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Blind Willie McTell - Atlanta Twelve String (1949)

Track listing:
  1. Kill It Kid 2:31
  2. The Razor Ball 2:51
  3. Little Delia 3:00
  4. Broke Down Engine Blues 2:44
  5. Dying Crapshooter's Blues 3:04
  6. Pinetop's Boogie Woogie 2:47
  7. Blues Around Midnight 2:42
  8. Last Dime Blues 2:46
  9. On The Cooling Board 3:06
  10. Motherless Children Have A Har 2:54
  11. I Got To Cross The River Jorda 3:58
  12. You Got To Die 3:09
  13. Ain't It Grand To Live A Chris 2:36
  14. Pearly Gates 3:20
  15. Soon This Morning 2:40

Notes

In 1949, a brief flurry of interest in old-time country blues resulted in this 15-song session by McTell for the newly formed Atlantic Records. Only two songs, "Kill It Kid" and "Broke Down Engine Blues," were ever issued on a failed single, and the session was forgotten until almost 20 years later. McTell is mostly solo here, vividly captured on acoustic 12-string (his sometime partner Curley Weaver may have been present on some tracks), and in excellent form. The playing and the repertory are representative of McTell as he was at this point in his career, a blues veteran rolling through his paces without skipping a beat and quietly electrifying the listener. Songs include "Dying Crapshooter's Blues," "The Razor Ball," and "Ain't I Grand to Live a Christian."