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Ralph "Bama" Willis was an outstanding Piedmont-style blues singer and guitarist, so named as he was born and raised in Alabama. He was not heard from until the late '30s, when he was known to have relocated to North Carolina and to work in the circle of musicians centering around Blind Boy Fuller, although Willis did not record with Fuller. By the time Ralph Willis did make it into studio, for the tiny, New York-based Regis label in 1944, his assimilation of Fuller's sound and style was already complete. Willis would continue to record with regularity through 1953, producing 50 sides altogether for Savoy, Signature, 20th Century, Abbey, Jubilee, Prestige, Par, and King. Willis' material was all generally original, and rooted in his experience as a rural stylist, although during his recording career he lived and worked in New York City. Admittedly Willis' best recordings are the ones he made solo, as they have the most liberated sense of rhythm, but over time the record companies that...