Jack Norton performs Rag Mama Rag by Blind Boy Fuller

Fiddle Tune by Blind Boy Fuller? [VIDEO]

ByJack Norton September 22, 2025

I’ve been picking old hokum blues and ragtime jazz by the great Blind Boy Fuller for as long as I can remember. Pretty sure I popped out singing, “Rag, Mama, Rag.” Fuller’s real name is Fulton Allen and he’s a good ol’ North Carolina boy. Born in 1904 in beautiful Wadesboro. God’s country out that way.

Fuller obsessed over the music of Blind Blake and some say Gary Davis helped him learn guitar picking too. Either way, by the late 1920s, he was making his living as a street singer – playing blues and ragtime for the tobacco farmers. In 1935 he started making records. Thank God he did, because he recorded over a hundred tunes – all of them wild, whimsical, and wonderful.

Most people say Fuller wasn’t such a wonderful guy, however. He shot at his wife, hitting her in the leg, and went to prison. Yup, not so wonderful.

Either way, he’s all but forgotten today. Here’s a fiddle driven version of his tune, “Rag, Mama, Rag” – hope you enjoy!

Cheers,
Jack

Jack Norton

Heigh-ho, everybody, heigh-ho! I've been singing vaudeville blues music since 1925. I also host a radio show (and podcast), make movies, write books, and perform children's music under the name "Conductor Jack" - from the kids show I have with my wife Kitty called The Zinghoppers. I live in Nashville, TN and Winona, MN (where I drink lutefisk lattes and say "uff da" a lot).