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Blind Boy Fuller: 1907 - 1941
Blind Boy Fuller was a founder of the ragtime influenced East Coast Piedmont blues and became one of the most popular blues recording artists of the 1930s. He was fluid at melding ragtime, slide blues, and pop into a distinct and regional interpretation of the genre. A prolific songwriter, his catchy “countryman compositions” addressed concerns of rural blacks on the farms and in the big cities. Fuller also brought notice to his recording sidemen, Reverend Gary Davis, Bull City Red, and Sonny Terry. His music served as a spirited model for many up-and-coming Piedmont blues musicians.
Fuller’s real name was Fulton Allen, born in Wadesboro, North Carolina on July 10, 1907. Allen was not born blind, but perhaps because of his blindness, began to play guitar in earnest. Though he had picked up some guitar skills as a boy, it wasn’t until his late teens that he was seen playing on street corners and at house parties. In 1926, supposedly from congenital disease, he began losing his eyesight. By 1928 complete blindness forced him to earn a living playing music wherever possible.
In the late 20s and early 30s Allen moved around sporadically, peddling his blues in various towns in North Carolina. He settled in a town called Durham for an extended period and around this time became acquainted with the bluesman Reverend Gary Davis, who influenced his guitar work and songwriting. In the winter of 1934, while playing on the Durham streets, he was noticed by a part-time talent recruit for ARC Records named J.B. Long. It was Long who tagged Allen “Blind Boy Fuller” and drove him, Rev. Gary Davis, and a washboard player named George Washington (aka Bull City Red) to New York City for their first recording session.
Blind Boy Fuller’s blues were based on a variety of styles and though he was adept at rag songs, he helped forge a regional blues style called Piedmont. Piedmont blues drew from ragtime, string bands, traveling medicine shows, and popular songs and was nurtured in east coast states like Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia. The guitar technique resembled that of the banjo or West African kora with its more melodic finger picking method. Unlike Delta blues, Piedmont musicians plugged sad lyrics into upbeat music, creating a “happier” sounding blues form. Fuller was versatile at finger picking or bottleneck slide, typically on a National steel guitar. Combined with his supple, high-spirited vocals and novel lyrics Fuller’s songs were a popular remedy for the times.
With the success of his first session Fuller returned for several more, both solo and with Davis and Red as sidemen. Long remained in a managerial role and made sure that Fuller was recorded in the right circumstances. In 1937 Fuller befriended harmonica player Sonny Terry and the two recorded together, kindling Terry’s career and fame. Fuller’s recorded output was formidable and his popularity equally so. The bulk of his more than 130 sides were recorded between 1935 and 1938 including such standards as “Step It Up and Go,” “I‘m a Rattlesnakin‘ Daddy,” “Trucking My Blues Away,” and “Rag Mama Rag,” which would inspire The Band’s song of the same name in 1968.
In 1938 Fuller became ill and was diagnosed with syphilis and a severely damaged liver and kidneys, requiring hospital care. His final studio session in June of 1940 was a rousing effort backed by his old friends Bull City Red and Sonny Terry. Perhaps Fuller knew the end was near. He died the following February of blood poisoning due to a kidney disorder.
Rating:  [5 of 5 Stars!] |
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