Highlights of Piedmont Blues History

January 22, 2011 by DaleR
Filed under: Blues History

Piedmont blues also known as East Coast blues resulted from a blend of influences that included ragtime music, country string bands and traveling medicine shows. Geographically speaking, its origins began in the regions between the Appalachian Mountains to the west and the coastal plains to the east. Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia were some of the places where Piedmont musicians reside. At the beginning of the 20^th century, ragtime music was a popular genre. A composer named Scott Joplin published “The Maple Leaf Rag” around this time and it sold a million copies out of a population of close to seventy-five million. The integration of this style to the emerging blues style gave birth to the Piedmont blues.

The peak of the Piedmont blues sound was during the 1920s and 1930s when commercial recording began. African-American music known then as “race records” became in demand. Durham, North Carolina served as the hub for would-be pioneers of this style including Reverend Gary Davis and Blind Boy Fuller until the year 1942 when street music was banned in the region. Morganton, North Carolina served as the home of Etta Baker. She was an instrumental artist and her contributions involved the advancement of the Piedmont blues tradition and the promotion of the Piedmont style of guitar playing.

Compared to the Delta blues which is purely rooted in the African culture, the Piedmont blues in Georgia and the Carolinas had more diverse elements. This characteristic is a result of white country, gospel, ragtime and pop music influences. It may also be attributed to the existence of smaller black populations and the less rigid segregation of people in the East Coast region. These influences also enabled Piedmont blues artists like Cootie Stark, Pink Anderson including Reverend Gary Davis and Blind Boy Fuller to display greater instrumental range and talent compared to their Delta counterparts.