The Statesboro Amateur Radio Society (STARS) in Bulloch County and the Southeastern Amateur Radio Association (SARA) in Emanuel County have joined to present a “Special Event Station” to celebrate the birthday of the legendary blues singer Blind Willie McTell this Saturday, May 4. The Amateur Radio Club in Douglas is also participating.
The Bulloch County Horsemans Association Arena, 501 Mill Creek Road off US 301 north of Staesboro, is the location. They will begin making calls around 10am, and the public is invited to stop by.
In amateur radio, a Special Event Station is a special operation usually in observation or commemoration of a special or historical event, often with a special vanity call sign. These stations generally operate for a short time and have special QSL cards to commemorate the event.
Special event stations licensed in the United States will often have a special 1x1 call sign. This event will use the call sign W4M.
Hams are always looking for any excuse to get together and do something collectively to promote the technical and fun aspects of Amateur Radio. Events like ARRL Field Day in June and Winter Field Day in January promote the technical aspects of quickly setting up equipment to help provide communications during disasters and other emergency situations.
“Special events,” however, are usually planned months in advance to promote events of local, regional, national or international interest -- everything from the attack on Pearl Harbor, the sinking of the freighter Edmund Fitzgerald, International Marconi Day, and even the annual Shark’s Tooth Festival. The STARS chose Blind Willie McTell for his association with Statesboro.
Ever heard the song Statesboro Blues? No, not the one by the Allman Brothers. But the original penned nearly 100 years ago by William Samuel McTier, better known as Blind Willie McTell. He was born in Happy Valley community outside Douglas, GA, May 5, 1898. Based on census records some think it was more likely 1903. Born blind in one eye, he lost sight in the other by late childhood.
The young McTier learned to play the guitar in his teens, learned Braille to write his songs, and won a following as a Piedmont blues and ragtime singer and guitarist street performer in several Georgia cities. One of his favorites was Statesboro. Legend has it he would sit on the steps of the Jaeckel Hotel, now Statesboro City Hall, play his guitar and sing his style of blues. Unlike blues guitarists of his time, he played a 12 string guitar. He made his first record in 1927. One year later he recorded his original Statesboro Blues as the B side of Three Women Blues. He went on to a successful career performing till his death in 1959.
Born into a musical family, both his parents and an uncle played the guitar. McTell was related to the bluesman and gospel pioneer Thomas A. Dorsey. In 1934, McTell married Ruth Kate Williams, better known as Kate McTell, who accompanied him on stage and on several recordings until 1939 when she left music to become a nurse.
Legend has it because of the way he spoke, people mistook the way he pronounced his last name as McTell. It stuck with him and became his music name. He also recorded under other names. Among them, Blind Sammie, Georgia Bill, Hot Shot Willie, Blind Willie, Barrelhouse Sammie and Pig & Whistle Red.
McTell died of a stroke in Milledgeville, Georgia, in 1959. He was buried at Jones Grove Church, near Thomson, Georgia, his birthplace.
For more information on Saturday's special event, please contact Buddy Horne at buddyhorne@yahoo.com.