The Underground River, Part 1: Blind Willie McTell, the Rolling Stones, and Led Zeppelin
Download MP3Atlanta, November 5, 1940. In a room at the Robert Fulton Hotel, John Lomax of the Library of Congress asks a blind street singer named Willie McTell whether he knows any complaining songs about hard times for colored people in the South. McTell, who wrote "Statesboro Blues," tells him he doesn't know any. You hear the exchange.
This is the first of two episodes about where the blues went when the record industry's shelves stopped selling it, and who got paid when it came back up.
The parking lot: McTell playing for tips outside the Pig 'n Whistle barbecue on Ponce de Leon Avenue under eight different names, one for every label. "Statesboro Blues" cut for Victor in 1928, and the same song coming back in 1971 out of a Coricidin cold-medicine bottle on Duane Allman's finger at the Fillmore East.
The laundering: Muddy Waters carrying a Telecaster to England in 1958 and flying home discouraged. The Rolling Stones naming themselves after his record and recording at 2120 South Michigan Avenue. Willie Dixon's "You Need Love," and the four names Led Zeppelin put on it seven years later. Robert Plant: "That was it, a nick. Now happily paid for."
The Shell: Memphis, summer 1966. A Klan rally at the Overton Park bandshell, four hundred people, and one week later on the same stage a blues festival where Furry Lewis, who had swept the city's streets for forty years, and Bukka White, found by a postcard addressed to General Delivery, were put in front of an audience and paid. A hundred and fifty dollars each in 1968. The year Led Zeppelin formed.
Chapters
0:00 Cold open · 2:12 Intro · 2:48 The Parking Lot · 7:10 The Bottle · 10:20 The Laundering · 15:35 The Shell · 19:44 Outro
Music in this episode
This is the first of two episodes about where the blues went when the record industry's shelves stopped selling it, and who got paid when it came back up.
The parking lot: McTell playing for tips outside the Pig 'n Whistle barbecue on Ponce de Leon Avenue under eight different names, one for every label. "Statesboro Blues" cut for Victor in 1928, and the same song coming back in 1971 out of a Coricidin cold-medicine bottle on Duane Allman's finger at the Fillmore East.
The laundering: Muddy Waters carrying a Telecaster to England in 1958 and flying home discouraged. The Rolling Stones naming themselves after his record and recording at 2120 South Michigan Avenue. Willie Dixon's "You Need Love," and the four names Led Zeppelin put on it seven years later. Robert Plant: "That was it, a nick. Now happily paid for."
The Shell: Memphis, summer 1966. A Klan rally at the Overton Park bandshell, four hundred people, and one week later on the same stage a blues festival where Furry Lewis, who had swept the city's streets for forty years, and Bukka White, found by a postcard addressed to General Delivery, were put in front of an audience and paid. A hundred and fifty dollars each in 1968. The year Led Zeppelin formed.
Chapters
0:00 Cold open · 2:12 Intro · 2:48 The Parking Lot · 7:10 The Bottle · 10:20 The Laundering · 15:35 The Shell · 19:44 Outro
Music in this episode
- "Guitar Rag" — Sylvester Weaver (OKeh, 1923). Public domain. Series theme.
- John A. Lomax and Blind Willie McTell, spoken exchange from the Library of Congress session, Atlanta, November 5, 1940 ("Monologue on Accidents"). Archive of Folk Culture.
- "Statesboro Blues" — Blind Willie McTell (Victor, recorded Atlanta, October 17, 1928)
- "Statesboro Blues" — The Allman Brothers Band, from At Fillmore East (Capricorn, 1971)
- "You Need Love" — Muddy Waters, written by Willie Dixon (Chess, 1962)
- "Kassie Jones, Part 1" — Furry Lewis (Victor, recorded August 28, 1928)
All excerpts are used as direct commentary on the specific recordings discussed.
Episode artwork
Ruby Terrill Lomax, Blind Willie McTell with 12-string guitar, hotel room, Atlanta, Georgia, November 5, 1940. Lomax Collection, Library of Congress, LC-DIG-ppmsca-38816. No known restrictions on publication.
Groundwater draws from Race Records: The Lie That Split American Music — and the Blues That Ran Underneath by Thomas Stubbs.
Next episode: the people who went looking for that water. The man in the rhinestone suit, and the road manager who stole his body from the Los Angeles airport. A rich kid from Texas learning the blues in a Houston bar. A father and a son with one song between them. And a funeral staged on MTV. The Underground River, Part 2.
