Kate McTell

Kate McTell (born Ruthy Kate Williams; August 22, 1911 – October 3, 1991) was an American blues musician and nurse from Jefferson County, Georgia. She is known primarily as the former wife of the blues musician Blind Willie McTell, whom she accompanied vocally on several recordings. She might have also recorded under the pseudonym Ruby Glaze in Atlanta in February 1932, though that has been much discussed and disputed.

Early life and marriage to Blind Willie McTell Ruthy (later changed to Ruth) Kate Williams was born in Savannah, Georgia. In an interview conducted by the musicologist David Evans and his family, she stated that she and Willie met at a Christmas concert at her school in 1931. She went on to explain that Willie invited her to record with him, that they did so in Atlanta over the course of a week, and that she then returned to Augusta to continue her schooling at Paine College. According to Michael Gray, that week of recording would have been in February 1932. In late June 1936, they recorded 12 blues songs with Piano Red for Vocalion Records.

In 1939, she obtained a nursing certificate from Grady Hospital in Atlanta, and from 1942 until 1971 she was an army nurse at Fort Gordon hospital, near Augusta. Evans found this unlikely since they did not marry until 1934. He notes that her story was the one that was most widely known for many years. but gave the year of their meeting as 1931, at her graduation from Paine College, in Augusta, Georgia, and stated that immediately afterward she went on to Washington High in Atlanta, which is where and when Willie recorded with Glaze. Bastin also found similarities between Glaze's spoken parts in "Searching the Desert for the Blues" and the ones in the McTells' recording of "Ticket Agent Blues" in 1935. Michael Gray strongly disagrees, arguing that the singing persona of Ruby Glaze is much more confident, professional and sexier than the shrill, unsure and amateurish voice of Kate McTell.

Those recordings with Ruby Glaze are among the rarest Blind Willie McTell recordings and were his last with Ralph Peer.

Discography Kate McTell appears on a small number of albums, generally accompanying her husband on vocals. April 1935 recordings for Decca Blind Willie McTell 1927–1949 (Willie McTell) Mississippi-Memphis-Chicago Blues (various artists)