Piedmont Blues Style

http://toto.lib.unca.edu/sounds/piedmontblues/
This is a great source for information.
Much of my research has been from this site.


Originating in the region on the eastern coast of the United States, ranging from the state of Virginia, south to the northern tip of Florida (including the Carolinas), and west to Georgia and eastern Tennessee.

The term Piedmont blues, also known as East Coast blues, refers primarily to a guitar style, the Piedmont fingerstyle, which is characterized by a fingerpicking approach in which a regular, alternating thumb bass string rhythmic pattern supports a syncopated melody using the treble strings generally picked with the fore-finger, occasionally others. The result is comparable in sound to piano ragtime or later stride.

The term was coined by blues researcher Peter B. Lowry, although folklorist Bruce Bastin has also been credited with it in his landmark work Cryin' for the Carolines.



The Piedmont style is differentiated from other styles (particularly the Mississippi Delta style) by its ragtime-based rhythms which lessened its impact on later electric band blues or rock 'n' roll, but it was directly influential on rockabilly and the folk revival scene and had a great influence on country music.

There are many Piedmont Style pickers associated with the mid-atlantic area of the United States.

Florida:

Blind Blake Gabriel Brown (recorded by Alan Lomax and Zora Neale Hurston in Orlando.

Georgia:

Blind Willie McTell (William Samuel McTell), b. May 5, 1901, Thomson, GA

Barbecue Bob (Robert Hicks), b. Sept. 11, 1902, Walnut Grove, GA

"Laughing" Charley Lincoln (Charlie Hicks), Barbecue Bob’s brother.

Peg Leg Howell, b. March 5, 1888, Eatonton, Georgia

Eddie Mapp Curley WeaverBuddy Moss, b. Jan 26, 1914, Jewell, Georgia

Tampa Red (Hudson Whittaker or Hudson Woodbridge?), b. Jan 8, 1904, Smithville, GA

Bumble Bee Slim (Amos Easton), b. May 7, 1905, Brunswick, GA; lived briefly in Atlanta

Baby Tate (Charles Henry "Baby" Tate), b. January 28, 1916, Elberton, GA (associated with the Greenville-Spartanburg, SC area;

Andrew and Jim BaxterClifford Lee (Atlanta area)Jonas Brown (Atlanta area)Buddy Keith (Atlanta area)Georgia Cotton Pickers

South Carolina:

Pink Anderson, b. Feb. 12, 1900, Laurens, SC

Alvin "Little Pink" Anderson

Simeon "Simmie" DooleyReverend Gary Davis, b. April 30, 1896, in Laurens, SC

Willie Walker, b. 1896 in South Carolina

Josh White, b. Feb. 11, 1914 or 1915, in Greenville, SC (some sources incorrectly list his birthplace as Greensboro, NC)

Henry Johnson, b. December 8, 1908, Union, SC

Peg Leg Sam (Arthur Jackson), also known as "Peg Pete" in the Spartanburg area; “Peg Leg Sam” as he was known in Rocky Mount, NC; b. 28 Dec. 1908 in the Pauline section of Spartanburg, although sources differ)

Ted Bogan, b. May 10, 1910, Spartanburg, SC ( play with Howard Armstrong in the Group Martin, Bogan and Armstrong)

Julius Daniels, b. 1902, Denmark, SC

Stark, Cootie, b. 1926, Abbeville, SC. Associated with the Greenville area.

North Carolina:

Blind Boy Fuller (Fulton Allen), b. July 10, 1907, in Wadesboro, NC (Anson Co.)

Carolina Slim (Edward P. Harris), b. August 22, 1923, in Leasburg, NC (Caswell Co.)

Sonny Terry, b. Oct. 24, 1911, Greensboro, NCEtta Baker, b. March 31, 1913, Caldwell County, NC

Elizabeth Cotten, b. 1893, in Chapel Hill, NC

Floyd "Dipper Boy" Council, b. September 2, 1911, Chapel Hill, NCRichard Trice, b. Nov. 16, 1917, Hillsborough, NC

Willie (Welly) Trice, b. Feb. 10, 1910, Hillsborough, NC

Roy DunnAlden “Tarheel Slim” BunnGeorge Higgs, b. Speed, NC (associated with Tarboro area)Ephen Lee (Tarboro/Rocky Mount area)

John Dee Holeman, b. 1929, Orange County

Quentin "Fris" Holloway, NC

Lesley T. Riddle, b. June 13, 1905, in Burnsville, NC. (Some sources incorrectly list Scott County, VA as birthplace.) Moved to Johnson City, TN as a boy. Associated with A. P. Carter of the Carter Family and Brownie McGhee.

Preston Fulp, b. 1915, Stokes County, NC. (

East Tennessee

Brownie McGhee, b. Nov. 30, 1915, Knoxville, TN

Cripple Clarence Lofton

Howard Armstrong ("Louie Bluie")

Joe Evans (Billy Bird), Knoxville, TN area.

Virginia Jimmie Strother(s), b. ca. 1880s. Blind musician from Culpeper County who reportedly played in medicine shows. Recorded by John A. Lomax at the Virginia State Penitentiary in Goochland County in 1936.

Luke Jordan, b. Jan. 28, 1892, Appomattox County or Campbell County, VA. Associated with and buried in Lynchburg.

John Cephas, b. September 4, 1930

Phil Wiggins OthersSam Butler (Bo Weavil Jackson), probably Birmingham, AL.

Discovered by Harry Charles, co-owner of Birmingham's E. E. Forbes Piano Company. His songs "Some Scream High Yellow" and "Jefferson County Blues" both mention Birmingham.

Bayless Rose (most likely Kentucky, although his "Jamestown Exhibition" suggests ties to Virginia)

Chicken Wilson and Skeeter Hintonthe Piedmont blues style is characterized by a finger-picked guitar technique.

Although many Piedmont style country-blues songs remain popular today, the style has never received the respect provided its Mississippi cousin.