Mission Statement- The veneration of woefully under-appreciated song-smiths whose effect on contemporary music is more frequently felt than heard, and even then, only by the well-informed, and keenly attuned.

Blind Willie McTell

McTell brought an energy to the country blues which set him apart from his contemporaries. His twelve-string guitar runs are as precise as they are spontaneous. His voice is not mournful, but sly, intelligent…mischievous and penitent in equal measure; ambitiously human. His music is proof that wisdom can swagger, while ignorance measures its steps. And when the man means to woo? Check out “Pal Of Mine” for some raggy blues that’s smoother than milk. Check out “Razor Ball” if you wanna’ steady your strut. Check out “Atlanta Strut” if you wanna hear a guitar impersonating just about everything. Dylan digs him. So can you!

Blind Willie Johnson

There was a three month period when I listened to nothing but Blind Willie Johnson. Same record. Over and over. Nothing else sounded as meaningful. I’d discovered the wounded genius who’d inadvertently invented the Blues. I was sold. Johnson was the righteous spark that gave the genre its socio-spiritual edge, as well as its trademark growl. Beefheart, Zepplin, Waits, Cooder, they all owe something to Johnson. Listen to “Dark was the night, Col

d was the Ground”, and tell me it’s not THE American nocturne. Listen to “If I Had my Way, I’d Tear this Building Down”, and tell me he didn’t make the bible sound Punk Rock. Just Listen.

Blind Willie Reynolds (AKA Blind Joe Reynolds)

The Little Richard of the country blues. He plays the guitar like a pump-trolly, steadily accelerating towards the object of his fervor. His slide runs remind me of a man on a tight-wire, drinking whiskey and laughing at the ants below. Enough metaphors, he’s straight quality my esteemed readers. Check him out. Just like the other two, his life was the stuff of myths (haven’t I mentioned Blind Willie Johnson sleeping in the burnt ruins of his home? Blind Willie McTell refusing his royalties so he wouldn’t “drink himself to death”?), for instance, his blindness supposedly gave him super-human hearing, which allowed him to aim and fire a pistol accurately… might also explain his precision with a bottleneck.  Check out “Cold Woman Blues” for a haunting denunciation. Check out “Outside Woman Blues” for some bold relationship advice. Beautiful stuff.