Mississippi Blues In E

The summer fingerstyle theme continues this week with a discussion of how to adapt the signature A9 lick from William Brown's 1940s classic "Mississippi Blues #2" to the key of – where else? – E.

Every time I reference that tune I break out in a cold sweat: Is it "#2" or "#3"? Was it William or Willie? Were those two different guys? I'm supposed to know these things, but really, 90% of my blues history comes from reading LP liner notes, so to get these historical details right I now have to resort to Wikipedia for reassurance, and let's not get into a whole kerfuffle about whether that's reliable or not.