Blind Blues singers

Subject: Blind Blues singers
From: Leadbelly
Date: 28 Mar 07 - 02:11 PM

Hi there,

would like to start a discussion on blind blues performers i.e which one is your personal favourite and please tell us why you think so.

Might be a relatively short but still interesting threat.

Come on...

Subject: RE: Blind Blues singers
From: mrmoe
Date: 28 Mar 07 - 03:03 PM

Let me be the first to mention Blind Lemon Funk

Subject: RE: Blind Blues singers
From: greg stephens
Date: 28 Mar 07 - 03:11 PM

Well, the first blues record I bought was a Blind Lemon Jefferson 78, so Ill go for him for real class. But probably in terms of hours I spent listening with pleasure to a performer, it would be Sonny Terry.

Subject: RE: Blind Blues singers
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 28 Mar 07 - 03:19 PM

Back in 1964, I got Sonny Terry's autograph! Well, to be more precise, he "stamped" my programme using a stamp and stamp-pad.

Subject: RE: Blind Blues singers
From: Wesley S
Date: 28 Mar 07 - 03:22 PM

Bilnd Boy Fuller - Great stuff. Along with Blind Willie Johnson. Blind Blake too. I'll need two extra hands to play Blakes material on my guitar.

Subject: RE: Blind Blues singers
From: greg stephens
Date: 28 Mar 07 - 03:24 PM

Blind Blake must have kept most budding guitarists pinned down for a sizable chunk of their lives trying to learn to play his twiddly bits up to speed. I could have been out having fun and chasing girls, but instead I was practising: all that time I spent at the guitar, I never did get it right.

Subject: RE: Blind Blues singers
From: Leadbelly
Date: 28 Mar 07 - 03:48 PM

Thats's it, Greg. A good friend of mine once told me: "I hate blind guitarists, the're always so good".
He preferred Blind Willie McTell.

Subject: RE: Blind Blues singers
From: Wesley S
Date: 28 Mar 07 - 04:14 PM

My guess is that they didn't have computers, the Mudcat or day jobs to distract them. They just played guitar.

Subject: RE: Blind Blues singers
From: mrdux
Date: 28 Mar 07 - 05:53 PM

I've always been fond of Rev. Gary Davis. Amazing technique that he used to play variety of styles. Listening to him always makes me smile.

michael

Subject: RE: Blind Blues singers
From: pdq
Date: 28 Mar 07 - 06:24 PM

Best guitar player: "Blind " Artel Watson

Best songwriter: "Blind Boy" Grunt

Subject: RE: Blind Blues singers
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 28 Mar 07 - 06:35 PM

"Blind" Artel Watson for me too.

and Blind Blake.

these two stand alone imo

Subject: RE: Blind Blues singers
From: Bugsy
Date: 28 Mar 07 - 07:05 PM

"Blind Lemon" Cordial was always a favourite of mine.

Cheers


Bugsy

Subject: RE: Blind Blues singers
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 28 Mar 07 - 07:08 PM

Willie McTell. I must have heard a dozen versions of Statesborough Blues before I heard the original. I think its the best.

That relationship with the voice/guitar accompaniment. Perfect.

I suppose though I would be bound to say - I like more Ray Charles stuff. He had a more varied sort of approach.

Subject: RE: Blind Blues singers
From: Bob the Postman
Date: 28 Mar 07 - 07:51 PM

Willie McTell's "Last Session" lp was the second or third blues record I ever bought. I was disappointed after the first listen-through because it wasn't a bit like Robert Johnson but I soon came to realise that I had lucked onto a real treasure.

Does anyone have anything to say about the connections (if any) between McTell and the blind hillbilly guitarist Riley Puckett? I read somewhere (probably on Mudcat) that they both went to the same school for the blind. Their styles are not dissimilar but I don't know enough to really compare and contrast. Anybody?

