Note: The type of blues playing known as
"Piedmont blues" often refers to a larger
geographical area than that of the actual Piedmont
region of the southeastern U.S. This style of playing can
be found areas of east Tennessee and the Virginia Tidewater
region, as far north
as Maryland and Delaware, and as far south as Florida
(where Blind Blake was from).
The following musicians are arranged by
state of birth.
Florida
Blind Blake
Gabriel Brown (recorded by Alan Lomax and Zora Neale Hurston in Orlando. See Bastin chapter in
Nothin’ But the Blues, p. 221)
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 Weaver
Buddy 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; see Charters and Charters Blues
Faces)
Andrew and Jim Baxter
Clifford 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" Dooley
Reverend 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
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, NC
Etta 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, NC
Richard Trice, b. Nov. 16, 1917, Hillsborough, NC
Willie (Welly) Trice, b. Feb. 10, 1910,
Hillsborough, NC
Roy Dunn
Alden “Tarheel Slim” Bunn
George Higgs, b. Speed, NC (associated with Tarboro
area)
Ephen Lee (Tarboro/Rocky Mount area)
John Dee Holeman, b. 1929, Orange County
Quentin "Fris" Holloway, b. ?, See North
Carolina Folklore Journal 44: 1-2 (1997): 91-92.
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.
(See Timothy Duffy, "North
Carolina Blues, Winston-Salem, Part One" Living
Blues, January/February, 1993, p. 36, and
Carolina Music Ways site)
East Tennessee
Brownie McGhee, b. Nov. 30, 1915,
Knoxville, TN
Cripple Clarence Lofton
Howard Armstrong ("Louie Bluie")
Joe Evans (Billy Bird), Knoxville, TN area. See
liner notes and track "Mill Man Blues" on Yazoo
1016 Guitar Wizards, 1926-1935.
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 Jackson, b. Rappahannock County
James Jackson (son of John Jackson)
Archie Edwards, b. Sep. 4, 1918, Union Hall, VA
Stephen Tarter, b. Scott County, VA
Harry Gay, b. Scott County, VA
William Moore, b. March 3, 1893 in Tappahannock, VA
Carl Martin, b. near Big Stone Gap, VA, April 1, 1906
Washington, DC
John Cephas, b. September 4, 1930
Phil Wiggins
Others
Sam 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 Hinton
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