Views from Western Australia

August 28, 2007

Blind Blake

Filed under: Music Reviews

 ‘Ragtime Guitar’s Foremost Fingerpicker’

Not much is known about Blake, he played on street corners, at local dances and at medicine shows. He was one of the better-known musicians in the South, spending a long period in Atlanta in the early ’20s.

Blake was among the most accomplished guitarists of his era and possibly the most versatile of them all.  His influences are pre-jazz ragtime and he was quite different to the Mississippi Delta guitar men of the time.  He played rolling bass notes with his thumb while fingering complex patterns; creating a playing style that developed into ‘Piedmont’ blues.  His playing on tracks like "Diddie-Wah-Diddie" and "Police Dog Blues" is mind blowing.  He was an influential figure over later giants of East coast blues; with countless contemporary guitarists playing his licks.

It is not a straight blues album with more than half the tracks being rags, stomps or dance songs.  It gives astute listeners an opportunity to listen to Blake’s pioneering style and those who appreciate acoustic guitar will be moved by this musical prodigy and his extraordinary technique.

Yazoo
Recorded 1926 -32

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