Born on the 5th day of May in 1898, William Samuel McTier. At any given time in his performing career, he was known as Georgia Bill, Hot Shot Willie, Barrelhouse Sammy, Pig & Whistle Red, Blind Doogie, and Red Hot Willie Glaze, among others. But his legacy is with the name Blind Willie McTell.

He was a master of the Piedmont style of Blues, with the thumb playing the bass line and the index and forefingers picking the treble strings. He didn’t enjoy much commercial success, yet still managed a near 30 year recording career for major labels including Columbia, Victor, Vocalion, OKeh, Decca, and Atlantic. In 1940 he was recorded by musicologist John Lomax for the Library of Congress (above photo taken during that session). He is cited as an influence by a wide array of musicians, from Ry Cooder to Jack White to Dave Van Ronk, though British guitarist Ralph McTell (“Streets of London”) holds the prize of biggest acolyte, changing his name from Ralph May in homage. Blind Willie’s best known song isn’t known as as Blind Willie song. It’s a mainstay of Classic Rock radio via the Allman Brothers’ cover, though Taj Mahal w/Jesse Ed Davis can lay claim to covering it first. Willie’s original:

Bob Dylan, of course, is a huge fan, composing and recording “Blind Willie McTell,” a masterpiece, a rumination on slavery. Dylan recorded it in 1983 on what would have been McTell’s 85th birthday. It is one of several songs in Bob’s canon named in honor of an influence, joining “Song to Woody,” “High Water (for Charley Patton)” and “Goodbye Jimmy Reed.” Dylan has shown his fandom of McTell in other ways, composing his own “Lonesome Day Blues” (for 2001’s Love And Theft), honoring Willie’s own “Lonesome Day Blues,” recorded as Hot Shot Willie in 1932 for Victor.

Dylan also quoted the McTell line “she can do the Georgia Crawl” in 1979’s “Gonna Change My Way of Thinking.” That line comes from Willie’s 1931 composition “Broke Down Engine Blues,” recorded for Columbia under the pseudonym Blind Sammie (the full line is “she can really do the Georgia Crawl”). Dylan covered it 62 years later for Columbia, on ’93’s sublime World Gone Wrong.

Today’s Playlist #1 is a SomethingIsHappening compendium in celebration of of Blind Willie Mctell:

Of course we can’t let today go by without acknowledging that it was 48 years ago today that Bob Dylan “married Isis on the fifth day of May.” Today’s Playlist #2 is a SomethingIsHappening compendium of Five and Fifth songs on this year’s 5th Day of May:

Image of Isis courtesy of http://wallpapercave.com

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