The Curley Weaver Blues Guitar
DEMO VIDEO (slide open tuning)
DEMO MP3 SAMPLE
(standard tuning)
Curley Weaver was one of the legendary blues men of the 1920/30s era and lived from 1906 until about 1962. He was born in Newton County Ga a few miles from my home and raised in Porterdale, Ga. He was the son of prominent musician and his mother Savannah Shepard played piano in church in the late 1800s and early 1900s and taught not only Curley how to play guitar
but many of his friends such as the Hicks brothers famous in later years as BBQ Bob and his brother Laughing Charlie Lincoln. Curley had a knack for getting along with others and made many friends. She is possibly the mentor to a half dozen or more of the greatest blues musicians ever. People in this circle of friends included Tampa Red, Buddy Moss, Blind Wille McTell, Frank Edwards, Roy Dunn and countless others. They were also said to be close friends with the father of country music Jimmy Rogers who recorded and played with them in Atlanta and also players like Sam Chatmon of the legendary Mississippi Sheiks. You can hear what was called the Newton County blues style in songs like Yo Yo Blues by BBQ Bob and No No blues by Curley Weaver but they could also play every type of blues from rags, Piedmont, Delta and more.
Atlanta was truly a melting pot for all styles of blues including direct connections with Texas and other regional styles. If you want to hear it ALL Atlanta had it. Not to mention all the surrounding counties were chocked full of world class talent.
Curley was known not only as being a great front man but a fantastic accompaniment player with legends like Blind Willie McTell and countless others. Many facts and stories in blues novels are incorrect about small details in Curley’s life but by luck his whole family lives just a few minutes from here and I’ve gotten a great education in Georgia Blues as a result. Read more about Curley Weaver in these links. Wikipedia Biography of Curley Weaver – CLICK HERE
Below are photos of a guitar owned and played by Curley Weaver. In this case there is no doubt because it belongs to the family and I simply took it into my possession for repairs. It was used in a recording for Curley's daughter and blues legend Cora Mae Bryant back in the late 1990s Music Maker Org . Here is Cora Mae's BIO and discography. You can here more samples of this guitar from that album here "Born With The Blues"
Curley was also known to play a 1930 era Kay Kraft double cutaway archtop you can see here on this site in my guitar and gear section. My goal here is to repair this guitar back to historical working condition and donate my services to the family then give the guitar back to be put into their blues museum in Oxford, Ga. This is a Circa 1930 ladder braced small body with mahogany back and sides and a spruce top. It apparently was almost crushed or dropped in recent years and was quite a challenge to repair but is now in solid playing conditon. As you can see some of the photos of Curley's various friends or love interests have fallen off the guitar but you can still see many of the photos. I'm proud to have the chance to play and enjoy this guitar in my own home for a short time and now I've found a case for it and plan on returning to Weaver's grandson this evening. I wanted to photograph and document it. JJ if you ever find this web page I hope you enjoy it and I hope you are able to play this guitar again when you visit.
Disclaimer: I am not a blues historian and only donating this information and photos as an inspiration to other friends and players. To support Curley Weaver and his musical legacy please visit and support MusicMaker.org Or you can join and support the Atlanta Blues Society.
JUMP TO SEE MORE PHOTOS OF THE FAMILY BBQ AND FRIENDS
Above: I presented the guitar back to Anthony Bryant. Grandson of Curley Weaver and he's immediately playing it. I don't think he's ever really seen it playing like this. 19-Sep-07
This guitar is more than likely a circa 1930 era Oscar Schmidt cheaper derivative. Possibly even Harmony or Regal made it and it could have been sold by Sears, Montgomery Ward or any dept store. It's certainly not one of the highest prized 1920s Stellas but in a class beneath that. Of course the tone of this one exceeds many of the more valuable ones. It has the cheaper brass frets which are one giveaway of the depression and the other is the fret dot markers located on fret #9 instead of #10 which is something most makers stopped doing around 1930. That mass produced straight cut headstock is also a good indicator of this post 1930 depression era guitar. There's a chance this guitar could have been made and sold anytime in the 30s. It has mahogany body with spruce top which is surprising considering how cheap they made most of these. The bridge and tailpiece all being very cheap faux ebony. Tuners are cheap too. Neck and top have remained straight which says a lot about the tonewoods they chose and one reason this might be one of the earliest ones from the earliest 1930s before they started using some of the worst woods possible. If they'd installed a pyramid bridge, better frets, better tuners and no tailpiece this would have been a whole different class of guitar. Never the less this one is still very special and certainly a priceless artifact.
