Level: 3
Tuning: Dropped D

This is one of Blind Willie McTell's greatest masterpieces, if not the greatest. The Allman Brothers had a famous adaptation, though it was a huge departure from the original. A personal note: this is one of the songs that forever hooked my teenage self on to blues. I still get the chills listening to it. I even hitchhiked down to Georgia when I was 17 trying to find Blind Willie, only to later learn that he died five years earlier, in 1959. Paul Geremia tells me he made the same pilgrimage. Blind Willie McTell inspired a generation of young white blues fans with this song. From the very first famous lick, the descending F#, F, E, D, every note is the perfect note. It's amazing that he can play so profoundly with such ease and simplicity. I really wish I could have met him.