Music / blues

Statesboro blues : the early years (1927-1935)


Reviews (1)


Record collector

536 (2022 October)

By

By

Tony Burke

536 (2022 October)

"Born in 1898, street singer Willie McTell was the master of the 12-string guitar. RCA signed him as an answer to Paramount's Blind Lemon Jefferson, and between 1927 and 1935 he recorded blues classics for Columbia, Okeh, Victor and Decca ... His song "Statesboro Blues" drew McTell to a wider rock audience. In 1968, Taj Mahal cut it on his debut album; The Allman Brothers Band made it a centrepiece of their live shows in 1971 and Bob Dylan wrote a glowing tribute to Willie on a track featured on 1991's 'The Bootleg Series vols 1-3'. Re-mastered with extensive sleevenotes, this is the McTell motherlode".