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Blind Willie McTell - Master of the 12 string

John Holmes

When the Allman Brothers Band album “Live at the Fillmore” was released, many
listeners were struck by the great version of Statesboro Blues, featuring the
wonderful slide guitar playing of Duane

Allman, but how many of them knew that
Blind Willie McTell had recorded the song in
1928?

I don’t suppose I did either, at the time, but
like so many blues fans in the 1960s and 70s,
our love of the music took us on a journey of

discovery. We worked our way back from
John Mayall, through B. B. and Freddy King,
to Muddy Waters, through Sonny Boy

Williamson, to Robert Johnson, Blind Lemon
Jefferson and Charlie Patton. One of those I
picked up on on the way was Blind Willie
McTell.

A friend of mine who had a vast collection of
blues records recommended the McTell

album “Last Session”. I was smitten, and it
Blind Willie McTell has remained one of my all-time favourite
Courtesy of Hargrett Rare Book and albums (now available on a Prestige

Manuscript Library, University of Georgia Bluesville CD in their Original Blues Classics
series).

Willie Samuel McTell was born in Thomson, Georgia, 30 miles west of Augusta,

probably in 1898. The Metropolitan Atlanta Association for the Blind reported a birth
date of May 5th 1901, but this date, like much of the information they held about
him, is likely to be incorrect. His mother Minnie Watkins was a teenager, who had

married a local man called Ed McTear (also spelt McTier). Confusingly, both spellings
were used by his family, and both names are quite common in that area. Quite how
Willie ended up being known as McTell is unknown.

Whatever the confusion about the surnames, it is known that both his parents, and
an uncle, played guitar, and he was distantly related to Georgia Tom Dorsey (aka,
Thomas A Dorsey, ED) Buddy Moss and Barbecue Bob, so doubtless there was music
in his blood.

Willie was either born blind, or lost his sight at a very early age. Apparently, initially
he could perceive light out of one eye, but very soon even that ability was lost to him.

A kindly white neighbour paid for him to have various examinations, but it was all