Subject: RE: Blind Blues singers
From: GUEST,Mike B.
Date: 28 Mar 07 - 09:11 PM

Best songwriter: "Blind Boy" Grunt

Rumor has it that he wasn't blind at all - and can see just fine to this day.

Too bad his career never really took off.

Subject: RE: Blind Blues singers
From: GUEST,Mike Miller
Date: 28 Mar 07 - 10:11 PM

Although he played an 88 string guitar, I think that Ray Charles was the most expressive blues singer and instrumentalist there ever was.
Like so many of the other bluesmen, his style was formed in Gospel. In a very real sense, he was a true folk singer.
Staying on topic, I was remembering the days when Philadelphia Jerry Ricks was, just, Jerry Ricks. He used to joke about changing his name
to Blind Sweet Willie Tishman. Hey, it was a long time ago.

Subject: RE: Blind Blues singers
From: Ulli
Date: 29 Mar 07 - 03:13 AM

I'd like to mention "blind" George Nussbaumer from Austria.
He took part in the European Song Contest in 1996.
You learn more about this fantastic singer when visiting his website (http://www.george.ch/)

Subject: RE: Blind Blues singers
From: Bob the Postman
Date: 29 Mar 07 - 07:47 AM

Josh White, though not blind himself, apprenticed as a bluesman by acting as leader, or human seeing-eye-dog, to a series of blind singer/preachers starting in the early 20s when White was 8 years old. His masters included Blind Blake and maybe Blind Lemon Jefferson. A biography called "The Glory Road" by Dorothy Schainman Siegel tells the stroy. Good read, though pitched at a high-school readership.

Subject: RE: Blind Blues singers
From: Leadbelly
Date: 29 Mar 07 - 12:55 PM

Bob the Postman - this note might be what you do remember:

"It is interesting that in the early '20's he attended a school for the blind in Macon attended by the great hillbilly artist Riley Puckett, and speculation as to the identity of the "darkey in Atlanta" who taught Puckett his guitar tour de force Darkey's Wail, is intriguing."
Simon A. Napier, Editor Blues Limited (www.ozarkia.net)

Apart from this, my absolute favorite is Willie, too.
Best characterized in short by Steve James (www.acousticguitar.com:

"In the '20s and '30s, Blind Willie McTell was king of a court of Georgia musicians that included Barbecue Bob, Peg Leg Howell, and Curley Weaver. A top-notch set of McTell recordings from this era is The Early Years. From stomping ragtime to mournful slide pieces, McTell had it wired. Simply the best 12-string guitarist ever, and one of the very great blues songwriters."

Something to add...?

Subject: RE: Blind Blues singers
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 29 Mar 07 - 01:32 PM

Elijah Wald's biography of Josh White has all the terrible details of what it was like working for Blind lemon Jefferson.

One of the best books about the folkscene ever.

From the street beggars and musicians - the very music of the dispossessed to the swish nightclubs of New York and London. It evokes it all beautifully.

Wald is a terrific writer.

Subject: RE: Blind Blues singers
From: PoppaGator
Date: 29 Mar 07 - 02:05 PM

Thanks, weelittledrummer, for mentioning Ray Charles. At first, I thought only of the many blind guitar-playing bluesmen from those early days, but Brother Ray is so very very great, quite obviously a blues singer, and really more accessible to my ears than any of those old timers.

Let me also mention the very wonderful Snooks Eaglin, one of the world's most phenomenal guitar fingerpickers, blind or otherwise, over the last half-century and more. He has to be close to eighty years old by now, and is still delighting listeners and dancers in New Orleans on a regular basis.

His earliest recordings, from the 1950s (one entitled "New Orleans Folk Singer"), demonstate his absolute mastery of the acoustic guitar within the context of very traditional folk-blues forms. At the same time; he was also working as an electric-guitar session player at Cosimo Matassa's legendary J&M Studios, where rock 'n' roll was (arguably) born.

