Rory Block
b. 6 November 1949, Greenwich Village, New York, USA. American blues singer and guitarist, raised in New York. Her father played classical violin, but at the age of 10, Block started learning to play folk music on the guitar. She later became involved in the burgeoning Greenwich Village Folk scene. It was as a teenager that she first heard the blues, and it was during this timee that she played with such names as (Rev.) Gary Davis, and Mississippi John Hurt. From then on she was hooked. Meeting up with Stefan Grossman, when she was 13, further encouraged her interest in the music. It was to be some 10 years before she took up playing again, having bowed out to bring up a family. In 1975, she recorded tracks for the small Blue Goose label, for an album entitled RORY BLOCK (I'M IN LOVE). This album was re-released, in 1989, and re-mixed minus two tracks from the original recordings, but including an extra song, Blues Again, discovered on the original master tapes. Her first release for Rounder records, HIGH HEELED BLUES, was co-produced with John Sebastian. She continued in the same vein of recording, and performing, traditional blues and country blues material alongside her own compositions. The recording of I'VE GOT A ROCK IN MY SOCK included such luminaries as Taj Mahal, and David Bromberg. In 1986, her 19-year-old son, Thiele, was killed in a car accident. The subsequent tribute album from Block, HOUSE OF HEARTS, contained 10 tracks, and all but one were Block originals. TURNING POINT, despite having a bigger production sound overall, did not detract from her earlier blues influences. Her track record speaks for itself, with her earlier apprehension that a white girl from New York might not sound authentic singing the blues, remaining quite unfounded.