Piedmont Blues

History

The style developed across the Piedmont region from Virginia through the Carolinas and into Georgia, drawing on African-derived plucked-string technique, ragtime, folk song, vaudeville, and blues. Blind Blake, Blind Boy Fuller, Rev. Gary Davis, Blind Willie McTell, Buddy Moss, and Etta Baker are central exemplars, and although the prewar recording market largely froze its classic image, the style survived through community musicians and the folk revival before returning to festivals and roots labels in the late twentieth century.

Defining artists

• Blind BlakeSpotifyYouTube
• Blind Boy FullerSpotifyYouTube
• Rev. Gary DavisSpotifyYouTube
• Blind Willie McTellSpotifyYouTube
• Buddy MossSpotifyYouTube
• Etta BakerSpotifyYouTube

Essential listening

• Diddie Wa Diddie — Blind BlakeSpotifyYouTube
• Step It Up and Go — Blind Boy FullerSpotifyYouTube
• Cocaine Blues — Rev. Gary DavisSpotifyYouTube
• Statesboro Blues — Blind Willie McTellSpotifyYouTube
• Red River Blues — Buddy MossSpotifyYouTube
• One Dime Blues — Etta BakerSpotifyYouTube

Sources

• Music Maker Foundation, “Discover the Piedmont Blues”
• Britannica, Etta Baker
• North Carolina Music Office on Blind Boy Fuller
• Smithsonian on John Cephas’s explanation of alternating thumb-and-finger picking