Another old gem, courtesy of Archive.org. This is the Atlanta guitarist Blind Willie McTell singing Statesboro Blues. This was recorded in Atlanta on October 17th, 1928.

Statesboro blues does not appear on the otherwise excellent Columbia/ Legacy anthology, The Definitive Blind Willie McTell. One should note that words like ‘difinitive’ and ‘complete’ are often meaningless in the world of reissues. Reissues that are linked to a major label will seldom contain recordings licensed from a competitor. Thus, Sony/ Columbia/ Legacy’s reissue pays no mind to the recordings that McTell made for a variety of other labels outside the Sony family.

This is particularly imporant with performers who were active in the 1920s and 1930s. Recording was essentially day laborer’s work. Performers were paid by the session, so they would frequently make the rounds from label to label, recording under a variety of different names. McTell recorded as Blind Willie McTell, Blind Willie, Blind Sammie, Georgia Bill, and a host of others.

Blind_Willie_Mctell-Statesboro_blues.mp3
http://www.archive.org/details/Blind_Willie_Mctell-Statesboro