Start here
If you’re not quite ready to read/watch all the things, these are my absolute favorite things in this list:
1. Blues House Party (a documentary by Eleanor Ellis)
2. Escaping the Delta (a book by Elijah Wald)
3. PBS Folkways Piedmont episode (to watch Etta Baker’s playing style)
4. Son House playing Death Letter Blues (to see slide technique)
5. Sweet Bitter Blues (a book by Phil Wiggins)
The rest of the list is divided into Delta and Piedmont, and each section has plenty of reading, watching, and listening options.
Delta
Slide Guitar Technique
Son House: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdgrQoZHnNY
Bukka White: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pkhj9z14TBo
Brief intro to Delta Blues
https://www.britannica.com/art/Mississippi-Delta-blues
An album to get you started:
Masters Of The Delta Blues: The Friends Of Charlie Patton
If you have a little more patience (and an optical drive) you can buy the album here as a CD, or you can find it as mp3s for purchase online.
https://www.downhomemusic.com/product/masters-of-the-delta-blues-the-friends-of-charlie-patton/
A few pre-WW2 artists to check out:
Charlie Patton
Willie Brown
Tommy Johnson,
Sam Carr
Skip James
Robert Johnson.
Freddie Spruell (Papa Freddie or Mr. Freddie)
Ishmon Bracey
(Early) Muddy Waters
Bukka White
Geeshie Wiley
Playlist:
A sample playlist of textbook-typical Delta songs on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/65mILL1utHCrivBBxopuTj?si=f43084bd9b2d4844
Book:
My favorite book about Delta Blues (among other topics) is Escaping the Delta, by Elijah Wald
http://www.bookshop.org/a/86459/9780060524272
Two More Delta Videos:
Neither of these videos discuss the history of the Delta Blues, because honestly, most of the documentaries that talk about the history of Delta Blues have too much of the filmmaker’s biases and narratives for me to recommend them. There are some good ones, but I didn’t have time to re-watch all the documentaries to figure out which ones I felt comfortable endorsing. However, there are some documentaries which are demonstrative, rather than narrative- here are two.
1. Mississippi Delta Blues by Will Ferris and Judy Pieser
https://www.folkstreams.net/film-detail.php?id=310
2. Rural Blues by Ko de Korte and Tom Haarsma
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyFY5v308lI
Piedmont
PBS Folkways episode
This tv episode has a ton of great performances, and watching Etta Baker’s hands is a real treat. Note that these performers can play very typical Piedmont, and also play outside the style.
https://www.pbs.org/video/folkways-piedmont-blues/
Blues House Party
This documentary stands out to me, because Eleanor Ellis has a close relationship with these players, so it lacks the weird tone that a lot of blues documentaries have; it’s respectful and intimate instead of othering.
https://www.folkstreams.net/films/blues-houseparty
Brief Intro to Piedmont
https://southernspaces.org/supplement/piedmont-blues/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2003/08/29/the-piedmont-style/594d21f3-602d-4159-83f9-de3113b57ff7/
Album:
If you want one anthology to get you started, try Smithsonian’s classic Piedmont album. Note that it includes Josh White (who is another very atypical Piedmont artist) and Doc Watson, who was better known as a country or bluegrass artist.
https://folkways.si.edu/classic-piedmont-blues/african-american-music-folk/album/smithsonian
A few artists to check out:
Blind Blake
Algia Mae Hinton
John Jackson
Blind Boy Fuller* (He’s the one who sounds so atypical)
Josh White* (He also sounds really atypical)
Etta Baker
Blind Willie McTell
Reverend Gary Davis
John Cephas & Phil Wiggins (Phil Wiggins still lives in the DC area)
Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee
Piedmont Bluz (contemporary duo out of NYC)
Playlist:
A sample playlist of text-book Piedmont typical songs on spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5n8uRPB7ja2hlmFXpFbFS5?si=fadde7d63c7c46c6
Two More Piedmont Videos:
A couple more Piedmont videos because I just cannot stop…1. Algia Mae Hinton playing “Goin’ Down This Road’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Cce3EmF720
2. A young Algia Mae, cuttin’ up!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHf86Lld6Cs
If you’re not quite ready to read/watch all the things, these are my absolute favorite things in this list:
1. Blues House Party (a documentary by Eleanor Ellis)
2. Escaping the Delta (a book by Elijah Wald)
3. PBS Folkways Piedmont episode (to watch Etta Baker’s playing style)
4. Son House playing Death Letter Blues (to see slide technique)
5. Sweet Bitter Blues (a book by Phil Wiggins)
The rest of the list is divided into Delta and Piedmont, and each section has plenty of reading, watching, and listening options.
