Motherless Chile Blues

Robert Hicks worked as a cook at an Atlanta barbecue stand, which Columbia Records capitalized on by photographing him in his apron. He played a 12-string guitar, often using a bottleneck slide. His style was driving and percussive, heavily rhythmic, and less complex than his contemporary Blind Willie McTell. This track takes a traditional spiritual and structures it into a rigid, repetitive blues stomp. It's a vital document of the early Atlanta blues scene before the Depression wiped out the race records market.