Piedmont blues
| Piedmont blues | |
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| Stylistic origins |
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| Cultural origins | 1920s, East Coast of the United States |
| Other topics | |
| List of musicians | |
Piedmont blues (also known as East Coast, or Southeastern blues) refers primarily to a guitar style, which is characterized by a fingerpicking approach in which a regular, alternating thumb
Origins
The basis of the Piedmont style began with the older "frailing" or "framming" guitar styles that may have been universal throughout the South, and was also based, at least to some extent, on formal "parlor guitar" techniques as well as earlier banjo playing, string band, and ragtime. What was particular to the Piedmont was that a generation of players adapted these older, ragtime-based techniques to blues in a singular and popular fashion, influenced by guitarists such as Blind Blake and Gary Davis.[4][5]
Geography
The Piedmont blues was named after the
Nick Spitzer, Professor of Anthropology and American Studies, folklorist, and producer of American Routes [7] describes Piedmont Blues in this way:
Among the rolling hills, small farms, mills, and coal and railroad camps of the rural East Coast Piedmont, between Tidewater coast and the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia, black and white economic and cultural patterns have overlapped considerably — more so than in the nearby areas or the Deep South. Piedmont blues styles reflects this, meshing traces of gospel, fiddle tunes, blues, country, and ragtime into its rolling, exhuberant sound.[8]
Recordings
Recording artists such as
Post-World War II
As a form of Black American popular music, Piedmont blues fell out of favor on a national basis after
Preservation efforts
Cultural organizations in North Carolina have supported the preservation of the Piedmont blues. The Greensboro-based Piedmont Blues Preservation Society has partnered with musicians such as Max Drake and a number of public schools in North Carolina to provide performances, exhibitions, and educational programs.[13][14]
See also
References
- ^ a b UNC Asheville students (25 October 2005). "East Coast Piedmont Blues". Archived from the original on 8 February 2006. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
- ^ ISBN 1-904041-96-5.
- ^ Harris, Jeff (6 September 2008). "Some Ramblings On Peter B. Lowry, Field Recording & The Trix Label". Big Road Blues. Retrieved 17 February 2014.
- ^ Lowry, Pete (1973). "Some Cold, Rainy Day: Part 5 – Robert and Charlie Hicks". Blues Unlimited (103): 15.
- ^ Lowry, Pete (1972). "Some Cold, Rainy Day: Part 2 – Curley Weaver". Blues Unlimited (99): 10–11.
- ^ Bastin, Bruce (1986). Red River Blues: The Blues Tradition in the Southeast. University of Illinois Press.
- ^ Tulane University. "Nick Spitzer". AmericanRoutes.Tulane.edu. Retrieved September 23, 2021.
- ^ Spitzer, Nick. "Piedmont Blues". scholarblogs.emory.edu. Retrieved September 23, 2021.
- ^ Blind Boy Fuller Step It Up and Go All music. Retirieved 12 August 2022
- ^ Bastin, Bruce (1993). "Truckin' My Blues Away: East Coast Piedmont Styles". In Cohn, Lawrence (ed.). Nothing But The Blues: The Music and the Musicians. New York: Abbeville Press.
- ^ Grossman, Stefan. "Ralph McTell – European Fingerpicker", Guitar Player, August 1976
- ^ Doyle, Patrick (November 26, 2014). Arlo Guthrie looks back on 50 years of Alice's Restaurant. Rolling Stone. Retrieved November 29, 2014.
- ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "Weso and Max "You Must Be Jelly, 'Cause Jam Don't Shake Like That"". YouTube. Retrieved June 28, 2021.
- ^ "Blues in the Schools". PiedmontBlues.org. Retrieved June 28, 2021.
Further reading
- ISBN 978-0-289-70209-3.
- Bastin, Bruce (1995). Red River Blues: The Blues Tradition in the Southeast. Urbana; Chicago: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-06521-7.
- Cohen, Andrew M. (2008). "The Hands of Blues Guitarists". In ISBN 978-0-252-03203-5.
- Lowry, Peter B. (1977). "Atlanta Black Sound: A Survey of Black music from Atlanta During the 20th Century". The Atlanta Historical Bulletin. II (2): 88–113.
- Lowry, Peter B. (May 2003). "Against the Wind: Tim Duffy and the Music Maker Relief Foundation". Rhythms (130). Melbourne: 48–50.
- Lowry, Peter B. (June 2009). "DIY Fieldwork: George Mitchell's Southern Trawlings". Rhythms (203). Melbourne: 26–27.
- Wiggins, Phil; Matheis, Frank (2020). Sweet Bitter Blues. Washington, DC's Homemade Blues. Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 978-1-4968-2691-6.
- Welker, Gayle; Lowry, Peter B. (2006). "Piedmont Blues". In Komera, Edward (ed.). Routledge Encyclopedia of the Blues. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-92699-8.
External links
| Musical form | |
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| Origins |
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| Regional styles | |
| Subgenres | |
| Fusion genres | |
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