Statesboro Blues
When 25-year-old Taj Mahal recorded his self-titled debut album in 1967, he approached traditional country blues with an electric, modern urgency. His adaptation of Blind Willie McTell's 1928 "Statesboro Blues" featured Ry Cooder on rhythm guitar and Jesse Ed Davis on lead. The propulsive, heavily rhythmic arrangement modernized the Piedmont blues classic. The record helped inspire Duane Allman's later interest in slide guitar, and the Allman Brothers' 1971 version became a Southern rock landmark, but this first electric treatment by Taj Mahal's band opened that door.
The floating-verse lineage for this recording (who else recorded it, where the melody or lyric traveled, and how it was adapted) is still being mapped. This section will trace the song's DNA across the archive.
Contributions welcome at OlMrRead@ccblues.com.