Blind Boy Fuller

Complete Recorded Works in Chronological Order 23 July 1935 – 19 June 1940

Vol. 4: December 1937 to 29th October 1938

Blind Boy Fuller, vocal / guitar; Dipper Boy Council, guitar added on 2, 5, 6, 7. Blind Boy Fuller, vocal / guitar; Sonny Terry, harmonica. Blind Boy Fuller, vocal / guitar; Sonny Terry, harmonica on 9, 10, 11; Charlie Austin, harmonica on 16. Blind Boy Fuller, vocal / guitar. Blind Boy Fuller, vocal / guitar; Sonny Terry, harmonica on 22; Bull City Red, washboard (except on 22).

Genres: Blues, Country Blues, Piedmont Blues, Carolina Blues, Country Blues Guitar, Blues Guitar, Ragtime Guitar Blues Harmonica, National Guitar

Abridged from this album’s original booklet notes. Perhaps the most noticeable change in Blind Boy Fuller’s sessions of December 1937 was the addition of Sonny Terry on harmonica. Sonny Terry’s pyrotechnic and often percussive country-styled harp and his exuberant falsetto “whoops” have long since become one of the most identifiable sounds in the blues. In 1937, however, his first session was with Blind Boy Fuller, and he was to be present on all of Fuller’s recording dates from that time on. Sonny Terry was born in Greensboro, North Carolina. Terry’s brother lived in Wadesboro, where Fuller still had relatives, and it was there that they met while playing on opposite sides of the street. Fuller invited him to come to Durham, stating that they might possibly record together. After Sonny Terry arrived in Durham he continued performing on the street with Blind Boy Fuller and was introduced to J. B. Long, who agreed with Fuller that Sonny would be an asset on the recordings.

Sonny Terry’s first recordings with Blind Boy Fuller took place at the December 15, 1937 session on the three titles that began the date (see Vol. 3 DOCD-5093). He also appeared on the last track of Blind Boy Fuller’s session: I’m Going To Move (To The Edge of Town), which was cut the following day. In between, Fuller cut Hungry Calf Blues (combining elements of Kokomo Arnold’s “Milk Cow Blues” and Robert Johnson’s “Milkcow’s Calf Blues”) and three guitar rags with Dipper Boy Council (Oozin’ You Off My Mind, Shake That Shimmy and Heart Ease Blues). At the April 1938 session Sonny Terry repeated the pattern by accompanying Blind Boy Fuller on his first three titles, including the popular Pistol Slapper Blues. Fuller also recorded another of his lively dance pieces: Piccolo Rag (piccolo was a then-current slang term for a jukebox). In late October Long scheduled the first of two sessions away from the usual location in New York. The explanation he gave for this was that there were problems with the musician’s union in New York where union dues had to be paid if a group of three recorded. That being the case, Columbia, South Carolina was the chosen location, where Blind Boy Fuller, Sonny Terry, and Bull City Red rerecorded some of their classic themes.

DOCD-5094