Guitar Rag Blues

History

This style is one of the clearest places where ragtime and East Coast country blues visibly overlap. Blind Blake is the towering exemplar, but Blind Willie McTell, Buddy Moss, Curley Weaver, Barbecue Bob, and Rev. Gary Davis all worked repertory where rag guitar technique and blues songcraft were inseparable, making Guitar Rag Blues a key ancestor of later fingerstyle folk and country-blues revival guitar.

Defining artists

• Blind BlakeSpotifyYouTube
• Blind Willie McTellSpotifyYouTube
• Buddy MossSpotifyYouTube
• Curley WeaverSpotifyYouTube
• Barbecue BobSpotifyYouTube
• Rev. Gary DavisSpotifyYouTube

Essential listening

• Diddie Wa Diddie — Blind BlakeSpotifyYouTube
• Statesboro Blues — Blind Willie McTellSpotifyYouTube
• Red River Blues — Buddy MossSpotifyYouTube
• No No Blues — Curley WeaverSpotifyYouTube
• Barbecue Blues — Barbecue BobSpotifyYouTube
• Slow Drag — Rev. Gary DavisSpotifyYouTube

Sources

• Library of Congress, History of Ragtime
• Music Maker Foundation, “Discover the Piedmont Blues”
• New Georgia Encyclopedia on Blind Willie McTell
• Smithsonian on the technical logic of Piedmont fingerstyle