Delta
Slide Guitar Technique
Son House: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdgrQoZHnNY
Bukka White: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pkhj9z14TBo
Brief intro to Delta Blues
https://www.britannica.com/art/Mississippi-Delta-blues
An album to get you started:
Masters Of The Delta Blues: The Friends Of Charlie Patton
If you have a little more patience (and an optical drive) you can buy the album here as a CD, or you can find it as mp3s for purchase online.
https://www.downhomemusic.com/product/masters-of-the-delta-blues-the-friends-of-charlie-patton/
A few pre-WW2 artists to check out:
Charlie Patton
Willie Brown
Tommy Johnson,
Sam Carr
Skip James
Robert Johnson.
Freddie Spruell (Papa Freddie or Mr. Freddie)
Ishmon Bracey
(Early) Muddy Waters
Bukka White
Geeshie Wiley
Playlist:
A sample playlist of textbook-typical Delta songs on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/65mILL1utHCrivBBxopuTj?si=f43084bd9b2d4844
Book:
My favorite book about Delta Blues (among other topics) is Escaping the Delta, by Elijah Wald
http://www.bookshop.org/a/86459/9780060524272
- Also, there’s an album that accompanies it (this is news to me as of time of printing, so I haven’t checked it out yet, but let me know what y’all think!)
- CD link: https://www.downhomemusic.com/product/back-to-the-crossroads-the-roots-of-robert-johnson/
- The mp3/amazon link: https://smile.amazon.com/Back-Crossroads-Roots-Robert-Johnson/dp/B00B5FEPR8/ref=tmm_msc_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
Two More Delta Videos:
Neither of these videos discuss the history of the Delta Blues, because honestly, most of the documentaries that talk about the history of Delta Blues have too much of the filmmaker’s biases and narratives for me to recommend them. There are some good ones, but I didn’t have time to re-watch all the documentaries to figure out which ones I felt comfortable endorsing. However, there are some documentaries which are demonstrative, rather than narrative- here are two.
1. Mississippi Delta Blues by Will Ferris and Judy Pieser
https://www.folkstreams.net/film-detail.php?id=310
2. Rural Blues by Ko de Korte and Tom Haarsma
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyFY5v308lI
Piedmont
PBS Folkways episode
This tv episode has a ton of great performances, and watching Etta Baker’s hands is a real treat. Note that these performers can play very typical Piedmont, and also play outside the style.
https://www.pbs.org/video/folkways-piedmont-blues/
Blues House Party
This documentary stands out to me, because Eleanor Ellis has a close relationship with these players, so it lacks the weird tone that a lot of blues documentaries have; it’s respectful and intimate instead of othering.
https://www.folkstreams.net/films/blues-houseparty
Brief Intro to Piedmont
https://southernspaces.org/supplement/piedmont-blues/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2003/08/29/the-piedmont-style/594d21f3-602d-4159-83f9-de3113b57ff7/
Album:
If you want one anthology to get you started, try Smithsonian’s classic Piedmont album. Note that it includes Josh White (who is another very atypical Piedmont artist) and Doc Watson, who was better known as a country or bluegrass artist.
https://folkways.si.edu/classic-piedmont-blues/african-american-music-folk/album/smithsonian
A few artists to check out:
Blind Blake
Algia Mae Hinton
John Jackson
Blind Boy Fuller* (He’s the one who sounds so atypical)
Josh White* (He also sounds really atypical)
Etta Baker
Blind Willie McTell
Reverend Gary Davis
John Cephas & Phil Wiggins (Phil Wiggins still lives in the DC area)
Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee
Piedmont Bluz (contemporary duo out of NYC)
Playlist:
A sample playlist of text-book Piedmont typical songs on spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5n8uRPB7ja2hlmFXpFbFS5?si=fadde7d63c7c46c6
Two More Piedmont Videos:
A couple more Piedmont videos because I just cannot stop…1. Algia Mae Hinton playing “Goin’ Down This Road’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Cce3EmF720
2. A young Algia Mae, cuttin’ up!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHf86Lld6Cs
RSS Feed
