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Good Music Never Dies
April Six Word Photo Story Challenge: “Rust”
Rusty, but never out of style.
I was driving through Wadesboro, North Carolina a few years ago and saw this mural of musician Blind Boy Fuller. The mural is by a guy named Scott Nurkin. This is one of his works on his NC Musician Murals project.
Although I am a music lover, I didn’t know anything about this musician. I went home, listened to some of his music, and conducted a little research. (He was definitely human — he did not leave behind a sanitized life, by any means).
I’m a fairly new lover of the Piedmont blues — well, I loved it before I knew there were different blues styles. Now, sometimes I can identify it. Blind Boy Fuller was one of the early greats. I’d heard his work for quite a while without identifying the songwriter.
Within weeks of seeing the mural and conducting the research, I attended a concert, and someone played a Blind Boy Fuller song. His music remains alive and is still appreciated.
“When I had money,
I had women and friends
For miles around,
When I had money,
I had women and friends
For miles around.
Now I’m broke,
Women and friends can’t be found.”
— from “You Got to Have Your Dollar” by Blind Boy Fuller

