Blind Blake - All The Published Sides

In the course of this blog, there have been quite a few artists whom I had been unfamiliar with and was subsequently blown away by; Blind Blake certainly fits that bill for me. I find the way he manages to mimic ragtime piano on an acoustic guitar to be jaw-dropping. I was already pretty hip to Lonnie Johnson and many of the other guys, but this was new territory. I called Cliff and asked "Geeze, how is this guy not worshiped as one of the Gods of guitar?" His response was that it was most likely a combined product of the horrible condition of most Paramount 78's and the fact that he didn't spawn a school of disciples to carry on his style. My response to that last part would be that it is unlikely that many could even attempt to copy him given the unique pianistic approach he brought to the instrument. Between 1926 and 1932 he recorded an astonishing 110 tracks for Paramount in both Chicago and Milwaukee. To me that would seem a titanic output for the time.

Until quite recently there wasn't much information known about this genius and the much of what was printed was based on stories from other blues-men which turned out to be false. He was thought to be from Jacksonville, Fl, but his alleged use of Geechee dialect in a song (He refers to Geechie several times in Southern Rag but never changes dialect) also spoke to the south Georgia Sea Islands. Families have been found in both areas that appear to have some connection with him. He was known to have lived part time in Chicago in the late 20's by direct reports of his landlady, he reportedly spent the winters in Jacksonville. The date of his birth and even his real name were all in debate, not to mention the date, place and cause of his death. It seems clear that he drank heavily and enjoyed getting into periodic fights as a result. Different stories had him dying a violent death in the streets of 5 or 6 different places or being run over by a streetcar in one of two. The time span was 8 or 9 years, the locations usually from New York to Jacksonville and points between with little to no attention paid early on to Milwaukee. (Cliff points out that any credible genealogist would have had last known place of employment high on the list of search parameters)

 In 2011 a group of researchers finally put some pieces together when someone found a newspaper obituary, which led to a death certificate, and then to a coroners report. They even found the holy grail, the grave site. Those documents gave us quite a bit of solid information about the man including his true name (Arthur Blake), the year and place of his birth (1896 in Newport News, Va!), his parents names (Winter and Alice), the wife's name (Beatrice McGee Blake), and of course the date and cause of his death and his last address.

When their black artists came to record in Milwaukee for Paramount, they usually stayed in an boarding house where the studio had made long term arrangements with the landlord. Blind Blake died about a block from that place (Brewer Hill area) some 3 years after his last Paramount sessions (and the immediately subsequent bankruptcy of the label). He had been married in 1931 to Beatrice McGee and was still with her at the time of his death due to pulmonary tuberculosis on December 5th, 1934 at the age of 38. The obituary referred to him as "Arthur Blake, an old timer in Milwaukee". (Old Timer at 38!?) The coroners report indicates he had been unemployed and ill for most of the previous 3 years and had died in an ambulance on the way to the hospital in the wee hours of the night while coughing up blood. He had been hospitalized earlier in the year with Pneumonia.

The article ends here for now, but the researchers, Alex van der Tuuk, Bob Eagle, Rob Ford, Eric LeBlanc and Angela Mack, are now followings the leads of the parents names and the Newport News birth place to flush out the story. They finish with a promise that they have already picked up the trail there. The article also attempted to trace Beatrice and to find a marriage certificate. No certificate was found, but she does show up in the city directories as the widow of Arthur from 1935 to 1949. (Cliff points out that if Beatrice did indeed get the parents' names and birthplace correct, it speaks to a longer relationship than just the 2+ years they were married.)

I'm left with some questions and speculations and I really hope to someday see more of this story told. Did Blake meet and marry Beatrice in Wisconsin or did she come there with him? (that she stayed on in Milwaukee may indicate she had family there, but her intimate knowledge of his parents and birth contradicts that) Were there any children? Why would a man whose history shows a clear distaste for northern winters settle in frigid Milwaukee where the very strict local musicians union's records indicate there was no work for him? Is it possible he was stranded there due to the collapse of Paramount? Did his family work their way down the coast to Jacksonville and at some point stay in the Georgia Sea Islands area or is the reference to Geechie in Southern Rag merely a sort of musical travelog? (that would be MY guess) His style speaks much more to a structured larger band background than an itinerant solo bluesman, but no record exists to support that. The number of songs seems to indicate he was quite popular for the 6 years or so of his recordings, Paramount would certainly not have pressed so many sides if they didn't sell, and yet he couldn't get ANY work despite being a remarkable guitar player....WHY??