Tag Archives: Georgia Musicians

Blind Willie McTell: Blues Legend

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Willie Samuel McTier aka Blind Willie McTell (5 May 1901-19 August 1959), Jones Grove Cemetery, McDuffie County, Georgia

“…And I can tell you one thing/Nobody can sing the blues/Like Blind Willie McTell”– Bob Dylan, Blind Willie McTell

Like many of his fellow Piedmont Blues legends, Blind Willie McTell was an enigmatic character to whom fame and notoriety were elusive in his lifetime. McTell is now considered one of the great bluesmen of the 1920s and 1930s but that recognition was a long time coming. He had many fans among serious musicians but was largely unknown to the general public until covers of his song “Statesboro Blues” by Taj Mahal and the Allman Brothers Band brought new attention to his life and work.

His headstone, placed in tribute by author David Fulmer in 1992, records his birthdate as 1901, but further scholarship suggests he was actually born in 1898. Additionally, some sources list his birth name as William, but the memorial stone in Jones Grove Baptist Church Cemetery identifies him as Willie.

Born Willie Samuel McTier in Thomson on 5 May 1898 to Minnie McTier, he was blind at birth. The family moved to Statesboro when Willie was about six years old and Minnie taught him to play the guitar. When Minnie died, Willie left Statesboro and performed at carnivals and shows, including the John Roberts Plantation Show. The patronage of Brooke Simmons and Dr. A. J. Kennedy of Statesboro allowed him to attend schools for the blind in Georgia and New York. I believe he was around 17 or 18 at the time.

One source states an error by a clerk at one of the blind schools was the reason his name was changed to McTell; his widow, Ruthy Kate McTell Seabrooks (m. 1934), told an interviewer in 1977, however, that someone in his father’s family changed the name due to their involvement in the moonshine business. Mythology is built in to the biographies of blues legends, so the whole story may never be known. Willie worked at different times over the years, with other bluesmen, including Covington native Curley Weaver and Jewell native Buddy Moss. He traveled extensively but said he always considered Statesboro his home.

Blind Willie McTell, place and date unknown, Public Domain, no known restrictions.

He made his first recordings for Victor in Atlanta in 1927. He never had a hit record in his lifetime, but had a relatively prolific output, thanks to his ability to cover many genres of music, and his use of multiple pseudonyms with each genre. His most successful tune was perhaps “Come On Around to My House Mama”, recorded as Blind Sammie for Columbia in 1929. He recorded as “Barrelhouse Sammy” for Atlantic, “Blind Sammie” for Columbia, “Blind Willie” for Vocalion, “Georgia Bill” for OKeh, “Pig n’ Whistle Red” for Regal, and “Red Hot Willie Glaze” for Bluebird. He was also recorded by John and Alan Lomax for the Library of Congress. Since he reaped no financial windfall from his recordings, he spent much time playing for tips in busy areas of larger cities, especially Atlanta. Diabetes and a penchant for alcohol caused his health to decline by the 1950s.

According to Kate, he quit playing the blues altogether around 1957 and became a preacher. He played spiritual and gospel music for the remainder of his life. On 19 August 1959, he died of a stroke at the Milledgeville State Hospital.

Blind Willie McTell remains an enduring Georgia legend. Thomson holds the Blind Willie Music Festival every year and Statesboro has a Blind Willie McTell Trail. I think he’d be happy with all the recognition.

Elvis Impersonator Kenn Blankenship, Miller County

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I made a special trip to Primitive Union Cemetery in Miller County to see this unusual memorial. It’s an enduring tribute to a man who made a second career paying tribute to Elvis Presley.

Marion Kenneth “Kenn” Blankenship was born in 1940 to a West Virginia coal mining family, and after working for the Ohio State Highway Patrol, he changed careers and began working for Southern Bell. His new occupation brought him South, first to Florida, then to Bainbridge, and finally, Colquitt.

