Blind Willie McTell

Willie Samuel McTell stood among the most accomplished guitarists in blues history while also ranking as one of its most expressive vocalists. From the 1920s he commanded a devoted local audience in Atlanta, cutting dozens of tracks across the following decade under an array of aliases—Blind Willie, Blind Sammie, Hot Shot Willie, Georgia Bill, and as an accompanist for Ruth Mary Willis—so he could maintain simultaneous “exclusive” contracts with competing labels. Additional pseudonyms may have existed; even the name he used for himself remains uncertain, though “Blind Willie” was the one he favored among peers. Most biographical details surfaced only after his death through relatives and associates. The family surname appears to have been McTier or McTear, leaving the source of “McTell” unclear. What is documented is that music ran throughout his lineage: both parents played guitar, an uncle did likewise, and he was kin to Georgia Tom Dorsey, later known as the Rev. Thomas Dorsey.

Born in Thomson, Georgia, near Augusta and raised near Statesboro, McTell was likely blind from birth, although he retained limited light perception in one eye during childhood. His blindness posed little hindrance; accounts describe his hearing and tactile sensitivity as exceptional. He began with harmonica and accordion, then took up guitar as soon as his size allowed and displayed immediate mastery. He continued using a standard six-string acoustic into the mid-1920s and never abandoned it entirely, yet from the start of his studio work he favored a 12-string acoustic almost exclusively. His approach to the 12-string was singular: rather than leaning on its natural resonance for rhythmic effect, he employed a nimble, refined combination of slide and finger-picking that made the instrument seem like multiple guitars playing at once. During the early 1920s he attended schools for the blind in Georgia, New York, and Michigan, where he may have acquired formal musical training. He performed on medicine shows, at carnivals, and in other outdoor settings, drawing crowds with his dexterity and a nasal singing voice capable of sounding either warm or plaintive, incorporating traits often linked to white hillbilly singers.

His recording career opened in late 1927 with two Victor sessions that produced eight sides, among them “Statesboro Blues.” Those early recordings demonstrated exceptional storytelling paired with brilliant guitar execution. Throughout his output, McTell conveyed striking force—sometimes in buoyant ragtime pieces, sometimes in stark, solitary blues—always marked by remarkably intricate guitar work. He recorded under numerous names and with various partners, including his former wife Ruthy Kate Williams (credited as Ruby Glaze), Buddy Moss, and Curley Weaver. He frequently revisited his strongest compositions. Like many blues artists he held simultaneous contracts with different companies; at one point he was signed to both Columbia and Okeh even as the two labels merged. Commercial breakthrough remained elusive, partly because some of his finest material appeared during the worst years of the Depression. In Atlanta, where he lived and performed for most of his career, he remained uniquely popular and was the only blues guitarist of consequence from the city who stayed active there long after World War II.

His reputation prompted Library of Congress archivist John Lomax to record him in 1940. During the war, like many acoustic country blues performers, McTell stopped recording. A modest postwar resurgence of interest in acoustic country blues, however, returned him to the studio. Atlantic Records, then primarily known for jazz and R&B, recorded fifteen songs with him in Atlanta in 1949. Only one single appeared at the time and sold poorly; most of the tracks stayed unreleased for more than two decades. The following year he cut further material with longtime partner Curley Weaver for Regal, though those sides also met limited success. He continued playing wherever an audience existed, yet mounting hardships led him to drink regularly. Rediscovered in 1956, he managed one final historic session. Shortly afterward he left performing to serve as pastor of a local church and died of a brain hemorrhage in 1959; his death went so unnoticed that certain reissues in the 1970s still listed him as alive in the 1960s.

As guitarist, singer, and recording artist, Blind Willie McTell was a towering figure in blues. Virtually every surviving track meets the highest standard, rendering nearly any collection of his work valuable. A meticulous and versatile musician whose abilities extended well beyond blues, he moved with equal command through ragtime, spirituals, story-songs, hillbilly numbers, and popular material. He could read and write music in braille, giving him an advantage over many sighted contemporaries, and he was an inventive improviser on guitar, as his recordings demonstrate. Even in his final years of performing and recording, McTell consistently delivered performances of the first order.