These days, he plays electric blues/R&B/soul fronting a trio (with bass & drums), or sometimes a quartet (with keybord added, usually a B-3 organ). And, as always, he sings like nobody's business.

He has recorded countless albums, and I wouldn't know where to start making recommendations ~ except to say that the more recent the recording, the better it's likely to be. His skills have not diminished at all, and as time has gone by, he's been able to enjoy better and better producers and to attract the very greatest available sidemen.

Aside from his astounding musicianship, he projects the warmest and most good-humored stage presence imaginable. If you visit New Orleans, don't miss a chance to catch his act. He always appears at Jazz Festival, and plays on a fairly regular basis year-round at the Mid-City Lanes Rock 'n' Bowl, which always makes for a really fun evening.

Subject: RE: Blind Blues singers
From: Roger in Baltimore
Date: 29 Mar 07 - 02:13 PM

I think I would have to go with the Reverend Gary Davis. Although his genre might be closer to ragtime than blues. Absolutely phenomenal. He also apparently taught blues guitar to 22,857 white boys on a one-on-one basis if liner notes and bios are to be believed.

Roger in Baltimore

Subject: RE: Blind Blues singers
From: Leadbelly
Date: 29 Mar 07 - 04:19 PM

Its somewhat peculiar that there are resp. have been so many blind blues artists on guitar but except for Ray Charles, Blind John Davis (more boogie than blues and I never heard him singing) and possibly Stevie Wonder according to my knowledge there are (almost) no other popular blinds on piano singing the blues.

Anybody out there who can tell me, why??? Difficulties as to transport the instrument, to play outdoors?

Subject: RE: Blind Blues singers
From: PoppaGator
Date: 29 Mar 07 - 04:52 PM

Henry Butler is a great contemporary blind pianist here in New Orleans, but more of a jazz player than blues, and only an cccasional singer.

You may laugh, but Henry has actually enjoyed some success (gallery shows!) as a blind photographer. Don't ask me to explain ~ is it a joke? Charity? I have no idea. He points the camera and hits the shutter when he hears the right moment, and comes up images that people seem willing to buy. Presumably he has help selecting the pictures to be shown and sold, printing and cropping them, etc.

Next topic: Why guitar and not piano, etc.?

Not only does this category summon thoughts of guitar players to the near-exclusion of other instruments, there is an almost-automatic focus on a certain historical period.

Also, limiting the discussion to "blues singers" puts a focus on African-Americans, a people whose economic options have always been limited, but much more severely so a couple of generations ago than now. The popularity of a portable instrument (guitar) as opposed to, say, the piano, is undersandable for a population especially likely to find themselves "out on the street" back during the Depression.

How 'bout the great Doc Watson? Not primarily considered a blues artist, mostly 'cuz he's a white guy, but he sure can play the blues, and country, and folk, and jazz, and anything else you want. Not a bad singer, either.

PS to Roger in Baltimore ~ I got a good laugh from your comment about Rev Gary Davis. Sometimes I feel so deprived for not having met the man and taken a few lessons from him. Practically ever other half-decent player in my age group seems to have done so, or so they seem to say...

Subject: RE: Blind Blues singers
From: greg stephens
Date: 29 Mar 07 - 05:42 PM

Nobody, I think, has yet mentioned Blind Willie Walker. He recorded very little, I think I've only heard one track of his. Josh White gave him the supreme accolade, for technique. I'm quoting from memory, he said something along the lines of "A lot of those guys played a lot of guitar, Blind Willie Walker played so much, it wasn't even funny".

Subject: RE: Blind Blues singers
From: GUEST,Baba
Date: 29 Mar 07 - 09:19 PM

Don't forget Johnny Winter!

Subject: RE: Blind Blues singers
From: GUEST,Allen in OZ
Date: 30 Mar 07 - 02:04 AM

What about Blind Willy Foggin in Eastwood Australia !!