Music was initially a side gig, and in his early days in Southwest Georgia he played lead guitar for a country band known as East River Junction. He married Barbara Jones in 1978 and soon thereafter, he got out of the phone business. He and Barbara opened a restaurant and supper club in Bainbridge. Moving on from the restaurant business after a few successful years, the couple formed their own band and traveled all over the Southeast, working regularly. In the 1990s, Kenn began doing his Elvis tributes and they were wildly popular. He even bought three suits from the company that outfitted Elvis.

Kenn and Barbara Blankenship

Kenn passed away on 8 June 2009, but his love of performing and sharing his talents still brings joy at this unique memorial. The beautifully maintained gravesite invites reflection and will likely inspire people far into the future. In addition to the life-size “Elvis” and the bench featuring laser cut images of Kenn performing, there’s a concrete palm tree, and a guitar shaped stone, presumably the future resting place of Kenn’s fellow guitarist, Denzil Newbern.

Boggs Music Hall, Hahira

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Hezekiah Rugh Boggs (1928-2020), was the ninth of ten children born to Rand and Bessie Boggs of Breathitt County, Kentucky. His musical interests were developed and encouraged at an early age; he entered and won his first contest at the age of 9 and learned guitar while in his 20s. After service in the Korean War, he worked for General Motors Delco Products, playing gigs in nightclubs around Dayton, Ohio, on the side. He moved to Hahira in 1977 and married Karen Wolff Norris in 1980. Karen, an Ohioan by birth, was a classically trained pianist. By all accounts the couple made beautiful music together and loved sharing their musical gifts with the Hahira community; Rugh had a working knowledge of around 3000 songs. In 2003, Rugh converted the old garage behind his home into a music hall, where he and Karen played three weekends a month.

Boggs House, Circa 1929, Hahira

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I haven’t located the identity of the builder of this historic Craftsman cottage; it was purchased by local musical legend Rugh Boggs (1928-2020) in 1977.

C. M. Copeland Workshop, Fitzgerald

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I made these photographs in 2019, a few months before this structure was razed. For most of my life, it was known as C. M. Copeland’s workshop and studio. I believe it was originally a neighborhood grocery store but I can’t confirm that at this time.

C. M. Copeland, Fitzgerald, 1977 [detail]. Library of Congress. Public domain.

C. M. Copeland (15 July 1916-4 February 2000) was a brilliant wood carver, best known for his sculptures of wildlife made with cypress knees. He was often referred to as “The Happy Wood Carver”. He was also a banjo picker and folk singer, who had a radio show on local radio station WBHB with Wimpy Fowler, The Wimpy and Jigs Show.

C. M. Copeland Treasures in Wood, Fitzgerald, 1977. Library of Congress. Public domain.

He was documented by folklorists for the South Georgia Folklife Project in 1977, both for his picking and his carving.

Wimpy Fowler and C. M. Copeland, Fitzgerald, 1977. Library of Congress. Public domain.

At the time of the South Georgia Folklife Project photographs, his shop was a few blocks down the road from this location. This structure was adjacent to his home and I believe he moved his operations here sometime after 1977 for the sake of convenience.

James Brown Statue, 2005, Augusta

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Known as much for his tireless stage presence as his rocky personal life, James Brown (3 May 1933-25 December 2006) was known as the Godfather of Soul, and considered himself “the Hardest Working Man in Show Business”. Born into poverty in Barnwell, South Carolina, he moved at age five with his father and aunt to Augusta, which he considered his hometown. The city honored him with a statue on Broad Street on 6 May 2005. There’s also a James Brown Boulevard in the heart of the city’s historic Black neighborhood.

The sculpture is the work of Montezuma-born orthopedic surgeon John Savage, who has gained notoriety for his artistic pursuits.

Jesse “Lone Cat” Fuller Mural, Jonesboro

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Jesse “Lone Cat” Fuller isn’t well known today, outside music circles, but he should be. The itinerant bluesman left his native Jonesboro after a childhood typical of Black Georgians of his day and after a series of manual labor jobs in various states, wound up in California circa 1920. He worked as a shoe-shine man outside the United Artists studio in Hollywood and was a favorite of Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., who helped set him up with a hot dog stand. He also got him work as an extra, in such notable films as Thief of Baghdad. With the money he saved from that enterprise, he moved to Oakland and began working for the Southern Pacific Railroad. When his railroad job ended after World War II, he went back to shining shoes, singing as he worked, and gained notice from musicians in the burgeoning Folk movement who were then flocking to the Bay Area. Due to his exposure in local bars and cafes, he recorded his first album in 1958. He had trouble finding, or paying, other musicians to back him up; as a result he invented the fotdella, a six-string bass, rigged with a cymbal. He also invented a rack to hold his harmonica and kazoo. He was a one-man band. Bob Dylan supposedly adopted his harmonica rig after listening to Fuller and recorded his song “You’re No Good” on his first album.

