Blind Blake’s unique style of finger-picking inspired many artists after him and “Police Dog Blues” is a fantastic example of that style. He revolutionized blues at that time and his anonymity played a significant part in his image. Not much is known about the artist other than his music and his untimely death at a relatively early age. His impact on blues music is what he is remembered for. Many artists after him tried to emulate his style and rhythm. This song resembles many African American slave songs from that era with the repetitive lyrics and stanzas in quatrains at a time. The song is a story about a man being interested in a woman who isn’t interested back, and he is debating going to her house to try to see her, but then deciding not to out of fear of her calling the police. The song sounds happy and has an almost comical feel to it after reading the lyrics.
Blind Blake was said to have been born in the late 1890s in Jacksonville, Florida. He was born blind and learned to play the guitar as a young man. He got a contract with Paramount studios and started recording in 1926. He passed away from pneumonia in 1934.
Mary Wright is an Elementary Education major at Rowan University. She was born in Sewell, New Jersey and her family moved to Uganda when she was 2. She attended highschool in Kenya at a boarding school before moving back to New Jersey at 18 to attend Rowan. She is set to graduate in 2020 and hopes to teach in Philadelphia afterwards.