Piedmont blues (also known as East Coast , or Southeastern blues ) refers primarily to a guitar style, which is characterized by a fingerpicking approach in which a regular, alternating thumb bass string rhythmic pattern supports a syncopated melody using the treble strings generally picked with the fore-finger, occasionally others. The result is comparable in sound to ragtime or stride piano styles. Blues researcher Peter B. Lowry coined the term, giving co-credit to fellow folklorist Bruce Bastin . The Piedmont style is differentiated from other styles, particularly the Mississippi Delta blues , by its ragtime-based rhythms.
19-514: The basis of the Piedmont style began with the older "frailing" or "framming" guitar styles that may have been universal throughout the South, and was also based, at least to some extent, on formal "parlor guitar" techniques as well as earlier banjo playing, string band , and ragtime . What was particular to the Piedmont was that a generation of players adapted these older, ragtime-based techniques to blues in
38-629: A "string band." In the 1870s African-American dance houses of Cincinnati had musicians who played violin, banjo, and bass fiddle. East of the Mississippi , the genre gave way to country music in the 1930s and bluegrass music in the 1940s. During the same period, west of the Mississippi, Western musicians retained the acoustic style of the bands while the big Western dance bands amplified their strings. Artists began to combine and record string-band music in collaboration with other popular styles in
57-544: A Piedmont blues backing for his " Alice's Restaurant " monologues, as it was easy to play repeatedly for long stretches of time. Cultural organizations in North Carolina have supported the preservation of the Piedmont blues. The Greensboro-based Piedmont Blues Preservation Society has partnered with musicians such as Max Drake and a number of public schools in North Carolina to provide performances, exhibitions, and educational programs. String band A string band
76-663: A singular and popular fashion, influenced by guitarists such as Blind Blake and Gary Davis . The Piedmont blues was named after the Piedmont plateau region, on the East Coast of the United States from about Richmond, Virginia to Atlanta, Georgia . Piedmont blues musicians come from this area, as well as Maryland , Delaware , West Virginia , Pennsylvania and northern Florida , western South Carolina , central North Carolina , eastern Tennessee , Kentucky , and Alabama – later
95-531: Is an old-time music or jazz ensemble made up mainly or solely of string instruments . String bands were popular in the 1920s and 1930s, and are among the forerunners of modern country music and bluegrass . While being active countrywide, in Philadelphia and its surrounding suburbs they are a huge part of its musical culture and traditions, appearing, among others, in the yearly Mummers Parade . Although African American old-time string bands recorded history
114-602: Is being accompanied by, the stringed instruments may also be joined by other instruments including spoons, washboards, jugs, harmonica , harps and pianos . During the 19th and early 20th centuries, other stringed instruments began to be added to the fiddle-banjo duo that was essential to dance music of the early 19th century United States. These other instruments included the guitar , mandolin , and double bass (or washtub bass ), which provided chordal and bass line accompaniment (or occasionally melody also). Such an assemblage, of whatever instrumentation, became known simply as
133-490: Is that of the early 20th century, the beginnings of the music started much earlier. Many people once believed that the role African Americans played in the upcoming of old-time string band music was either nonexistent or to interest the Middle Ages or medieval times. The genre of African American folk music actually began with the use of percussion instruments , which were used to create music in form of encouragement to keep
152-527: The 1920s. Max Drake Max Voorhees Drake II (born June 1, 1952) is an American blues guitarist and songwriter from Yanceyville, North Carolina . He has performed with musicians such as B.B. King , Bo Diddley , Chuck Berry , Lightnin' Hopkins , and Nappy Brown . Max Drake was born in Burlington, North Carolina and grew up in Reidsville . He started his first band at age 23 in 1975. From
171-546: The 1920s. Lonnie Johnson and his brother, James “Steady Roll” Johnson were both proficient at banjo , guitar, and violin , and recorded with various string bands in a blues style. Lonnie Johnson also recorded duets with Eddie Lang during the late 1920s and set the precedent for string band jazz, which included Bull Frog Moan/A Handful of Riffs from 1929. As influential as the Johnson/Lang duets were those by Lang and Joe Venuti . These works, completed in 1926, emphasized
