Blind Blake (born Arthur Blake in 1896 in Newport News, Virginia; died on December 1, 1934, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin) was an American singer and one of the most influential guitarists in the history of the blues. Widely hailed as the undisputed “King of Ragtime Guitar,” he was the primary architect of the fingerpicking style known as Piedmont Blues.
Guitar Music and Revolutionary Technique
The defining characteristic of Blake’s musicianship was his uncanny ability to transfer the complex, syncopated sound of a ragtime piano entirely onto the six strings of an acoustic guitar. At a time when the guitar in blues music was largely relegated to basic, chordal vocal accompaniment, Blake elevated the instrument into a vehicle for dazzling solo virtuosity. His technique relied on several key innovations:
- The Piano Sound / Double Thumb Roll: Utilizing a rolling, syncopated thumb technique on the bass strings, he perfectly mimicked the alternating left-hand stride of a ragtime pianist.
- Independent Fingerpicking: While his thumb maintained an unyielding, swinging bassline, his index and middle fingers executed lightning-fast, jazz-inflected melodic runs on the treble strings. This created the sonic illusion of two guitarists playing simultaneously.
- Instrumental Showpieces: Defying the era’s commercial norms, pure guitar instrumentals like his iconic West Coast Blues (1926) catapulted him to overnight stardom. Other milestones of his discography include Police Dog Blues, Diddie Wa Diddie, and Southern Rag.
Blind Blake operated during the late 1920s, the golden age of “race records”. Between 1926 and 1932, he recorded nearly 80 tracks for Paramount Records, cementing his status as the label’s top-selling blues artist.
His historical impact on the era is marked by two major contributions:
- Pioneer of Urban Blues: In contrast to the raw, emotionally heavy country blues of the Mississippi Delta, Blake introduced a bouncy, technically sophisticated, and jazz-influenced “sporty” sound to the urban musical landscape (particularly Chicago). He effectively transitioned the blues from rural porches into modern dance halls.
- Blueprint for Future Generations: Blake established the ultimate technical benchmark for acoustic fingerstyle. Guitar icons such as Reverend Gary Davis, Lonnie Johnson, Big Bill Broonzy, and, decades later, Ry Cooder and Jorma Kaukonen, explicitly modeled their styles on his patterns. Gary Davis later reverently remarked: “I ain’t yet beat Blind Blake on the guitar.”
Following the bankruptcy of Paramount Records during the Great Depression in 1932, Blake vanished from the recording scene. He died impoverished at the young age of 38 due to a pulmonary illness.