Willie Baker
Willie Baker was an American Piedmont blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He recorded eight tracks, playing a twelve-string guitar to back his own strong vocals. All of his recordings took place in January and March 1929 in Richmond, Indiana, United States. Details of his life outside of his recording career are sketchy. Biography It is generally supposed that Baker was born in Pierce County, Georgia, United States, although little is known of his upbringing. One local peculiarity of the area around Atlanta, Georgia, was the number of twelve-string guitar players that emerged in the 1920s. It is an unusual primary instrument for blues musicians to use; and yet the first recording of a male country blues singer was undertaken by a twelve-string guitarist, Ed Andrews, who recorded for Okeh Records in Atlanta in early 1924. Others who appeared and recorded in the next few years from that same general location, included Willie Baker, Blind Willie McTell, Barbecue Bob, Charley Lincoln, Julius Daniels, and George Carter. The brothers Barbecue Bob (Robert Hicks) and Charley Lincoln (Charlie Hicks), plus Curley Weaver were all taught to play by Curley's mother, Savannah "Dip" Shepard Weaver, a well-respected pianist and guitarist. The manner of Baker's