190-545: The 2000s, he played rhythm guitar in Big Bill Morganfield's band, going on worldwide tours. Morganfield is the son of Muddy Waters (aka McKinley Morganfield) often cited as the "father of modern Chicago blues ." As the band toured Europe, blues enthusiasts became increasingly interested in Morganfield. Many were familiar with his father's seminal contributions to electric blues from his work on Chess Records . It
209-509: The Carolinas, and Georgia, black and white economic and cultural patterns have overlapped considerably — more so than in the nearby areas or the Deep South. Piedmont blues styles reflects this, meshing traces of gospel, fiddle tunes, blues, country, and ragtime into its rolling, exuberant sound. Recording artists such as Blind Blake , Josh White , Buddy Moss , and Blind Boy Fuller helped spread
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#1732854803209228-523: The Northeastern cities such as Boston , Newark, New Jersey , and New York . Nick Spitzer, Professor of Anthropology and American Studies, folklorist, and producer of American Routes describes Piedmont Blues in this way: Among the rolling hills, small farms, mills, and coal and railroad camps of the rural East Coast Piedmont, between Tidewater coast and the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia,
247-525: The aging community of Piedmont blues players, younger musicians such as Stefan Grossman , Roy Book Binder , Jorma Kaukonen , Paul Geremia , Keb Mo' , Michael Roach , Samuel James, Eric Bibb , Ry Cooder , David Bromberg , and Guy Davis have carried on the Piedmont tradition, often having "studied" under some of the old Piedmont masters. The Piedmont fingerpicking style of guitar playing has also influenced other folk and popular musicians such as Doc Watson and Ralph McTell . Arlo Guthrie famously used
266-637: The mid-1970s until 1989 he gained distinction as a guitarist in Arhooly R&;B Deluxe Band. While in Arhooly, there were performances with prominent bluesmen including B.B. King, Bo Diddley, and Robert Cray . Drake became especially known for his agility on slide guitar . In the 1990s, Drake performed with the Charlotte-based Extraordinaires and also Thomas "Mookie" Brill before recording and performing frequently with Skeeter Brandon . In
285-451: The rhythm of a chordal guitar with the melody in the swung violin line. Red McKenzie , who also recorded with Lang, recorded with an influential string band group during the 1930s, the Spirits of Rhythm . The group consisted of tiple , guitar, homemade percussion, double bass, and often involved scat singing . The particular form of scat that was eventually associated with string band music
304-408: The slaves exercising on slave ships . Furthermore, that then sparked the usage of stringed instruments such as banjos and violins that the slaves played as a way of entertainment. Old-time string bands were mainly composed of stringed instruments . Those instruments being the fiddle , 5-string banjo , acoustic guitar, and an upright bass/cello. Depending on the type of genre the old-time music
323-812: The style on the strength of their sales throughout the region. It was nationally popular with the African-American audience for about twenty years from the mid-1920s through to the mid-1940s. Blind Boy Fuller recorded " Step It Up and Go " in 1940. As a form of Black American popular music, Piedmont blues fell out of favor on a national basis after World War II . By the late-1950s, it was being performed at US folk music revivals and festivals initially by established Piedmont blues artists such as Josh White , Rev. Gary Davis , and Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry , as well as Cephas & Wiggins , John Jackson in later years. While musicologists such as George Mitchell , Peter B. Lowry and Tim Duffy collected recordings by
342-461: Was based on Harlem slang, and can be heard in McKenzie's recording My Old Man , from 1933. Another string band from the 1930s, Slim and Slam , continued this particular form of scat in their recording The Flat Foot Floogie . Strings in jazz continued with the standout duet album, "Blues and Ballads," recorded in 1960 with Lonnie Johnson and guitarist Elmer Snowden , a renowned banjoist/guitarist from
361-521: Was said that the band's version of Waters' " Got My Mojo Working " stood up to the original. Tours in Spain that Drake accompanied him on particularly enjoyed popularity due to the legacy connection to Waters. After the multiyear run with Morganfield ended, Drake stayed closer to his home and family in Caswell County, North Carolina . He went on to work extensively with Mel Melton & The Wicked Mojos in
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