Statesboro Blues’ may be best known as an Allman Brothers electric guitar showcase from their 1971 Fillmore East album, but the original recording by Georgia street musician Blind Willie McTell was a lithe acoustic rendition in the Piedmont blues tradition. Statesboro was once home to McTell, the ‘King of the 12-String.’ The song has been covered many times, by folk guitarists, rock bands, and latter-day blues interpreters, but seldom by bluesmen of McTell’s generation. It gained new currency when it was reissued on the 1959 RBF compilation The Country Blues and on a 1968 McTell LP on Yazoo. It was a 1968 version by Taj Mahal that inspired the Allmans’ cover; their versions have almost the same lyrics and are missing some of McTell’s verses.
BLIND WILLIE McTELL
Blind Willie McTell, vocal and guitar. Recorded Oct. 17, 1928, Atlanta. Released as Victor V38001 (78rpm single) in January 1929.
Discographical details from Blues & Gospel Records 1890-1943, by Robert M.W. Dixon, John Godrich & Howard W. Rye.