The Piedmont blues (also known as Piedmont fingerstyle) is a type of
blues music, characterized by a unique fingerpicking method on the guitar in which a regular, alternating-thumb
bassline pattern supports a melody using the
treble strings.[1] The result is comparable in sound to
ragtime or
stride piano styles.[1] The Piedmont blues originated in an area including and extending beyond the
Piedmont plateau of the eastern United States, which stretches from about
Richmond, Virginia, to
Atlanta, Georgia. Piedmont blues musicians come from this area and also from
Maryland,
Delaware,
West Virginia,
Pennsylvania and
Florida.[1][2] Piedmont blues was popular in the early 20th century.[1]
Pink Anderson (February 12, 1900 – October 12, 1974). Born in
Laurens, South Carolina, Anderson was an early
country blues guitarist and singer who performed Piedmont blues. He recorded in the late 1920s with the guitarist and singer
Blind Simmie Dooley, from Greenville, South Carolina. Anderson had a long career as a medicine show performer. Interest in him was renewed by blues revivalists in the 1960s, and many of his recordings from that time have been released by
Prestige Records.[3]
B
Memphis Willie B. (November 4, 1911 – October 5, 1993).
Memphis blues and Piedmont blues guitarist, harmonica player, singer and songwriter.[4]
Barbecue Bob (September 11, 1902 – October 21, 1931). Guitarist and singer.[8]
Ed Bell (May 1905 – 1960, 1965 or 1966). Born in
Fort Deposit, Alabama, Bell released work under his own name and as Sluefoot Joe and Barefoot Bill from Alabama.[9]
Gabriel Brown (1910 – 1972). Born in Florida, Brown was a
country blues guitarist and singer. He was discovered in the 1930s by the folk music researchers Zora Neale Hurston and Alan Lomax and had a career lasting several decades, mainly in
New York City, recording for Joe Davis.[12]
Precious Bryant (January 4, 1942 – January 12, 2013). Born in
Talbot County, Georgia, Bryant was recorded by the music historian
George Mitchell in 1969, in one of his field recordings of folk blues.[13] She subsequently appeared at blues festivals and, late in life, recorded two albums for Terminus Records.
C
Carolina Slim (Edward P. Harris, August 22, 1923 – October 22, 1953). Guitarist and singer.[14]
Cephas & Wiggins (John Cephas, September 4, 1930 – March 4, 2009; and Phil Wiggins, born May 8, 1954). Guitarist and harmonica player, respectively, who performed as a duo.[15][16]
Virgil Childers (c. 1901 – December 10, 1939) Guitarist and singer, who was recorded in 1938.[17]
Rick Franklin (born March 16, 1952)[30] Guitarist, singer and songwriter. With various other musicians, Franklin has released four albums to date and works as a blues musicologist.
Boo Hanks (April 30, 1928 – April 15, 2016)[32] Guitarist and singer, he was billed as the last of the Piedmont blues musicians.[33] Hanks recorded two albums in his lifetime, Pickin' Low Cotton (2007) and Buffalo Junction (2012), both released by the
Music Maker record label.[34]
Big Boy Henry (May 26, 1921 – December 5, 2004). Guitarist, singer and songwriter.[35] His most notable recording was "Mr. President", a protest against cuts in social welfare undertaken by
Ronald Reagan.[36] It won Henry a
W.C. Handy Award in 1983.[37]
George Higgs (March 9, 1930 – January 29, 2013). Acoustic guitarist, harmonicist and singer. In 2001, Higgs' debut album, Tarboro Blues, was made in collaboration with the
Music Maker Relief Foundation.[39]
Frank Hovington (January 9, 1919 – June 21, 1982). Guitar and banjo player and singer.[43]
Peg Leg Howell (March 5, 1888 – August 11, 1968). Guitarist and singer who spent most of his career in
Atlanta, Georgia, and recorded for
Columbia Records from 1926 until 1929,[44] and then fell into obscurity. In 1963 he was "rediscovered" in dire poverty in Atlanta by
George Mitchell and Roger Brown. They recorded Howell at the age of 75; the recordings were issued on LP by
Testament Records, thirty-four years after his last recorded sessions.[45]
John Jackson (February 24, 1924 – January 20, 2002). His first recordings were released in the early 1960s by
Arhoolie Records.[49]
Henry "Rufe" Johnson (October 2, 1908 – February 4, 1974). Guitarist, harmonica player, pianist, banjo player, singer and songwriter who found fame late in life following the release of his album, The Union County Flash! (1973).[50]
Charley Lincoln (March 11, 1900 – September 28, 1963). Born Charlie Hicks in
Lithonia, Georgia, he was an acoustic country and Piedmont blues guitarist and vocalist. He was the older brother of Robert "
Barbecue Bob" Hicks, with whom he performed from the 1920s until Robert's early death in 1931. Charley Lincoln continued to perform until the mid-1950s. He made several recordings, some for
Columbia Records.[52]
M
Carl Martin (April 1, 1906 – May 10, 1979). Multi-instrumentalist and singer.[53]
Blind Willie McTell (May 5, 1898 – August 19, 1959). Piedmont blues and ragtime singer and guitarist. His most notable song was "
Statesboro Blues", which has been covered by several musicians.[56][57]
Kid Prince Moore (Active 1936 – 1938). Guitarist and singer, who recorded 17 songs from 1936 to 1938.[58]
William Moore (March 3, 1893 – November 22, 1951). Guitarist and singer. Described as "a facile, brilliant, and unusual guitarist", his style bridged
ragtime and blues.[59][60][61]
Buddy Moss (January 16, 1914 – October 19, 1984). Guitarist and singer. He is considered one of the most influential
East Coast blues guitarists to record in the period between
Blind Blake's final sessions in 1932 and
Blind Boy Fuller's debut in 1935.[62]
Dan Pickett (August 31, 1907 – August 16, 1967).[64] Born James Founty, he was a Piedmont blues and
country blues singer, guitarist and songwriter.[65] 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".[66]
Q
Doug Quattlebaum (January 22, 1929 – March 1, 1996)[67] A guitarist, singer and songwriter, he recorded one single for
Gotham Records in 1953, but bizarrely was offered another opportunity following his employment as an ice cream salesman.[68]
R
Michael Roach (born March 18, 1955,
Washington, D.C., United States) is an American expatriate blues performer and educator, who has released six albums on the independent Stella Records label.
T
Baby Tate (January 28, 1916 – August 17, 1972). Guitarist who released his only
album, Blues of Baby Tate: See What You Done Done, in 1962, and twelve months later appeared in
Samuel Charters's
documentary filmThe Blues.[69]
Sonny Terry (October 24, 1911 – March 11, 1986). Piedmont blues and
folk harmonica player.[70]
Warner Williams. (died September 2021)
AllMusic stated that he and Jay Summerour "specialized in the Piedmont blues tradition of Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, billing themselves on the folk and blues circuit as Little Bit of Blues."[77]
^Govenar, Alan, ed. (2001). "Elizabeth Cotten: African American Songster and Songwriter". Masters of Traditional Arts: A Biographical Dictionary. Vol. 1 (A-J). Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-Clio. pp. 144–146.
ISBN1576072401.
OCLC47644303.