Well, this discussion has been held down at the Archie Edwards Blues Foundation where I play blues every Saturday at Archir Edwards Barber Shop in Washington, D.C., and it seems to go differently evry time.

Now, I reckon if you take the extremes it is easy to differentiate Piedmont and Delta styles. You take Mississippi Fred McDowell or Son House and there is no doubth that these two were hard Delta players. Then you take the soft and sweet sounds of John Jackson or John Cephis and you certainly have a different sound: the sound that is called Piedmont.

Well, I had heard that the folks at Archie Edwards were all Piedmonters and, being a hard Delta player, I figured that we wouldn't have anything in common. Wrong! Hey, I do fine with them and they with me... No problem... Underneath it all is the blues... It's structure is the same... so like, ahhh, we don't put labels on it...

We both do a lot of finger pickin'. I do a lot of alternatin' thumb (maybe more emphasis on the 6th string but a mix of 6th and 4th or 6th and 5th or combination of all the above). They're playin' stick 6th and 4th. Like who cares. My thumpin on the 6th (ala Fred McDowell) don't throw nuthin' off when we're jammin'. Really... Its just a little more variety within the songs. I also like to pluck out the 6th string with my thumb, but again, more variety within the song...

So this ain't been too technical but it's a few thoughts from a hear Delat player who played bottelneck who plays with a group of Peidmonters...

Probably didn't help at all...

Bobert