Blind Willie McTell biography tells story of local music hero

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Blind Willie McTell biography tells story of local music hero
October 15, 2009
Don Rhodes
Augusta Chronicle

It was his love for Bob Dylan's music that led British author Michael Gray to write a biography of local music hero and blues legend Blind Willie McTell.

British author Michael Gray will speak about his book Hand Me My Travelin' Shoes: In Search of Blind Willie McTell at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the McDuffie Museum in Thomson.

The U.S. hardback release of Mr. Gray's biography Hand Me My Travelin' Shoes: In Search of Blind Willie McTell (Chicago Review Press, $26.95) is tied to the 50th anniversary of Mr. McTell's death on Aug. 19, 1959 .

It originally was released in the United Kingdom in 2007.

"This is the ideal time to celebrate his life and work," Mr. Gray said by e-mail before heading for a speaking tour of Georgia cities. That tour includes a stop at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the McDuffie Museum, 121 Main St., in Thomson. Admission is free.

He also will speak at 7 p.m. Oct. 22 in Nessmith Lane Assembly Hall/Auditorium at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro. One of Mr. McTell's best known compositions and recordings is Statesboro Blues , made famous by The Allman Brothers Band.

"I should particularly like to stress that the book is scrupulously researched," Mr. Gray wrote in his e-mail. "It is aimed at the interested general reader and by no means simply at music fans, and contains a good deal of Georgia history."

Mr. Gray has authored or co-authored books about musicians Frank Zappa, Elvis Presley and Mr. Dylan, including The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia (2006). It was while researching Mr. Dylan that Mr. Gray came across Mr. Dylan's song Blind Willie McTell .

Mr. Gray said Mr. McTell challenged stereotypes about bluesmen playing the 12-string guitar and singing in "that sweet tenor voice."

British music fans, including The Beatles, have long been fans of American blues music.

"I can't speak for others, but I think maybe we don't have the same cultural baggage to trip us up on our way to enjoying black music," Mr Gray e-mailed.

Mr. McTell, who met his wife, Kate, while performing at a Christmas dance at Paine College, recorded in Atlanta and New York in the 1920s and '30s for labels such as Vocalion, Columbia, Atlantic, Okeh and Victor, but was virtually penniless when he died from a cerebral hemorrhage in the Milledgeville State Hospital. He was buried south of Thomson.