Blind Blake

[Larry Kart]

Anyone have any thoughts/feelings about his music? I've known the name for a long time but just picked up my first collection of his work, the one on Yazoo, and I'm at once knocked out by it and somewhat puzzled at how he fits into the landscape of the blues and/or black vernacular music of the teens and twenties. Blind Blake (1896-1934) doesn't sound that much like a bluesman, even when he's playing what is technically a blues, but more like, or almost like, his own unique version of a ragtime pianist who just happens to play the guitar -- and play it with stunning finger-picking virtuosity. Yes, there is some resemblance to Rev. Gary Davis, who was influenced by him, but I would never confuse the two; Davis, to use a boxing analogy, hits like a heavyweight while Blind Blake dances like Sugar Ray Robinson or Ray Leonard. Also Blind Blake's vocals, which on first acquaintance seem to me less striking than his guitar playing, do have an attractive flavor that feels new to me -- dancing (again) and at times kind of light-hearted and wry in emotional tone. Little is known about him except that he made a lot of records for the Paramount label, that many of them sold very well, and that the recorded evidence suggests that his health may have been faltering some toward the end. 

[paul secor]

I think you've captured my basic feelings about Blind Blake's music, Larry, though I prefer Blake's music to Rev. Gary Davis'. There are other blues musicians whose recordings have more depth for me, but there are times when I feel the need to listen to Blind Blake.
I'm curious what your impressions of Blind Willie McTell's music are.

[jeffcrom]

Oh, jeez, I love Blind Blake. His work/legacy might fall into place if you think of him as a songster, rather than a bluesman. For those who don't know the term, "songster" generally means a late 19th/early 20th century African-American musician who performed a variety of vernacular songs (not just blues) with guitar accompaniment. (Think Leadbelly or Frank Stokes.) That's what Blake was, but he was also a virtuoso guitarist. I love his Paramount recordings with Johnny Dodds. And check out "Southern Rag," where he displays familiarity with the Gullah/Geechee dialect and musical style of the Georgia/South Carolina Sea Islands. (The Sea Islands, like the Mississippi Hill Country, were one of those places where African-Americans lived in relative isolation until the 20th century, and where musical traditions changed more slowly.)

He wasn't a "deep" bluesman. But he was amazing.

[Larry Kart]

12 hours ago, jeffcrom said:

Oh, jeez, I love Blind Blake. His work/legacy might fall into place if you think of him as a songster, rather than a bluesman. For those who don't know the term, "songster" generally means a late 19th/early 20th century African-American musician who performed a variety of vernacular songs (not just blues) with guitar accompaniment. (Think Leadbelly or Frank Stokes.) That's what Blake was, but he was also a virtuoso guitarist. I love his Paramount recordings with Johnny Dodds. And check out "Southern Rag," where he displays familiarity with the Gullah/Geechee dialect and musical style of the Georgia/South Carolina Sea Islands. (The Sea Islands, like the Mississippi Hill Country, were one of those places where African-Americans lived in relative isolation until the 20th century, and where musical traditions changed more slowly.)

He wasn't a "deep" bluesman. But he was amazing.

I've heard some songsters before -- would Mississippi John Hurt qualify? the so-called Piedmont oerformers? -- but Blind Blake was, as you say, amazing and perhaps sui generis.

[jeffcrom]

2 hours ago, Larry Kart said:

I've heard some songsters before -- would Mississippi John Hurt qualify? the so-called Piedmont oerformers? -- but Blind Blake was, as you say, amazing and perhaps sui generis.

John Hurt definitely qualifies as a songster. The Piedmont guys vary - Willie McTell was a songster, with a wide repertoire of ballads and non-blues. Buddy Moss was pretty much strictly a bluesman. And of course, these classifications are fluid, and certainly didn't matter to the musicians.

[jazztrain]

Henry Thomas is another one who I would describe as a songster.

[Larry Kart]

Furry Lewis , too, in some moods?

15 hours ago, paul secor said:

I think you've captured my basic feelings about Blind Blake's music, Larry, though I prefer Blake's music to Rev. Gary Davis'. There are other blues musicians whose recordings have more depth for me, but there are times when I feel the need to listen to Blind Blake.
I'm curious what your impressions of Blind Willie McTell's music are.

McTell I need to listen to again because I always get him confused with someone else.

[paul secor]

Larry, if you're interested in the songster tradition (though as Jeff pointed out, songster is a term that was laid on the music by critics and liner note writers in the 1960s and 70s), these are worth checking out:

 

Before the Blues Vols. 1-3 (Yazoo)

There are some white country groups and some religious music included, but they provide a good overview of the recorded evolution of the blues from its early roots. Some great music in the best possible sound.

[AllenLowe]

the songster tradition is long, complicated, and wonderful. This side of the black vernacular was woefully under-appreciated until Paul Oliver wrote a book about it; think Julius Daniels, et al, there are some amazing old Document collections of this song side. Some of it is minstrel, some folk/vernacular, and some folk vernacular as filtered through professional songwriters. Love this stuff, wrote about it in my blues thing. There are many obscure but amazing recorded performances (will deal with some on my country music thing too).

As for Blake, amazing performer and historically a key figure - his influence can be traced through Ike Everly (the Everly brothers father) and Mose Rager (little on record, some youtube thing) to Merle Travis, and through that whole school to Scotty Moore and one particular pioneering strain of rock and roll guitar. Country picking, basically, but with a very specific sonic signature.

Edited December 29, 2017 by AllenLowe