That Sound: I first heard "that sound" in 1960 through Josh White, Brownie McGhee, and Libba Cotten. Forty years later the internet lead me to Blind Blake, Kid Prince Moore, Blind boy Fuller, and many others. They all have that sound, and they are all different. That sound is bluesy, syncopated, rough and sophisticated. It almost always has separate bass and melody lines and is played with right hand thumb and fingers working independently. It is fingerpicking, not fingerstyle. That sound is throaty and immediate. I tap my feet and feel the tension as notes bend and resolve.
If you wanted t...