AD

Subject: RE: Blind Blues singers
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 30 Mar 07 - 08:14 AM

Perhaps we could open this topic up a bit

Tone Deaf Folksingers
Ballad Singers with Multiple Stab Wounds
Physically Challenged Morris Dancers
Melodeon Players with Halitosis
Guitarists with Bad Dandruff
Mandolin Players with a Weight Problem

Subject: RE: Blind Blues singers
From: skipy
Date: 30 Mar 07 - 08:20 AM

Blind lemon clegg.

Can a blue man sing the whites? (KD)

Subject: RE: Blind Blues singers
From: Leadbelly
Date: 30 Mar 07 - 08:37 AM

...and drummers with bullfrogs on their mind...

Subject: RE: Blind Blues singers
From: GUEST,Allen in OZ
Date: 30 Mar 07 - 06:29 PM

...and partially deaf, dumb and blind blues singers who shot a man in Memphis !!

AD

Subject: RE: Blind Blues singers
From: GUEST,You can call me Zimmy
Date: 30 Mar 07 - 08:43 PM

I know no one can sing the blues
Like Blind Willie McTell

Subject: RE: Blind Blues singers
From: PoppaGator
Date: 30 Mar 07 - 10:54 PM

Thanks for the reminder, Zim.

Subject: RE: Blind Blues singers
From: Jim Krause
Date: 30 Mar 07 - 11:50 PM

Blind Blake. I never would have gotten that twiddly stuff right if it hadn't been for a couple of Woody Mann tapes from Homespun Tapes. Sadly, I don't think they're available anymore, even on CD.

Jim Krause

Subject: RE: Blind Blues singers
From: greg stephens
Date: 31 Mar 07 - 11:09 AM

Roger from Baltimore: I don't know about the other 22,856 white boys, but here's one who had a one-to-one lesson from the Rev Gary Davis. A very memorable experience.

Subject: RE: Blind Blues singers
From: GUEST,Tweed (cookieless)
Date: 31 Mar 07 - 12:06 PM

There's a blind musician friend of mine still living in Memphis, Blind Mississippi Morris, you can hear him doing *Smokestack Lightnin' (mp3 recording)* if you click that clicky back there. It's him, with Slick Ballinger on guitar and Leon Baker on the drums.

He's about as real deal as they come, born in Clarksdale, MS. Can play blues like nobody's business. Today's his birthday and they got him a gig down at Morgan Freeman's club, Ground Zero, in Clarksdale, so it's a sort of going home thing for Morris. Big Man with a big voice like thunder rolling across the cotton fields. And he can blow the reeds inside out of a harmonica. If you like Howlin' Wolf, you're gonna dig Mr. Morris.

Subject: RE: Blind Blues singers
From: Leadbelly
Date: 31 Mar 07 - 04:30 PM

Thanks to all for mentioning resp. discussing approximately 20 various blind blues singers up to now.

Here are some other blind blues singers I've never heard of:

- Blind Bo Carter
- Blind Willie Reynolds
- Blind Roosevelt Graves

Are they known to you? Are you aware of others?

Re.: "blind piano blues singers". Because piano tuners tend to be blind and are mostly able to play this instrument I cannot understand why there aren't any blind piano blues singers to remember. (Apart from mentions and arguments above).

Last but notleast, happy birthday to Blind Mississippi Morris, Tweed.
What's his age?

Subject: RE: Blind Blues singers
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 31 Mar 07 - 06:13 PM

I don't think an artist should be defined by his medical condition.

We don't say John Milton, the blind poet.

James Joyce, the virtually blind novelist.

I'm a bit uneasy about it. I don't know if anyone else shares my disquiet.

Subject: RE: Blind Blues singers
From: Leadbelly
Date: 31 Mar 07 - 06:37 PM

I do believe that blind blues singers are an outstanding fraction of all artists performing the blues.

That's the reason for my starting this thread.

