McTell is notable for playing 12-string guitar in Piedmont fingerstyle. He never had a hit, but he played on the streets of Atlanta into the 1950s. Jack White’s Third Man Record has reissued four LPs of McTell’s work. Bob Dylan wrote a song about him. McTell played a lot of kinds of songs, but you can recognize them all. If you listen to one old bluesman, you can do a lot worse.
One side of this record is mostly religious songs/spirituals. You Got to Die is a version of Pascal’s Wager—you don’t know when you are going to die, so you should live according to Christian doctrine to make sure you are ready.
The other side is more about the pleasures of life. Broke Down Engine Blues contains ‘I went down to the praying ground/and dropped down on bended knees/I ain’t crying for no religion/Lordy, give me back my good girl please.’ He also says he loved his woman because she could really do the Georgia crawl. I couldn’t find it in my Dictionary of American Regional English, but I’m sure it’s sex.
converselyspeaking 