The Georgia Guitar Wizard 1928-50

Acrobat has devoted a number of collections to the blues guitarists and singers who represent what is known as the Piedmont school of blues – artists whose roots were in the region surrounding Atlanta, Georgia, and developed a fairly distinctive style of blues during the late 1920s and through the ‘30s, the best-known names including Blind Blake, Barbecue Bob, Blind Willie McTell, Josh White, Blind Boy Fuller and Buddy Moss. Curley Weaver was another prominent Piedmont bluesman, and an especially noted guitarist who was often invited to play on sessions with artists mentioned above, and whose recording career, albeit fitfully, extended through to 1950. This 50-track 2-CD collection comprises recordings under his own name for the Columbia, QRS, Okeh, Banner, Vocalion, Decca, Sittin’ In With and Regal labels. It includes recordings which were duets with Eddie Mapp, Ruth Willis, Fred McMullen, Clarence Moore and Blind Willie McTell along with titles where he performed as a member of the Georgia Cotton Pickers alongside Barbecue Bob and Buddy Moss, and The Georgia Browns, and on which he accompanied Buddy Moss or Blind Willie McTell. It’s a great showcase for a lesser-known blues luminary who nevertheless made a considerable contribution to the Piedmont sub-genre.