On this part 1 of a 2 part series, I have the honor to speak with 4th generation Georgia Bluesman Tony Bryant!
Tony Bryant represents four generations of family Georgia Blues going back to the turn of the 20th century. His sound is a time capsule back to the birth of the blues and bottleneck slide when music was a expression of the lives of his people.”Blues by Blood” is one of the most authentic acoustic blues field recordings in decades. This recording is not from the past. It’s from the present day and shows how the blues is a living breathing dynamic art form. His old style guitar playing and vocals are direct from the heart the way music should be but rarely is in these modern times.
Cora Mae Bryant was the daughter of Georgia guitar legend Curley Weaver. She remembers, “When the weekend came, Daddy would come and get me. We did not know the difference between night and day.” Curley would perform from one house party to the next often meeting up with his friends Blind Willie McTell and Buddy Moss. Cora Mae was there, taking it all in, singing along, sitting on the knees of the men that created this music.Cora Mae Bryant was a blues scholar; her house was a blues museum. She could tell you everything one needed to know of the old blues.
Curley Weaver was born in Covington, Georgia and raised on a farm near Porterdale. His mother, Savannah “Dip” Shepard Weaver, was a well-respected pianist and guitarist, who taught Curley together with her friend’s sons, “Barbecue Bob” Hicks and Charlie Hicks.Although he recorded on his own during the 1920s and 1930s, first in the style taught by his mother and later with the spreading Piedmont style, he was best known for duets with Blind Willie McTell as well as Barbecue Bob, Fred McMullen, and harmonica and guitar player Buddy Moss.
