All any blues fan has to do is listen to the earliest cuts of master blues artisan Blind Boy Fuller, a bluesman who recorded 129 impeccable titles, and one will immediately realize they display his matchless commitment to well-developed approaches of playing, including rags and straight-ahead blues.  Fuller was similarly proficient engaging in both intricate fingerpicking as well as bottleneck guitar approaches.  Fuller was also a highly-skilled, self-assured, and powerful vocalist.  For all these reasons and more, Fuller demands our study.

He was born Fulton Allen in 1908 in Wadesboro, North Carolina in Anson County, which is located in the mid-south-central part of the state.  As is the case with many blues artists, the music surrounded Fuller from an early age, as he was exposed to the work songs and field hollers of his hometown area.  These experiences led to Fuller taking up the guitar, and he melded the melancholy sounds all around him with both standard blues tunes and ragtime songs he heard older blues artists playing.

But Fuller’s path was going to be more challenging.  In his middle teen years, he was beginning to lose his ability to see, and as he was already a married man, he needed to provide for his union.  This led to his decision to make music his avocation, and he began his professional music journey on the streets, first in Rockingham, North Carolina, the county seat of Richmond County, with him eventually making his way to larger North Carolina metropolitan areas including Salem and Durham.

By the age of 21, Fuller had gone totally blind, but due to his street playing, he had forged a strong reputation as an artist with a strong voice, someone who was adaptable style-wise, and somebody who possessed an uncanny ability to replicate the popular recordings of Blind Blake, the blues and ragtime guitarist and vocalist who had a robust fan following. 

Fuller diversified his playing venues from the street to the many tobacco warehouse operations found in North Carolina, allowing him to earn a solid amount of money via warehouse worker tips for his energies.  These opportunities also allowed Fuller to gain performing opportunities at weekend get togethers.  Oftentimes at these shows, he was accompanied by blues harmonica giant Sonny Terry, and at times, he was also complemented by noted washboard performer George Washington.  Still further, Fuller would draw the revered blind blues and gospel artist Gary Davis to play with him. 

1935 was a major breakthrough year for Fuller.  He, along with Davis and Washington, made their ways to the New York City offices of ARC, where they were able to record numerous tracks, including one that would become wholly identifiable with Fuller, “Rag Mama Rag.”  Over the course of the next five years, Fuller recorded his entire catalog of music, in style as varied as fast tempo rags, hokum (humorous tunes with interesting analogies usually corresponding to sexual topics), and straight-ahead blues.  Oftentimes, Sonny Terry and Gary Davis accompanied him on his recorded output. 

So, what exactly was Fuller’s style?  It can be confidently stated that he employed what is known as the Piedmont style, and his debt to this variety of playing and to other Piedmont artists is unquestionable.  The Piedmont style was established in the southeastern part of the U.S. and is identifiable by a finger-picking methodology whereby a consistent, sporadic thumb bass string cadenced blueprint backs an accented, or syncopated, melody utilizing the guitar’s treble strings, and is usually picked with the forefinger, but occasionally others, as well.  The end result is similar in sound to ragtime or stride (jazz) piano designs.

Fuller primarily played on a National steel guitar, and he did not shy away from the usual blues themes, also infusing his work with commentary about being meager of money, without sight, and being of color in the periods he recorded and performed. 

A potential high lift for his career went by the wayside in 1938 when Fuller was scheduled to perform at Carnegie Hall in New York City at the Spirituals To Swing concert.  Unfortunately, Fuller was jailed at the time for firing a gun at his wife (he was said to have a fierce temper), so he was replaced on the show by his blues colleague Sonny Terry.  Additionally, around this same time, his other regular accompanist, Gary Davis, was moving toward religious music. 

As time moved forward, Fuller too recorded religious tunes, as witnessed by some of his last recordings made in 1940. 

However, Fuller’s career stands tall upon its merits, including those songs that are instantly identifiable of him, tunes that remain classics, including “Rag Mama Rag”, “Truckin’ My Blues Away”, “I’m A Rattlesnakin’ Daddy”, and “Step It Up And Go.” 

Fuller passed away in early 1941, a victim to blood poisoning directly related to a kidney issue that had afflicted him.  Fuller’s resting place is in Durham, North Carolina at Grove Hill Cemetery. 

Fuller’s Piedmont style continues to influence artists across numerous genres to this day.  Rock musicians such as the Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton have indicated Fuller as an influence. 

In 2019, Fuller and Gary Davis were recognized by the Sesquicentennial Honors Commission at the Durham 150 Closing Ceremony in Durham, North Carolina for their respective influences upon the Piedmont blues style. 

Below is the running order of Blind Boy Fuller’s Complete Recorded Works In Chronological Order – Volume 1 on the Document Records label (Document DOCD-5091).   This collection represents volume one in a series of seven total. 

Seek out Blind Boy Fuller music for your collection!

Song Titles

• Baby, I Don’t Have To Worry
• I’m A Rattlesnakin’ Daddy
• I’m Climbing On Top Of The Hill
• Ain’t It A Crying Shame?
• Looking For My Woman
• Rag, Mama, Rag Parts I & II
• Baby, You Gotta Change Your Mind
• Evil Hearted Woman
• My Brownskin Sugar Plum
• Somebody’s Been Playing With That Thing
• Log Cabin Blues (takes 1 & 2)
• Homesick And Lonesome Blues
• Walking My Troubles Away (takes 1 & 2)
• Black And Tan
• Keep Away From My Woman (takes 1 & 2)
• Babe You Got To Do Better
• Big Bed Blues
• Truckin’ My Blues Away
• (I Got A Woman Crazy For Me) She’s Funny That Way
• Cat Man Blues (take 1)