Bottleneck Bill Performs "Big Road Blues" by Tommy Johnson

Heres Bottleneck Bill from Eastbourne Sussex England now living in South east London "The Most Downhome Sound Around" as he headlines himself playing his version of the country blues "Big Road Blues" first recorded by the legendary Mississsippi Delta Bluesman Tommy Johnson.

Bill has been playing country blues since the 1960's and actualy played on the same bill as one of his idols Son House at the 100 Club in the early 1970's.He was a regular down at Bunjies Folk Cellar the celebrated and now defunct acoustic music open mike venue in Central London during the early 1970's ,and recorded some tracks for the Sonet record label which were never issued.In recent years Bill a retired library porter has confined his public performances to the once a year even the "Abbey Mills Blues Festival" which usualy takes place not far from his home in Merton Abbey Mills Southwest London over the August Bank Holiday.I first met Bill in 1997 and since then he has been the most prolific of all the musicians I have recorded for my archive and he has performed several hundred country blues songs for my archive in over a dozen long amazing recording sessions.

Bill has his own unique way of playing which he does purely by ear and memory and in a single tuning Bill has limited movement in his fingers due to an accident in which he suffered suffocation in the 1970's so plays everything holding a single pick.His completely iuncoventional style of playing is unrepeatable,and is as he says so wrong it comes out right and enables this unique musician to perform hundreds of classic American country blues numbers in a way that sounds just about as authentic as you are ever likely to hear them re-created.

Kind Regards

Jim Clark
All rights are reserved on this video sound recording copyright Jim Clark 2011

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