Blind Willie McTell - "Searching The Desert For The Blues" [Victor 23353]
McTell was the stage name of William Samuel McTier (born 1903, Thomson, GA.). For his RCA session on 22nd February 1932 he turned up with Ruby Glaze who then gave vocal comfort during "Searching The Desert For The Blues". At one time, Glaze was thought to be a pseudonym for Willie's soon-to-be wife Kate; biographer Michael Gray makes a convincing case for the two women to be different people in his book "Hand Me My Traveling Shoes".
It is a charming piece that shows Willie's intricate finger picking of his twelve string guitar. That was his instrument of choice for the powerful sound it could make when needed. Bob Dylan is a huge fan, (there's a song about McTell that Bob wrote) and in Summer 2011 there are plans for a celebration called "Blind Willie: the Musical" down in Statesboro, GA.
I can't identify a current cd with the song, our STAR BLUES show on 20th February 2011 took the track from the Orbis collection series of magazines.
No comments:
Post a Comment