country, mama, don't you want to go? May take me a fair brown, may take me one or two more Big Eighty left Savannah, Lord, and did not stop You ought to saw that coloured fireman when he got that boiler hot You can reach over in the corner mama and hand me my travellin' shoes You know by that, I've got them Statesboro blues Mama, sister got 'em, auntie got 'em Brother got 'em, friend got 'em, I got 'em Woke up this morning, we had them Statesboro blues I looked over in the corner, grandpa and grandma had 'em too

The Intro



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The Progression



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$6.0.$2.6.$1.5 5 $4.0 $1.7.$2.6 $6.0 $4.0 | $6.0.$2.6.$1.5 5 $4.0 $1.7.$2.6 $6.0 $4.0 $2.3 | $6.0 $4.0.$2.3.$1.2 $6.0.$1.1p0 $4.0 $2.0 | $6.0.$2.3 $4.0.$2.0 1 $6.0 $4.2 | In the very last beat of Verse 4, Willie slides up to a 7th fret voicing of a D7 chord – an A7 shape – for the first D section of Verse 5:

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The progression is a 12 bar, but Willie adds bars here and there and improvises around similar themes. The alternating bass line played n the beat by the thumb makes this song, so concentrate on absolutely nailing it. Willie sometimes strums chords with his thumb on the 2nd and 4th beats. Here are the first two verses:Verse 2 uses a D chord with an added major 3rd for the first 4 barsVerse 3 is similar to Verse 2, then in the first 4 bars of Verse 4 he changes it up to a 5th fret D voicing – the rest of the verse is similar to the regular progression:In the very last beat of Verse 4, Willie slides up to a 7th fret voicing of a D7 chord – an A7 shape – for the first D section of Verse 5:Verse 6 is similar to the extra major 3rd of Verses 2 and 3, and Verse 7 uses the 7th fret D7 similar to Verse 5 above.

The Outro