Piedmont Blues
Pittsville, Virginia
Gail Ceasar was born in 1984 in Pittsville, Virginia, the small Pittsylvania County town that her family has called home for generations. Gail comes from a rich lineage of oral storytellers and musicians. She still remembers visits from her uncle, country bluesman Pete Witcher, who would sit her down to teach her the trade anytime he passed through town.
Blind from birth, Gail doesn’t read music and has never taken any formal lessons. From a young age she was enchanted by bluegrass and sat in on Saturday morning porch sessions at Poky’s Music in Gretna, where she bought her first guitar. Gail has found a beautiful sound of her own that melds the two genres of bluegrass and blues. With help from the Music Maker Foundation, she released her first album, Guitar Woman Blues, to much critical acclaim. Gail’s music reimagines generations of traditional tunes with incredible precision and depth of tone. Her gentle voice floats above her deft fingerwork, and listening to this album, you can imagine sitting round a porch, feeling right at home. “I hope it brings great enjoyment to everyone,” Gail says. “It’s songs that I’ve been playing over the years, old country blues I like to sit around the house and play. I had cousins that played, and uncles that played it. I hope people like it, I like it, I hope people can listen to it and enjoy it as much as I do.”
Gail’s Saturday performance on the CCV Stage will be her Richmond debut. Let’s give her a warm welcome and take in this wonderful emerging artist.