Fuller gained notoriety for “San Francisco Bay Blues”, which was covered by numerous artists including the Grateful Dead, Janis, Joplin, Jim Croce, and Eric Clapton.

The mural, by Shannon Lake, is a nice tribute to this influential artist.

Little Richard House, 1920s, Macon

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This hip-roof shotgun house in the Pleasant Hill neighborhood was once home to Little Richard (Richard Wayne Penniman), the “Architect of Rock n’ Roll”. It is typical of the domestic architecture found in working class African-American neighborhoods in Macon in the early 20th century. The house originally stood several blocks away but was moved to this location to save it from an expansion project on Interstate 75. It is much nicer looking today than it was in Little Richard’s time in Macon; he noted he grew up in a “rundown house on a dirt street”. It is a museum today, known officially as The Little Richard House Resource Center.

The Big House-Allman Brothers Band Museum, Macon

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The early history of this circa 1900 Tudor Revival is hard to track down today but its connection to the Allman Brothers Band make it an epicenter of Southern Rock history and a shrine to fans from all over the world.

Known today as The Allman Brothers Band Museum at The Big House, it was rented by members of the band in January 1970 and a succession of wives, girlfriends, groupies, and industry types passed through until the end of 1972. Duane Allman and Berry Oakley were both living here at the times of their deaths in motorcycle crashes [29 October 1971 and 11 November 1972, respectively]. Dickey Betts wrote “Blue Sky” in the living room and “Ramblin’ Man” in the kitchen. By early 1973, the remaining band members and their families were gone from the house. It has since been restored and now maintains a world-class collection of Allman Brothers Band memorabilia and ephemera.

Vineville Historic District, National Register of Historic Places

Fletcher Henderson House, 1888, Cuthbert

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This home was built by Professor Fletcher Hamilton Henderson, Cuthbert’s preeminent Black educator for well over half a century. Professor Henderson served as principal of Howard Normal School [later Randolph County Training School] from 1880-1942. The institution was owned by the American Missionary Association, a leading advocate for African-American education in the years following the Civil War. Henderson married Ozie Lena Chapman of Cuthbert in 1883. Mrs. Henderson also became an educator.

It’s likewise important as the birthplace of Fletcher Henderson, Jr., and Horace Henderson, who were influential in American music in the first half of the 20th century.  Upon completing college at Atlanta University in 1920, Fletcher (aka Smack) moved to New York and soon began working for Pace & Handy, a prominent publisher of African-American music. He was also an active member of the Harlem Symphony and later fronted a touring band that featured singer Ethel Waters. The band has the distinction of having the first known broadcast of jazz on radio, at New Orleans in 1922. At the height of the Harlem Renaissance, Henderson was the go-to accompanist of the great blues singers of the era and led the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra at Roseland Ballroom for many years. He worked with numerous instrumentalists, including Coleman Hawkins, Charlie Green, Don Redman, Louis Armstrong, Charlie Dixon, Fats Waller, and June Cole, among others. He sold his arrangements to Benny Goodman in the 1930s and worked with Goodman’s orchestra in the late 1930s and 1940s. The up-tempo jazz that Henderson had been playing in the 1920s came to be known as “swing”. Benny Goodman noted…Fletcher had one of the first great jazz swing bands in America and influenced any number of musicians in America.

Fletcher Henderson died in 1952.  His brother Horace, who led his own smaller band, went on to do arrangements for the Glenn Miller Orchestra and toured with Lena Horne at the height of her popularity. He continued to work with small bands until the 1970s.

National Register of Historic Places