REGIONAL MUSICIANS

Chattahoochee River Valley Region

Talbot County

Gertrude “Ma” Rainey

Ma Rainey, a prominent blues artist in the early 20th century, was born in Columbus, Georgia. Her music bridged the traditions of the southern blues call-and-response with vaudeville theater.94 Vaudeville performances were variety shows and often had different kinds of performers such as singers, comedians, dancers, actors, performing animals, and other forms of entertainment.95

Precious Bryant

Precious Bryant, “Daughter of the Blues,” was born in Talbot County, Georgia in 1942.96 She grew up in a family of blues musicians including her father Lonnie James Bussey and her uncle George Henry Bussey, who became her mentor.97 She was first recorded in 1969 by George Mitchell in Atlanta. Bryant was a country blues singer with a powerful voice who played fingerstyle guitar. Many of her songs were produced by her manager, Amos Harvey, at Zelda Station, the home of friend and folklorist-author Fred Fussell in Buena Vista.98

Talbot County Chattahoochee River Valley Region

Jontavious Willis

Jontavious Willis grew up singing the blues and gospel music in Greenville, Georgia. He was nominated for a Grammy in 2020 for his album Spectacular Class. In his youth, he played and recorded in Talbotton’s Historic Zion Episcopal Church 99 He has also documented blues artists in the Lower Chattahoochee Valley through The Fall Line Blues Project. In partnership with Henry Jacobs, he interviews men and women playing the blues in the Fall Line region.100

Thomas Wiggins

Thomas Wiggins, who went by the stage name “Blind Tom” Wiggins, was a remarkable blind pianist who both improvised and played his compositions. Born into slavery on a plantation in Columbus, Georgia, his mother made a plea to General James Neil Bethune to keep her family together, an agreement that would lead to Bethune becoming Wiggins’s legal guardian. Wiggins’s talent for hearing and replicating music “note for note” led to a career during which he would make $100,000 a year (over $1 million a year today). Unfortunately, with Bethune as his legal guardian, none of the earnings went directly to Wiggins.101