Document Records’ objective since 1985 has been to uncover, restore, and re-release the entirety of recorded music of the preponderance of Black artists and their recordings beginning in the 1890s up to roughly the mid-20th century.  The imprint’s blues offerings are organized in chronological succession, and include scholarly notes and wide-ranging discographic material.

The Document Records online store is simply astounding, and a place where over a thousand assemblages of amazing past recordings are made available for purchase, either as CDs or as downloadable files.  Document Records also presents exciting groupings of recordings on particular performers that provide superb value to those who collect blues and other genres of music.

Curt’s Blues Blog is a huge supporter of the important work that Document Records performs, and a great many of the label’s CDs reside in my personal collection.

No matter where you are in building your blues collection, you should definitely visit the Document Records online store.  You will not be disappointed!

With that little commercial, if you will, for Document Records out of the way, I found myself on a recent evening deeply engrossed in the Ralph Willis: The Complete Recorded Work In Chronological Order – Volume 1 – 1944-1950/51 collection (DOCD-5256). 

Willis’ blues songs highlight his high proficiencies over an extraordinary array of styles, running the gamut from the unhurried and laidback sort of typical forlorn, measured blues cadences that many blues artists focus upon all the way up to danceable country frolic type of tunes.  Willis’ versatility is very pleasing, and since he’s top-of-mind, it’s time to present a short overview of his life and blues career.

First, here we are yet again with conjecture surrounding the exact year of Willis’ birth, as it is with so many early blues artists (1909 and 1910 are often proposed as the year of his birth).  Letting the precise year of his birth remain something of a mystery, research consensus agrees that he was born, if not in, Birmingham, Alabama, a city in the north central part of the state in Jefferson County.  But here, too, the interested are confronted with another unknown as some studies offer that he was born in Irvin, Alabama, an unincorporated area in southwestern Mobile County.  Such as it often is when delving into the times of early blues artists; thinks get foggy from the get-go.

And the obscurities continue as early details of Willis’ life, such as the facts on how he came to be interested in the guitar and the blues, and who his early influences were, can only again lead to speculation.  What is known is that in the latter part of the 1930s Willis made a significant move to the northeast to North Carolina, a relocation apparently driven by his desire to work with the significant Piedmont-style blues musicians found there, a gathering that included the Piedmont giant Blind Bloy Fuller.  As a reminder, the Piedmont style of blues incorporates a fingerpicking technique whereby a steady, varying thumb bass design backs the song’s melody that is being offered via the treble strings.

Though he did not record with Fuller, Willis fell under his sway and was greatly influenced by his blues form.

While in North Carolina, Willis continued to learn and play with as many of the region’s blues artists as possible, and in 1944 his own blues was sufficiently developed as to be attractive to the record companies.  He was invited to make his first solo recordings for the Regis imprint, a small label that was based in New York, one that was excited to have in-house a blues artist whose influences ran to the popular Piedmont style.

This began a recording career for Willis that, over time, came to include roughly 50 separate sides for a succession of labels that included Abbey, Jubilee, Prestige, Savoy, Par, King, Signature, and 20^th Century.  It is important to note that while Willis made a significant number of his best recordings in a solo format, he also aligned himself on certain efforts with guitarist Brownie McGhee, an artist he would’ve certainly known from his earlier times when absorbing Fuller’s style in North Carolina.  Willis was also joined by harmonica great and McGhee associate Sonny Terry, and bass and guitar player Judson Coleman.

While Willis’ top recordings are arguably his solo efforts, as they include the greatest freed cadenced frameworks that he was known for, as indicated above, the various labels that Willis recorded for, at times, wanted him to cut tunes with an accompanying musician(s). 

While a recording artist, Willis not only cut songs under his own name, but also those of Washboard Pete, Alabama Slim, and Sleepy Joe.

Willis eventually again relocated, to New York City.  Into the 1950s as music began to change toward the new, more vigorous, R&B format, Willis didn’t alter his approach to the new style, nor toward the folk style of music that was also gaining steam.  He continued to prefer to play alone in his country blues format, occasionally mixing his relaxed blues sensibilities with an upbeat dance tune the likes of which he would’ve played at a country celebration many years prior.

Willis passed away in June, 1957 in New York City.

Below are collections where the interested can hear the Piedmont-influenced work of Ralph Willis.  Any one of the compilations would provide a solid introduction to his superb blues.

• Ralph Willis: The Complete Recorded Work In Chronological Order – Volume 1 – 1944-1950/51 (DOCD-5256)
• Ralph Willis: The Complete Recorded Work In Chronological Order – Volume 2 – 1950/51-1953 – Plus The Complete Works Of Leroy Dallas 1949-1962 (DOCD-5257)
• Various Artists: “Too Late, Too Late” – Volume 10 – 1926-1951 – More Newly Discovered Titles & Alternate Takes (DOCD-5601)
• Various Artists: Blues, Blues Christmas – Volume 1 – 1925-1955 (DOCD-32-20-9)