Bill Sheffield

about

Everything about Bill Sheffield is authentic. It's there in the intense, transcendent way he finger picks his guitar with hints of John Hurt and Blind Blake flashing through. It's there in his songs that wrestle with earthly pleasure and the need for redemption. And it most definitely is there in Got A Gig, Gotta Go, his 9th studio recording on American Roots Records. Journal On A Shelf, Sheffield's release and the new Got A Gig, Gotta Go distill a lifetime pursuit of authentic American roots music that announce the arrival of one of the most significant roots musicians to emerge in the past decade. How exactly did a middle-aged white guitar player from Atlanta, Georgia, come to produce a stunningly accomplished collection of folk, roots and blues music-one that calls to mind the genius of John Hurt, Hank Williams and Muddy Waters? Flashback 40 years or so to a young, burgeoning guitarist who fell in love with a special piece of American music history. It was a song that would launch him on a lifetime journey down the tributaries and runnels of the Delta. "Blind Willie Johnson played the greatest piece of music I ever heard," he says. "That was 'Dark Was The Night (Cold Was The Ground).' It's still the best piece of American music ever recorded. It changed my life and made me understand what I was trying to do. He was the best slide player that ever lived. He was able to do something that's never been touched really." Bill's self-described "obsession" with the blues began

top songs

albums

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Journal On A Shelf

Got A Gig, Gotta Go

1 Cent Candy

Hearing Things

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Live At The Blue Raccoon

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One Cent Candy

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Blues Revue - August . September 2005

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Big Old Bucket O' Blues Vol. 1

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Big Old Bucket O' Blues, Vol. 1

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Tuesday Night Madness At The N

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Blues Revue: Blues Music Sampler 012 (Aug-Sep 2005)

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Journal On A Shelf {U.S. Pressing}

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