Atlanta Twelve-String (studio album)
by Blind Willie McTell

GavinB, nice piece to read.

Blind Willie McTell was not only one of the best guitarists in the history of the blues, he may be the most gifted musical lyricists of the 20th Century. Unfortunately McTell spent most of his musical career singing on street corners and in parking lots for spare change. "Alanta Twelve String" which he originally recorded under the name of Barrellhouse Sammy in 1949 for the black "race" label Regal Records is his masterwork. McTell frequently recorded under pseudonyms to side-step his numerous "exclusive" contracts with various record labels. McTell recorded his last album in 1956 when an Atlanta record store manager, Edward Rhodes, discovered McTell playing in the street for quarters and enticed him into his store with a bottle of corn liquor, where he captured a few final performances on a tape recorder.

One of McTell's most famous songs, "Statesboro Blues", has often been considered by The Allman Brothers Band's fans to be one of their earliest signature songs. Jack White of The White Stripes considers McTell an influence & covered his song "Southern Can" and dedicated the album "De Stijl" to his memory. Kurt Cobain of Nirvana said McTell was his greatest influence aside from some early punk music he listened to as a youth. Bob Dylan has paid tribute to McTell on at least four occasions: Firstly in his 1965 song "Highway 61 Revisited" in the second verse, which begins, "Georgia Sam he had a bloody nose," referring to one of Blind Willie McTell's many recording names; later in "Blind Willie McTell" (recorded in 1983 but released on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3 in 1991); then with covers of McTell's "Broke Down Engine" and "Delia" on his 1993 album World Gone Wrong. In his song "Po'Boy", off the 2001 album Love & Theft, Dylan again paid homage to McTell by appropriating the line "had to go to Florida dodging them Georgia laws" directly from the latter's "Kill It Kid".