Curley Weaver was one
of the greatest blues guitarists to ever live and known as the
Georgia
Guitar Wizard of the 1930s. Around 1900 his mother
Savannah was a well known musician and taught here son Curley and his
friends how to play and sing. Of course little did anyone know those friends
would grow up to be Blind Willie McTell, Barbeque Bob Hicks and his brother
Charley. Some of the greatest bluesmen to come along in history. This is
also why the 12
string
Stella guitar is such a part of the Atlanta blues sound. Cora Mae has spent
her life performing and teaching the blues and now her son Tony and brother
David
also carry on the tradition. I've just been fortunate enough to be a witness
to many years of this magic and I hope to share some of it with you here.
Below you can see a photo of
Curley Weaver and a variety of players from the region including the great
Buddy Moss who was brought under the wing of Curley and McTell as a
young hot harmonica player who later became a legendary
Atlanta blues guitarist
and vocalist and was rediscovered by the 60's generation. Unfortunately at
the
time all the old blues artists were being rediscovered in the 1960s McTell and Weaver had only recently passed away in the late 50s and early
60s. Luckily Cora Mae spent her childhood traveling and listening to her
father, McTell, Moss, Roy Dunn, Mr Frank Edwards and the entire crew of
blues greats. She knows every song word for word and has stories she can
remember like they happened yesterday. She tells it like it was and she
sings it like it is.
Below left to right,
Spark Smith, Weaver and McMullen, Curley Weaver, Ruth Willis
Bottom row left to right, Buddy Moss, Grant and Wilson, Fred McMullen, Josh
White.
PHOTO GALLERY #1 - Sweet Petunia Day 2007
Northside Tavern and also Cora Mae's Birthday celebration on Saturday at her
home in Oxford Ga. Some great photos by Vincent Tseng included.
