Norman Blake (born 1938) is the flatpicker who taught a generation to play fiddle tunes on the guitar with tone, not speed. He worked as a sideman for Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, and John Hartford before he cut his first solo record in 1972. He has recorded more than 40 albums since then, most of them with his wife Nancy Blake. The IBMA put him in its hall of fame in 2022.
Why Blake matters
Blake made solo flatpicking a thing a person could do on a porch. Before his 1970s records, most guitar breaks came inside a full bluegrass band. Blake played Arkansas Traveler and Whiskey Before Breakfast on one guitar with nothing to hide behind, and he made the old tunes sound like they belonged there. His records gave jammers a repertoire, a right hand model, and a reason to care about old songs. If you play a fiddle tune on guitar at a jam, you owe him.
Life and career
Blake was born on March 10, 1938, in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He grew up across the state line in Sulphur Springs and Rising Fawn, Georgia, in Dade County. He learned guitar at age 11 or 12 and added mandolin, dobro, and fiddle in his teens. At 16 he left school to play mandolin with the Dixie Drifters on the Tennessee Barn Dance over KNOX radio. He later worked with banjo player Bob Johnson in the Lonesome Travelers and with Hylo Brown’s Timberliners.
The Army drafted Blake in 1961. He served as a radio operator in the Panama Canal Zone and formed a band there called the Fort Kobbe Mountaineers. After his discharge he moved to Nashville and became a studio and road musician. He toured with June Carter, then spent years in Johnny Cash’s band and on Cash’s television show. He played on Bob Dylan’s Nashville Skyline in 1969 and worked with Kris Kristofferson and Joan Baez. In 1971 he joined John Hartford’s band for the album Aereo-Plain and played dobro on the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s Will the Circle Be Unbroken.
Blake released his first solo album, Back Home in Sulphur Springs, on Rounder in 1972 and moved back to Georgia. Through the 1970s he made a string of records for Rounder, Flying Fish, and Takoma, including Whiskey Before Breakfast in 1976. He married cellist Nancy Short, and the two have recorded and toured as Norman and Nancy Blake since. In 1979 they formed the Rising Fawn String Ensemble with fiddler James Bryan. Blake cut two duet albums with Tony Rice, Blake & Rice in 1987 and Norman Blake and Tony Rice 2 in 1990.
His music reached a wide audience through the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack in 2000, which won the Grammy for Album of the Year in 2002. He also appeared on the Cold Mountain, Walk the Line, and Inside Llewyn Davis soundtracks. Blake retired from touring in 2007 but kept recording. Wood, Wire & Words earned a Grammy nomination in 2016. He lives in Rising Fawn, Georgia.
Playing style
Blake plays fiddle tunes with a flatpick and keeps the melody in front. He has said he cares more about the music and the tone than about licks. His breaks stay close to the tune as a fiddler would play it. He uses his skill to serve the song rather than to show off, and open strings ring between his melody notes.
His tone is the thing you can name in three seconds. It is dark, woody, and round, with a heavy pick and a relaxed right hand. Frets magazine readers voted him Best Multi-Instrumentalist in 1986, and he moves between guitar, mandolin, fiddle, and dobro on his records. He has favored Martin guitars, including 00 and 000 models, D-18s, and D-28s, and a 1929 12-fret Gibson Nick Lucas Special.
Influences and legacy
Blake grew up on Uncle Dave Macon, the Carter Family, the Skillet Lickers, Roy Acuff, and Bill Monroe. That old-time base separates him from bluegrass flatpickers who came up through Flatt and Scruggs. He played beside Vassar Clements, Tut Taylor, and Sam Bush on a 1976 Flying Fish album, and he recorded with Doc Watson, Tony Rice, and Mike Compton.
His songs traveled further than his records. Tony Rice cut Church Street Blues as a solo piece in 1983 and made it a standard. Nashville guitarist Bob Minner has said Blake shaped him more than Watson, Rice, or Clarence White. In 2022 a group of players released the tribute album From Sulphur Springs to Rising Fawn on Blake’s birthday. Dan Crary brought him in as a guest on Jammed If I Do in 1994.
Signature tunes and songs
Whiskey Before Breakfast Church Street Blues Ginseng Sullivan Last Train from Poor Valley Billy Gray Randall Collins Arkansas Traveler Slow Train Through Georgia.
Essential recordings
Back Home in Sulphur Springs (Rounder, 1972) Whiskey Before Breakfast (Rounder, 1976) The Rising Fawn String Ensemble (Rounder, 1979) Blake & Rice (Rounder, 1987) Wood, Wire & Words (Plectrafone/Western Jubilee, 2015)
Awards and honors
Frets magazine readers’ poll, Best Multi-Instrumentalist (1986) Grammy nominations, Best Traditional Folk Album, for Blind Dog (1990), Just Gimme Somethin’ I’m Used To (1993), While Passing Along This Way (1996), The Hobo’s Last Ride (1997), Chattanooga Sugar Babe (1999), Far Away, Down on a Georgia Farm (2001), and The Morning Glory Ramblers (2005) IBMA Instrumental Recorded Performance of the Year, Norman Blake and Tony Rice 2 (1991) IBMA Album of the Year, O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack (2001) Grammy Award, Album of the Year, O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack (2002) Blue Ridge Music Hall of Fame (2013) Grammy nomination, Best Folk Album, Wood, Wire & Words (2016) IBMA Distinguished Achievement Award (2017) International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame (2022)
Watch and listen
Blake flatpicks Randall Collins and Done Gone. Watch how little his right hand moves and how much sound comes out.
This is the studio recording of Fiddler’s Dram and Whiskey Before Breakfast from the 1976 album. Listen for the second guitar of Charlie Collins under the lead.
What to learn from Blake
Learn Whiskey Before Breakfast from the 1976 record. It is the version most jammers know, and it sits in D with open strings that ring under the melody. The technique to steal is his tone. Play the tune at half speed with a heavy pick, let the bass strings ring, and keep the melody note louder than the notes around it. Blake proves that a plain melody with good tone beats a fast break with a thin one. Bring that to a jam and the fiddlers will thank you.
Sources
Norman Lee Blake, Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum Norman Blake, IBMA award recipients Norman Blake, New Georgia Encyclopedia Norman Blake, Blue Ridge Music Hall of Fame Norman Blake, Grammy Awards Bob Minner on new Hall of Famer Norman Blake, Bluegrass Today Norman Blake: An Appreciation, Hudson Valley Bluegrass Association Norman Blake (American musician), Wikipedia Whiskey Before Breakfast, Wikipedia
Related players
See the guitar players hub and the guitar guide for more flatpickers. Blake recorded two duet albums with Tony Rice and shares an old-time base with Doc Watson. Dan Crary and Russ Barenberg came up in the same 1970s flatpicking wave.