(Blues) Blind Willie McTell - Atlanta Twelve String

Genre: Blues
Styles: Acoustic Blues,
Piedmont Blues
Recorded: 1949
Released: 1992
Label: Atlantic
File: mp3; 320 Kbps
Size: 108.0 MB
Time: 44:50 nin.
Covers: Included



01. Kill It Kid (2:33)
02. The Razor Ball (2:53)
03. Little Delia (3:02)
04. Broke Down Engine (2:46)
05. Dying Crapshooter's Blues (3:06)
06. Pinetop's Boogie Woogie (2:49)
07. Blues Around Midnight (2:46)
08. Last Dime Blues (2:49)
09. On The Cooling Board (3:08)
10. Motherless Children Have a Hard Time (2:56)
11. I Got To Cross The River Jordan (4:00)
12. You Got To Die (3:12)
13. Ain't It Grand To Live a Christian (2:38)
14. Pearly Gates (3:22)
15. Soon This Morning (2:40)

Blind Willie McTell - Guitar & Vocals
Curley Weaver (?) - Guitar

Recorded in Atlanta, Georgia, 1949.
Produced by Ahmet Ertegun & Herb Abramson
© 1992 Atlantic Records http://www.atlanticrecords.com


Willie Samuel McTell (1901-1959) was one of the blues' greatest guitarists, and also one of the finest singers ever to work in blues. A major figure with a local following in Atlanta from the 1920s onward, he recorded dozens of sides throughout the '30s under a multitude of names, all the better to juggle 'exclusive' relationships with many different record labels at once, including Blind Willie, Blind Sammie, Hot Shot Willie, and Georgia Bill.



In 1949, a brief flurry of interest in old-timey country blues resulted in this 15-song session by Blind Willie McTell for the newly formed Atlantic Records. Only two songs, 'Kill It Kid' and 'Broke Down Engine Blues,' were ever issued on a failed single, and the session was forgotten until almost 20 years later. McTell is mostly solo here, vividly captured on acoustic 12-string (his sometime partner Curley Weaver may have been present on some tracks), and in excellent form. The playing and the repertory are representative of McTell as he was at this point in his career, a blues veteran rolling through his paces without skipping a beat and quietly electrifying the listener.