Another in the
Virginia Traditions series assembled by the Blue Ridge Institute for Appalachian Studies at Ferrum College in Ferrum, Virginia,
Tidewater Blues combines commercially released 78s from the 1920s with
field recordings done in the 1940s, '50s and '70s to provide a historical sketch of
blues in the region. Often called
Piedmont or
East Coast blues (there are those who would split hairs and make each a distinct school), tidewater
blues is generally more intricate and delicate than the
Delta or
Texas strains of the genre, and draws more heavily on piano rags as well as the black
string band tradition and features a gentle, melodic and easy rolling feel. Among the highlights here are two gentle and perfectly nuanced
blues songs by guitarist
Carl Hodges,
"Leaving You Mama" and
"Poor Boy Blues," recorded by folklorist
Kip Lornell in 1979, and
Pernell Charity's accomplished guitar instrumental,
"Barbershop Rag," recorded in 1928. The
Virginia Four's unaccompanied
"I'd Feel Much Better," from 1939, isn't so much
blues as secular
black gospel, as is
"Pleading Blues," sung by the
Monarch Jazz Quartet and drawn from a 1929 recording.
Tidewater Blues ends up being a gentle, soothing portrait of
blues (and
blues-based forms) from the coastal region of Virginia, and makes a fine complement to another volume in the
Virginia Traditions series,
Western Piedmont Blues, which places its focus further inland. ~ Steve Leggett
