Although Blind Willie McTell never had a major hit, he was a prolific performer throughout his career and left a legacy of fine blues playing appreciated by blues aficionados throughout the world. He was born in Georgia at the turn of the 20th century and was blind in one eye from birth losing the sight in his other eye by late childhood. After his mother died he left home and became an itinerant musician beginning his recording career in 1927.

He married his wife Kate in 1934 and in the early years of their marriage she would accompany him on stage and on several recordings. McTell's style of guitar playing, played almost exclusively on twelve-string, bridged the gap between traditional, unsophisticated blues and the more melodious East Coast influenced style of playing sometimes referred to as Piedmont blues which found favour with wider audiences.

McTell battled with diabetes and alcoholism later in life and eventually became a preacher at Mt Zion Baptist Church in Atlanta. He died of a stroke in 1959 and is buried near Thomson, Georgia close to where he was born.

Blind Willie McTell

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