Johnny St Cyr - Original Jelly Roll Blues

A gorgeous example of early ragtime guitar by the New Orleans master Johnny St Cyr. Best known as a banjo player with jazz bands, St Cyr recorded only a handful of solo instrumentals, but they were terrific and suggest how much great guitar music went unrecorded in the early 20th century. This version of the classic Jelly Roll Morton rag is from Alan Lomax’s recordings for his Morton oral history project for the Library of Congress.