Blind Willie McTell’s Georgia Rag is a great example of how to play guitar in the rag time influenced Piedmont Style of playing.  The guitar is the only instrument Blind Willie McTell uses in the song so it is the instrument that keeps the timing and rhythm, along with providing a basis for the melody that is sung.  It sounds as if Blind Willie is using a 12 string guitar in order to replicate the sound a piano makes when played in rag time, particularly the sound one would expect from playing parlor song sheet music.

Although he is playing rag music, it is clear that Blind Willie was influenced by rural blues and folk musicians in the south.  His syncopated singing and overall casual tone suggest that Georgia Rag is his ode to other musicians like himself and to all the people who enjoy listening to and dancing to rag time music. 

The lyrics are fun, which is in contrast to most southern blues artists.  Lyrics like “Out in the alley, in the street, every little kid that you meet, doin that rag, Georgia rag” show that Blind Willie is a musical artist signed to a major record label with the intention of selling music.  However, he does mention in the song that “Out in dark time night and day, trying to dance them blues away, doin that rag, Georgia rag.”   This can either mean that he is still in touch with his blues roots, or he is trying to sway away from the sad emotions that accompany blues.