This is the latest from The Bluesmobile’s C.C. Rider, who spends her life venerating the founding fathers of the blues. She’s walked the crooked highways of this singing country to resurrect the voices of the past. With the dirt of the Delta on her hands, she sleeps in the shadow of the giants on whose shoulders popular music now stands.
Blind Blake
We don’t know much about him. We’re not even sure of his real name. What we know we get from his music. We know that he was good at guitar. Really good.
At the turn of the century, Ragtime was king. So Blind Blake developed an intricate style to rival the flare of ragtime piano. Blind Blake’s complex fingerpicking is considered a prototype for what became known as the Piedmont style. I t inspired the likes of Jorma Kaukonen and Ry Cooder.
Listen to the way Blake pops, brushes, taps those strings, and it’s not hard to see why. This is a great track. From 1929, Blind Blake’s “Police Dog Blues.”
