On this week’s program, we continue with our occasional feature focusing on the fundamentals of a particular style of music. Piedmont blues is a ragtime inspired music played mostly on the guitar. Originally it emanated from Virginia and traveled south to Atlanta but today can be found most anywhere. We’ll hear classics from John Jackson, Mississippi John Hurt, Cephas & Wiggins, Pink Anderson and others, and selections from the collection on Smithsonian Folkways Records – Classic Piedmont Blues. Some classic blues selections … this week on The Sing Out! Radio Magazine.

LISTEN:

Artist/”Song”/CD/Label

Pete Seeger / “If I Had A Hammer” (excerpt) / Songs of Hope and Struggle / Smithsonian
              Folkways
Stefan Grossman & Rory Block / “Pony Blues” / Country Blues Guitar / Stefan Grossman’s Guitar Workshop
John Jackson / “Red River Blues” / Classic Piedmont Blues / Smithsonian Folkways
Roy Book Binder / “Kentucky Blues” / Live Book…Don’t Start Me Talkin’ / Rounder
Bukka White / “Special Streamline” / The Complete Bukka White / Columbia-Legacy

Mississippi John Hurt / “Avalon Blues” / DC Blues Part 2 / Fuel
Cephas & Wiggins / “Mamie” / Classic Piedmont Blues / Smithsonian Folkways
Corey Harris / “Bumble Bee Blues” / Fish Ain’t Bitin’ / Alligator
Elizabeth Cotten / “Buck Dance” / Shake Sugaree / Smithsonian Folkways
Stefan Grossman & Rory Block / “Mississippi Blues” / Country Blues Guitar / Stefan Grossman’s
              Guitar Workshop

Napoleon Strickland Fife & Drum Band / “My Babe” / Traveling Through the Jungle / Testament
Fannie Lou Hamer / “Woke Up the Morning” / Songs My Mother Taught Me / Smithsonian Folkways
Eric Bibb / “Mornin’ Train” / Migration Blues / Stony Plain

Pink Anderson / “Meet Me in the Bottom” / Classic Piedmont Blues / Smithsonian Folkways
Dom Flemons w/ Guy Davis / “It’s A Good Thing” / Prospect Hill / Music Maker
Taj Mahal / “Fishin’ Blues” / The Real Thing / Columbia
Pete Seeger / “If I Had A Hammer” (excerpt) / Songs of Hope and Struggle / Smithsonian
              Folkways