Blind Willie McTell was a Piedmont blues and ragtime singer and guitarist. He played with a fluid, syncopated fingerstyle guitar technique, common among many exponents of Piedmont blues. Unlike his contemporaries, he came to use twelve-string guitars exclusively. McTell was also an adept slide guitarist, unusual among ragtime bluesmen. His vocal style, a smooth and often laid-back tenor, differed greatly from many of the harsher voices of Delta bluesmen such as Charley Patton. McTell performed in various musical styles, including blues, ragtime, religious music and hokum.
Piedmont blues refers primarily to a guitar style, which is characterized by a fingerpicking approach in which a regular, alternating thumb bass string rhythmic pattern supports a syncopated melody using the treble strings generally picked with the fore-finger, occasionally others. The result is comparable in sound to ragtime or stride piano styles. Blues researcher Peter B. Lowry coined the term, giving co-credit to fellow folklorist Bruce Bastin. The Piedmont style is differentiated from other styles, particularly the Mississippi Delta blues, by its ragtime-based rhythms.
Floyd Council was an American blues guitarist, mandolin player, and singer. He was a practitioner of the Piedmont blues, which was popular in the southeastern United States in the 1920s and 1930s. He was sometimes credited as Dipper Boy Council and promoted as "The Devil's Daddy-in-Law".
Fulton Allen, known as Blind Boy Fuller, was an American blues guitarist and singer. Fuller was one of the most popular of the recorded Piedmont blues artists, along with Blind Blake, Josh White, and Buddy Moss.
"Statesboro Blues" is a Piedmont blues song written by Blind Willie McTell, who recorded it in 1928. The title refers to the town of Statesboro, Georgia. In 1968, Taj Mahal recorded a popular blues rock adaptation of the song with a prominent slide guitar part by Jesse Ed Davis. His rendition inspired a recording by the Allman Brothers Band, which is ranked number nine on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time". In 2005, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution ranked "Statesboro Blues" number 57 on its list of "100 Songs of the South".
Gary D. Davis, known as Reverend Gary Davis and Blind Gary Davis, was a blues and gospel singer who was also proficient on the banjo, guitar and harmonica. Born in Laurens, South Carolina and blind since infancy, Davis first performed professionally in the Piedmont blues scene of Durham, North Carolina in the 1930s, then converted to Christianity and became a minister. After moving to New York in the 1940s, Davis experienced a career rebirth as part of the American folk music revival that peaked during the 1960s. Davis' most notable recordings include "Samson and Delilah" and "Death Don't Have No Mercy".
Magpie Records is a British record label set up in 1976 by Bruce Bastin. It was owned by Interstate Music. It specialises in re-issuing pre and post war blues and jazz recordings.
Flyright Records is a British record label incorporated in 1970 by Mike Leadbitter, Simon Napier, and Bruce Bastin. It specializes in reissues of American blues artists, but has issued some jazz by British musicians and some American jazz discs, including Ralph Sutton and Hoagy Carmichael.
Kate McTell was an American blues musician and nurse from Jefferson County, Georgia. She is known primarily as the former wife of the blues musician Blind Willie McTell, whom she accompanied vocally on several recordings. She may have recorded as Ruby Glaze, but there is some uncertainty about whether she and Glaze were the same person, despite the fact that she claimed to be Glaze.
Franklin Hovington, also known as Guitar Frank, was an American blues musician. He played the guitar and banjo and sang in the Piedmont blues style. He lived in the vicinity of Frederica, Delaware.
Peter B. Lowry was an American folklorist, writer, record producer, ethnomusicologist, historian, photographer, forensic musicologist, and teacher who dealt with aspects of popular music, mainly African-American.
Bull City Red was an American Piedmont blues guitarist, singer, and predominantly washboard player, most closely associated with Blind Boy Fuller and the Reverend Gary Davis. Little is known of his life outside of his recording career.
Gabriel Brown (1910–1972) was an American Piedmont blues singer and guitarist.
Charles Henry Tate, known as Baby Tate was an American Piedmont blues guitarist, who in a sporadic career spanning five decades worked with the guitarists Blind Boy Fuller and Pink Anderson and the harmonica player Peg Leg Sam. His playing style was influenced by Blind Blake, Buddy Moss, Blind Boy Fuller, Josh White, Willie Walker, and to some extent Lightnin' Hopkins.
John Dee Holeman was an American Piedmont blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. His music includes elements of Texas blues, R&B and African-American string-band music. In his younger days he was also known for his proficiency as a buckdancer.
Bertha Idaho was an American classic female blues singer. She recorded four songs in 1928 and 1929. Little is known of her life outside music.
James Founty, better known as Dan Pickett, was an American Piedmont blues and country blues singer, guitarist and songwriter. He recorded fourteen tracks for Gotham Records in 1949, several of which have been issued more recently. AllMusic noted that "Pickett had a distinctive rhythmic style and unique phrasing that makes his records compelling decades after his release".
William Augusta Trice was an American blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He released two singles and an album. He remained loyal to his native North Carolina and its regional blues style, often referred to as Piedmont blues, East Coast blues, or more generally country blues.
"Kid" Prince Moore was an American blues musician, from the United States, who recorded 17 songs from 1936 to 1938. Moore played in a Piedmont blues style, similar to that of Blind Blake. Moore also recorded two Gospel Music tracks, "Church Bells" and "Sign of Judgement". Moore also accompanied blues pianist Shorty Bob Parker on six of his own tracks. Bruce Bastin, in his book Red River Blues: The Blues Tradition in the Southeast, suggested that Moore may have come from the Carolinas but as of 2024 virtually nothing is known of Moore's life.
