Last Session

Performer: Blind Willie McTell
Engineer: Edward Rhodes
Producer: Kenneth S. Goldstein; Sam Charters
Distributor: Fantasy (distributor)

Notes: Personnel: Blind Willie McTell (vocals, guitar, 12-string guitar). Audio Remasterer: Phil DeLancie. Liner Note Authors: Dr. David Evans ; Samuel Charters. Recording information: Atlanta, GA (09/1956). This recording has a less-than-stellar reputation, principally because it was done so late in McTell's career, and it is true that he lacks some of the edge, especially in his singing, that he showed on his other postwar recordings. On the other hand, his 12-string playing is about as nimble as ever and a real treat. McTell cut these sides for record store owner Ed Rhodes, who had begun taping local bluesmen at his shop in Atlanta in the hope of releasing some of it -- McTell took to the idea of recording only slowly, then turned up one night and played for the microphone and anyone who happened to be listening, finishing a pint of bourbon in the process -- the result was a pricelessly intimate document, some of the words slurred here and there, but brilliantly expressive and stunningly played. No apologies are needed for "The Dyin' Crapshooter's Blues," "Don't Forget It," or "Salty Dog," however. McTell lived a few more years but never recorded again, which is a pity because based on this tape he still had a lot to show people. Rhodes never did anything with the tapes, and might've junked them if he hadn't remembered how important the McTell material was -- they turned out to be the only tapes he saved, out of all he'd recorded. ~ Bruce Eder

Blind Willie McTell would be remembered today if only because Bob Dylan immortalized him in song, but McTell's legacy (recording from the 1920s to the 1950s) extends well beyond a single cut. A masterly 12-string guitar player, McTell came to epitomize the sophisticated blues style popular in Atlanta and up the East Coast. All the same, the Allman Brothers and others found plenty of gritty fire in his "Statesboro Blues."

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