Robert Wilkins (1896-1987) was born in Hernando, a small town in northern Mississippi, which nonetheless managed to contribute such musicians as Frank Stokes, Jim Jackson, Garfield Akers and Joe Callicott to the story of the Blues. Wilkins lived his adult life in Memphis and recorded 13 sides between September 1928 and February of 1930, and an additional 4 sides in October of 1935. He had a real flair for composition and often invented new forms for his songs. Many of these have become landmark performances in the story of the Country Blues.

Robert Wilkins’ playing and singing from his 1920s recordings show us a musician with a pronounced compositional bent and an unusual imaginative gift for varying the blues structure in interesting ways. His lyrics are equally originally and profoundly poetic. His subtly powerful guitar-playing and soulful vocals combine for a sound that is unforgettable.

The accompanying PDF booklet includes lyrics and tab/standard notation transcriptions of the songs.

Titles include: I Do Blues, Jailhouse Blues, Rolling Stone, Police Sergeant Blues, That’s No Way To Get Along and I’ll Go With Her

82 minutes • Level 2/3 • Detailed tab/music PDF file on the DVD

Review: Love this DVD! Wow! What a great product. I am just starting out learning Delta Blues guitar and really wanted to learn “I'll Go With Her”. I use tabs though I can read music I am very slow at it. Actually, I am slow at learning through tabs as well but coupled with the video instruction, it was a breeze. I mastered the song much more quickly than with tab alone and really enjoyed the teaching style of John Miller. I understand now what country blues players mean when they say a student needs to learn from another player. – JP/Amazon Customer Review

Review: John Miller, not only a master guitar player is a fine instructer and as humble and unassuming as they come given that he IS a master and his recordings going back a long time when he was a younger man demonstrate this fully. As well his taste. He recognizes and plays good interesting and often complex tunes with often delectable melodies and has unveiled the talent and feel of guitarists like Bo Carter and in this case Wilkins who otherwise suffer from some neglect in overall attention.

Miller is big on the role of timing (counting)in Country Blues Guitar as he himself says is probably the most important thing he derived from his interest in this genre on his DVD with Stefan Grossman and Buster B. Jones. Easily neglected, this discipline helps to expand competence in the genre. Wilkin's pieces can be built on if you pass by the voice accompanying. Miller's gift is that he can sing (and enjoys singing)to often complex guitar playing when the instrumental mastering is often enough to us mere mortals.

Stefan Grossman, who himself is a master and engaging instructer should be acknowledged for engaging such fine artists as Miller and others as part of the Guitar Workshop. – Ken/Amazon Customer Review