Message Board Archive: Thread Number 31

I remember reading somewhere that Blind Boy Fuller was, in his time,
considered to be a "poor man's" Buddy Moss...Fuller's fame was possibly
generated by the availability of his recordings to collectors many years
later....I rarely hear modern performers ascribing tunes to Moss (I
thought I heard Ric Ilowite do a Moss tune, once)...do you do any of his
stuff, Ari??

regards, steve senderoff

Date: Mon, 1 Sep 1997 22:31:50 -0400
From: ari@secondmind.com (Ari Eisinger)
Subject: Buddy Moss and Blind Boy Fuller
Message Number: 31.1

I heard a Buddy Moss CD on the Document label some time ago. Can't speak
for anyone else, and certainly not for the blues audience of the '30s
and '40s, but I did not find Moss to be some kind of "improved Fuller."
However, it should be noted that those recordings may not do Moss
justice, and also that my memory of that album is not very clear. I do
remember feeling that I did not need to rush right out and buy it.
You raise an interesting question about whether the availability of an
artist's recordings to collectors is a significant determinant of his
popularity in the 1990s. I wonder if, for instance, Robert Johnson would
be as popular as he is today if his recordings had not been available to
the general public for so long. (Johnson's recordings, in addition to
being on LP (and later CD), also of course had the strong distribution
that comes with being on the Columbia label.)
I happen to think Fuller can be really excellent on some of his
recordings. His rhythmic groove really makes me want to jump out of my
seat! (I'll be putting a Fuller tune on my next album.) One thing I
don't like about Fuller is his tendency to do rhythmic tricks on the
guitar which fail to come off. He seems frequently to go into double
time and then lose count of the beats. Blake, for instance, almost never
loses his place like that. Still, Fuller's best stuff, e.g., Jivin'
Woman Blues, Untrue Blues, Pistol Slapper (sic) Blues, is really
appealing to me.
One more thing: Fuller is a performer whose style seems perfectly suited
to his National steel guitar--as if his style was developed on and for
that instrument, which perhaps it was.

Date: Tue, 2 Sep 1997 07:11:52 -0400
From: rob@hub.org (Rob Hutten)
Subject: Buddy Moss
Message Number: 31.1.1

Interesting that a Buddy Moss thread would develop over the weekend - I
spent the weekend moving into my new house, and the first record I spun
once setting up my stereo was Buddy Moss's "Rediscovery" album on
Biograph from the mid-late 60s. This is a good album and worth seeking
out; unfortunately, four or five tracks are marred by the presence of a
second guitarist who is *not* accustomed to playing blues. His
accompaniments on Moss' harmonica tunes is especially obtrusive.

Still, Buddy was in top form on both instruments, and I prefer these
recordings over his 30s sides. The Fuller influence is less marked on
the later recoridngs.

-Rob