Dale – Nothing But the Blues

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lz4of2IsSEM "John Henry" by Pink Anderson Introduction Piedmont blues is a fingerpicking guitar style that developed in the Southeastern United States. It is played with syncopated rhythm, in a style that often sounds like ragtime piano. Historically, Piedmont blues combined the ornamentation of folk music with the swing and syncopation of ragtime, and it tends to be lively. It combines a tricky syncopated melody with a steady bass strumming, resulting in a jaunty and upbeat sound. The style is defined by syncopated finger-picking, where the guitarist alternates between picking and strumming the bass strings. Piedmont blues is melody- and rhythm-driven African American folk music that often touches on European musical influence. It tends to be as concerned with the rhythm and groove as the lyrics, making it a genre that non-native English speakers can not only grasp but also enjoy. Piedmont blues helped to shape the very nature of the blues. Folk and country blues are rooted in it. And it, in turn – with its lighter, more melodic approach – informed the wide-ranging tradition of ‘country blues’ that became popular in the South. The Piedmont sound became known nationally via acoustic bluesmen such as Blind Willie McTell and Reverend Gary Davis, and in many ways, their solo acoustic guitar approach laid the groundwork for some of today’s most popular acoustic blues and folk music. The Origins and Influence of Piedmont Blues The music style known as Piedmont blues developed in the southeastern US in the early 20th century, named for the Piedmont region that stretches from Virginia to Georgia. Its fingerpicking guitar technique mimics ragtime piano rhythms. Some of these influences were African American work songs, spirituals, and ragtime; some came from neighboring Appalachian folk music and popular songs of the era. This style was performed on banjos, played by musicians using a thumb and fingerpicking technique – a method that lent itself to a syncopated melody over a bass line. Culturally, however, the tunes of Piedmont blues crystallized through interactions in the southeastern US. The Great Migration acted as a force propelling the music north and east as African Americans fled the south to find work in northern cities such as Chicago, Detroit, and more generally along the eastern coast of the US. These migrants and their friends and relations took with them their music, and through that process, the music became recognized nationwide. Some of the most renowned names in the style, such as Blind Boy Fuller, Reverend Gary Davis, and Etta Baker, took their music to the masses by recording and performing. The songs focused on the people’s lives, their loves, and their hardships and were sung in their accents. They made music that prioritized lyrical storytelling, laced with barbed humor and social commentary, and written in a rhythmic and accessible style to appeal to all. Comparatively, the approach of the Delta — with its unfiltered eruptions of profound feeling delivered with guttural passion and its ‘lowdown’ lyrical stylings — was an alternative vision for the genre. In sum, Piedmont blues represents both African American and Appalachian influences. It features a drone-like fingerpicking style and call-and-response structure. It is an invaluable piece to the history of American blues and passes on various oral bits and pieces to some of its most celebrated modern-day practitioners. Characteristics of Piedmont Blues Piedmont Blues is a distinct style within the blues genre. It originated in the southeastern United States. This style is characterized by a unique fingerpicking technique. Fingerpicking Style and Techniques: Piedmont Blues features intricate fingerpicking on the guitar. The thumb plays a steady bass pattern. Meanwhile, the fingers pluck the treble strings. This creates a syncopated rhythm, resembling ragtime music. The technique requires dexterity and precise timing. It often gives the music a light, rhythmic feel. Common Themes and Lyrical Content: Themes in Piedmont Blues often focus on daily life and personal experiences. The lyrics can include humor and storytelling. They reflect the struggles and joys of everyday existence. Love, hardship, and social issues are common topics. The lyrics are relatable and poignant. Overall Sound and Influence: The sound is melodic and upbeat, differing from other blues styles. It influenced many later musicians and genres. Its complex guitar work remains admired by guitarists today. Piedmont Blues showcases the rich cultural heritage of the region. It remains a significant part of American music history. Piedmont Blues Key Artists and Their Impact Piedmont Blues has an unmistakable fingerpicking guitar style, carried forward by masters such as Blind Blake, Reverend Gary Davis, and Elizabeth Cotten. His favorite ragtime-inspired techniques, captured in the hallmark of his blues recordings for Paramount in the 1920s, served as a blueprint for generations of blues guitarists. Blake’s elegantly intricate fingerpicking would become a foundational ‘Piedmont’ guitar style. Drawing from the new energy and ethos of the blues, as well as his personal core of evangelical piety, Reverend Gary Davis built a style that successfully infused gospel and blues to form a distinct sound, performed with virtuosic guitar playing and challenging spiritual lyrics. His travels and teaching engagements across the southern United States meant that Davis passed along the Piedmont style to generations of successor musicians. In addition to the ‘moldy and dusty’ guitar, she used an unconventional technique, playing a left-handed guitar upside down, on the strings designed for the right-handed player’s left (the lower pitch) hand. And Cotten’s ‘Freight Train’ was, from the 1950s forward, a staple of the folk and blues repertoire. But their music was not the only thing they contributed. They changed the way that folk revivalists and modern blues musicians played, with their intricate fingerstyle and tale-like lyrics inspiring artists such as Bob Dylan and Taj Mahal. They can live on in modern-day Piedmont musicians, whose new songs still contain these old breakthroughs and expressive performances. The Piedmont Blues sound, its music, still resounds today in the fabric of American music. By extracting their music and teaching it, these musicians forged the sound of Piedmont Blues as it morphed through the years. Thanks to their instruments, these now-departed players live on through their records and their teachings, helping modern Piedmont Blues remain alive. Piedmont Blues in the Modern Era But in the modern era – as the cliché goes – the Piedmont Blues has been reborn. Pioneering exponents of the form, along with contemporary artists, are pushing new boundaries commercially. They are fusing the traditional continuous fingerpicking with modern sounds. The result is reaching a whole generation of younger listeners. As the sound moves forward, it continues to keep alive the spirit of the Piedmont (and other) Blues. Today, you will certainly find folk jazz and even hip-hop influences in modern versions of Piedmont. Innovative techniques include drum machines and other electronic instruments that nonetheless preserve the Piedmont sound. The continued evolutions of the style reflect Piedmont’s durability and adaptability. It remains relevant and feels important today. Piedmont Blues had already led to new styles that were preserved in the relatively safe haven of Americana and indie folk. A simple Google search for ‘Brownie McGhee’ turns up more than 600,000 YouTube results, with plenty of contemporary musicians singing Brownie’s songs or paying homage by covering old recordings. More importantly, as one peruses the catalog of the Rhythm Revue label, one finds that the intricate rhythmic structures and storytelling walk side by side with the work of today’s songwriters. Conclusion Piedmont Blues is named after the Piedmont region of the southern US, and is a music style from the early 20th century that developed a special type of fingering technique for guitar playing, combined with elements of ragtime and country music, carried out by finger instrumentalists such as Blind Boy Fuller and Reverend Gary Davis. More syncopated with its beats and more melodically complex than Delta Blues, Piedmont Blues represented the evolution of the genre by pushing it closer to folk and country. It also had an outsized future impact on the music itself, as the sound would play a major role in bridging blues with folk and country for later musicians, leading to a canon that went far beyond just the roaring horns of the Delta. Artists such as Bob Dylan and Taj Mahal would be influenced by the music of the Piedmont. Its distinctive melodic fingerpicking patterns became the basis for a fingerstyle of great beauty and range in the 1960s folk revival. Piedmont Blues lies at the wellspring of music for contemporary practitioners who season their work with its characteristics and techniques. Its role as part of the development of roots music in the US remains vital.