Slide Guitar Folk-Blues
tagStarted 1910sPeak 1928–1965Last big hit still active
Located in 1 route
Slide guitar folk-blues puts bottleneck tone at the center: gliding intonation, droning open tunings, vocal-like bends, and a tactile physicality that makes every note feel dragged from the string.
History
Slide had deep roots in Southern Black vernacular music, but records made it one of the most recognizable signatures of acoustic blues.
Defining artists
Essential listening
- You Gotta Move — Mississippi Fred McDowellSpotifyYouTube
- Death Letter — Son HouseSpotifyYouTube
- Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground — Blind Willie JohnsonSpotifyYouTube
- Fixin' to Die Blues — Bukka WhiteSpotifyYouTube
- Walking Blues — Robert JohnsonSpotifyYouTube
- River Rat Jimmy — Kelly Joe PhelpsSpotifyYouTube
Sources
- Britannica
- Library of Congress
- Smithsonian Folkways
- regional blues sources. citeturn1search5turn9search2turn3search2