Subject: RE: Blind Blues singers
From: DADGBE
Date: 31 Mar 07 - 06:53 PM

I'm with you, weelittledrummer! I wouldn't enjoy being identified by my disabilities which are numerous if you ask my wife.

Subject: RE: Blind Blues singers
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 31 Mar 07 - 07:32 PM

I wasn't knocking the thread. We're talking about mainly music from a bygone age. people used to have all weird names like Peg Leg Howell in those days.

I wonder why they did it. I suppose some of the time they were begging and prominently displaying the disability in their names made them more piteous.

Does anybody else have any thoughts on the subject?

Subject: RE: Blind Blues singers
From: mrdux
Date: 01 Apr 07 - 02:02 AM

and one more: Jim Brewer (he didn't like being called "Blind" Jim Brewer). He played guitar and sang on Maxwell Street in Chicago, and I also remember seeing him fairly frequently at No Exit and Amazingrace on the North Side of things in the late 60's-early 70's.

michael

Subject: RE: Blind Blues singers
From: Tweed
Date: 01 Apr 07 - 08:08 AM

weeedrummer wrote: "I'm a bit uneasy about it. I don't know if anyone else shares my disquiet."

Why in the world would it make you uneasy? They've been called blind because they are blind musicians. Being blind and able to play your butt off on a guitar, harp, piano, or oud was good business back then. It got them gigs, sold records, and probably more bucks in the jar when they were busking etc. They converted their handicap into an asset.

Mississippi Morris bills himself as "Blind" and probably a good thing, as people know right off that he can't see and won't let him drive very much.   

If any of you feel uneasy about blindness, go here and send em donation:
Clovernook.Org/Memphis

Subject: RE: Blind Blues singers
From: Leadbelly
Date: 01 Apr 07 - 08:24 AM

Thanks for your message, Tweed

Manfred

Subject: RE: Blind Blues singers
From: Tweed
Date: 01 Apr 07 - 08:54 AM

O, and I think he turned 57 yesterday, Manfred, but can't be certain of that. Morris is like all them old school guys and still gives out various years for when he was born.

Subject: RE: Blind Blues singers
From: GUEST,joe mcturk
Date: 02 Apr 07 - 09:52 AM

What about "the blind reverand two fingered joe mcturk" still going strong I hear.

Subject: RE: Blind Blues singers
From: Wesley S
Date: 02 Apr 07 - 10:31 AM

By the way - Guest Baba - Johnny Winter isn't blind.

Subject: RE: Blind Blues singers
From: PoppaGator
Date: 02 Apr 07 - 04:28 PM

Almost forgot about:

Luther Kent

This is a contemporary blues artist, and a white guy, which differentiates him from most of the other luminaries mentioned here. Very solid guitar player and a terriific, strong vocalist.

He always has a great band, with a nice big horn section, and for many years provided one of the very few "authentic" and worthwhile listening experiences available amid the tourist traps of Bourbon Street.

He must be doing pretty well for himself these days ~ besides his own recordings, he provides the soundtrack for a lot TV spots, notably promotional stuff for the local tourist-and-convention commission ~ because he no longer seems to need the day-in-day-out hassle of playing those long hours in those seedy French Quarter bars.

Subject: RE: Blind Blues singers
From: GUEST,Art Thieme
Date: 02 Apr 07 - 05:45 PM

Check out my photos of Blind Arvella Gray in Chicago in the 1960s. Singing on the street at Grand Ave. and State Street.

http://rudegnu.com/art_thieme.html

(Use the word mudcat as both the password and user name. That'll get you in.) Sonny Terry and Gary Davis are there too. Also Jim Brewer. Jim played Wednesday nights at Chicago's No Exit Cafe for many years---17 as I recall it. I played on Thursday nights all that time and more.

Art

Subject: RE: Blind Blues singers
From: GUEST
Date: 02 Apr 07 - 06:00 PM

wat up