First, I think Rolf is a pretty well educated and experienced blues guy and I'm sure I know far less than he does, but his question regarding the three flavors does intrigue me and Fort did a good job in answering a good bit of it. To tie in and ask perhaps another, does it seem that Piedmont Blues is, for lack of a better term here, less defined/distinct than others? Again, the geography that's attached to it would seem to indicate that you could have some things that are definitely in all "three falvors" and others that are more associated with something else or distinctive to a particular place.

It would be natural for those at the northern end to have included a lot of New York/Tin Pan Alley tunes in their playing and as you move south these are somewhat more dilluted in favor of minstrel show music.

Damn....I had a point here, but I'm already rambling.....The hard rhythm style covers the region and helps to mark the sound of Piedmont Blues, but the type of song and how that translates seems to me to be a lot different north to south, urban to rural.

I'll shut up now........Sorry..........Actually, I won't. I also notice that it sounds to me (and probably only to me) that somewhere along the line, the style of MJH kinda' crosses over the lines between the Piedmont and the Delta. Okay, NOW I'll shut up.

Spaw