
Throughout this period he played for tips, down on Atlanta’s Decatur Street, as well as hoboing through the South and East.īlind Willie McTell’s Last Session can be bought here. He continued to record up until 1936 for Victor, Vocalion, and Decca, working with Piano Red, Curley Weaver, and his wife Kate who he married in 1934. He was inducted into the Blues Foundation’s Blues Hall of Fame in 1981 and the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 1990 Provided to YouTube by BMG Rights Management (UK) Limited Blind Willie McTell Chrissie Hynde Standing in the Doorway: Chrissie Hynde Sings Bob Dylan 2. He is buried at Jones Grove Church, near Thomson, Georgia, and on his headstone is his birth name, Willie Samuel McTier.

Willie McTell passed away on August 19, 1959, at 61 years old, having suffered a brain hemorrhage. There’s also the brilliantly inventive “A Married Man’s Fool,” “Kill It Kid” a song he first recorded in 1940, and “A-Z Blues.” His take on “Broke Down Engine” is a perfect glimpse of what makes McTell so popular, but there’s in-between track chat that contextualizes his songs and tells some of McTell’s life story. Listen to Blind Willie McTell now and on. In addition to this new version, a different take of the song is released on a 7 through Third Man Records today.
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In 19 Willie recorded again, mostly spirituals and other religious material but, by this time, his style was not what people wanted to hear he went back to singing on Atlanta’s Decatur Street, which is where the store owner found him and recorded this set of 16 songs.Īmong the numbers he did was one of his most famous songs, “Broke Down Engine,” originally cut in 1931 and covered many years later by Bob Dylan. The full band version of one of Bob Dylan’s most iconic songs, Blind Willie McTell,' is now available to stream and download. One of Blind Willie’s best songs, originally recorded in 1931 was “ Statesboro Blues” and The Allman Brothers Band, and Taj Mahal are just two artists that recorded this classic. In 1933 he is known to have worked street corners with Blind Willie Johnson, a formidable pair of performers. He was a regular at house rent parties, on street corners, at fish fries, as well as working the medicine and tent show circuit. In a nine-year pre-war recording career, Blind Willie McTell cut some 60 sides for Victor, Columbia, Okeh, Vocalion, and Decca under a variety of pseudonyms, including Blind Sammie, Georgia Bill, Hot Shot Willie, and plain Blind Willie. Blind Willie Wagtail, is a well respected authentic blues and rockabilly style band playing live music in the Northern Rivers and South East Queensland. Already over thirty, accompanied by his own guitar, “The Dean of The Atlanta Blues School” recorded four sides for Victor. The Best of Blind Willie McTell easily verifies the Dylan lyric, and is a great introduction to a fine blues singer and guitarist.It was in late 1927, on a field-recording trip to Atlanta that Victor Records struck gold when they recorded Blind Willie for the first time. McTell's version is much more down-to-earth and immediate, highlighted by a soulful vocal and intense guitar work. It was also covered by 'Sir' Oliver Mally, Michael 'Hawkeye' Herman, Patterson Hood & Jay Gonzalez of Drive-By Truckers, 'Sir' Oliver Mally & Peter Schneider and other artists.
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The best-known piece here is "Statesboro Blues," a song later written large by the Allman Brothers on Live at Fillmore East. Bob Dylan originally recorded Blind Willie McTell written by Bob Dylan and Bob Dylan released it on the album The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3 in 1991.

The variety, in fact, makes McTell much more compelling over the album's 70-minute running time than a singer like Blind Lemon Jefferson. Blind Willie McTell Lonesome Day Blues: 3:13: 20: Blind Willie McTell Mama Let Me Scoop For You: 3:18: 21: Blind Willie McTell Searching The Desert For The Blues: 3:12: 22: Blind Willie McTell Warm It Up To Me: 2:55: 23: Blind Willie McTell Savannah Mama: 3:21: 24: Blind Willie McTell Love-Makin' Mama: 3:00: 25: Blind.

In fact, McTell, overall, is a more rounded performer, ranging from down-and-out blues like "Mama, Tain't Long fo' Day" to humorous fare like "Three Women Blues." The Best of Blind Willie McTell captures these and many other moods over the course of 23 sides from the bluesman's heyday. Still, it's easy to imagine that Johnson might have picked up something in timing and delivery from "Death Cell Blues." For many listeners, this less intense approach will make Blind Willie's classic sides more accessible than his better-known counterpart. While McTell has the same dexterity as a guitarist, combining single-note runs with rhythmic aplomb, his singing is never as shrill or as tortured as Johnson. No one less than Bob Dylan penned the lyric that stated, "nobody can sing the blues, like Blind Willie McTell." McTell's '20s and '30s work reminds one slightly of Robert Johnson's work in the '30s, with notable differences.
