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TEXAS FIELD RECORDINGS (1934/1939), DOCD-5231 |
 This CD presents recordings made by John Lomax on two collecting trips he made, the first with his son Alan in 1934, and the second with his wife, Ruby, in 1939. The music was being collected for the Archive of American Folk Song at the Library of Congress. The music in the CD is spectacular and excitingly varied. In addition to including Blues and religious numbers, there are a number of folk songs that are widespread in both the black and white folk music traditions in the United States. Rather than paraphrasing material covered in detail in the CD’s liner notes, written by David Evans, I’ll just recommend that interested parties get the CD and read the liner notes for themselves.
What of the music on the CD? The program opens with thirteen cuts played and sung by Pete Harris, of Richmond, Texas. Harris, who was approximately 34-years-old when he was recorded in 1934, is the only musician on the CD who was not a prison inmate at the time he was recorded. He is described as a life-long resident of the farm of John Moore, though his role there is not made clear--share-cropper, hired hand? In any event, Harris was really a versatile musician. He opens with “Square Dance Calls”, beautifully played with a thumb lead in Spanish at B flat, in a style somewhat reminiscent of Jim Jackson’s “Old Blue”. (Harris most often sounded around a minor third higher than the pitch his positions would normally sound in.) He follows with a truncated version of “He Rambled”, played in a one-chord, boom-chang fashion out of Vestapol at F (many of the performances on the CD end with fades--once John Lomax documented a performance to his own satisfaction, he had no compunction about stopping the recording mid-stream). “The Buffalo Skinners”, in a brutally excised version, is played in G standard, sounding at A flat. “Blind Lemon’s Song” turns out to be a superb version of “See That My Grave Is Kept Clean”, played with a slide out of Vestapol at F. “The Red Cross Store” is played out of G standard at A flat, and has many verses in common with Leadbelly’s song of the same title. Harris’s version of “Alabama Bound” is one of the best I’ve ever heard, played with a smoothly flowing thumb lead in Vestapol, and containing verses singing of Elder Green, a la Charlie Patton. “Is You Mad At Me?” is another Vestapol slide song sounding in F. “Thirty Days In Jail” is played in E standard. “Carrie”, played with a slide in Spanish tuning at B flat, shares its melody with Furry Lewis’s “Perlee”. Harris does two different versions of Texas’s unofficial slide guitar anthem, “Jack O’Diamonds”, the first of which uses a line used by John Hurt in “Payday”,
I’m gonna send you to your mama next payday
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SHAKE YOUR WICKED KNEES - RENT PARTIES AND GOOD TIMES, Yazoo 2035 |
 I recently found this CD, which is sub-headed "Classic Piano Rags, Blues & Stomps 1928-43", on sale, and I'm so glad I picked it up, for it is superlatively good. It is one of the series of CDs of Blues piano music that Yazoo has released that were produced (which in this instance, I assume, means the cuts were selected and sequenced) by the English record collector Francis Wilford-Smith. Other CDs in this series include one devoted to Roosevelt Sykes and Lee Green (reviewed elsewhere in this section), one focusing on Charlie Spand, and two devoted to the Blues piano stylists of St. Louis in the pre-War era. Francis Smith's knowledge of this material must be encyclopedic, for I had the feeling as I listened to the program that I was hearing the very best that the various artists had to offer.
A couple of extra-musical impressions began to develop as I listened repeatedly to this CD. One is that in the context of a rent party, a pianist's musical skills must have been taken as a given; just as important, though, must have been the ability to entertain, to act that host, engage in banter with the guests and maintain a stream of humorous woofing going along with the music. Not an easy job description! A high percentage of the cuts here have either the pianists themselves or someone else acting as a host/emcee, constantly reminding the listener how much fun everyone is having. Another realization that comes with getting to know this material is how much it anticipated a lot of African-American Pop music of the '60s and since, in its documentation of regional dance crazes (or its attempts to create them) and its being at the cutting edge of Popular slang of the day. It is really not so far from the music and language used on these recordings to that found in present-day Hip Hop and Rap--the stylistic particulars and content may differ, but the place they occupy in the society seem very much the same. Anyone with a special interest in these bygone dance crazes and the slang of the period would be well-advised to get ahold of this CD.
Then there is the music, and spectacular music it is. There is a way, as a guitarist, that I would expect a greater degree of sameness in sound and treatment from a group of Blues pianists than I would from a similar group of guitarists. I should know better. There is a tremendous amount of variety here with regard to favored ways of grooving, use of the left hand to provide the harmonic underpinnings of the music, harmonic imagination, and so on.
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ROBERT NIGHTHAWK - PROWLING WITH THE NIGHTHAWK, Document DOCD-32-20-6 |
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 I recently picked up this re-release of an earlier Document CD, and have been pleased with what an excellent job Document has done with the re-issue. The program is generous, with 26 performances by Robert Nighthawk, recorded in the years 1937--1952 for six different record labels, and in a variety of ensemble settings. The notes accompanying the CD share a wealth of biographical and discographical information on Robert Nighthawk, and I refer interested parties to them for that kind of information. I will confine the discussion here to his music.
The earliest recordings presented here feature Robert Nighthawk working with Big Joe Williams seconding him on guitar and on several tracks, Sonny Boy Williamson 1 (John Lee Williamson) on harmonica. With two exceptions, "Don't Mistreat Your Woman" and "G-Man", for which Nighthawk played slide in Vastapol, these cuts find Nighthawk flat-picking out of G position in standard tuning, while Big Joe and Sonny Boy riff more or less non-stop. It is not what you would call a nifty sound, and there doesn't appear to have been a notable amount of listening going on between the players but it is strongly played and forcefully expressed. Apropos of this, I congratulate Document for choosing NOT to simply list the songs on the program in chronological order, as is most often done on their re-issues. Such an order would exacerbate the sense of sameness you would get on these tracks by hearing them consecutively. Nighthawk's playing and singing on these cuts is excellent, as it is throughout the program. Write Comment (0 comments) |
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The Persistence of Pre-Blues Material |
 I have been thinking about pre-Blues material for a long time (years and years) and figured out a long time ago that I particularly like it. I suppose the question comes up then, what makes a song pre-Blues, as opposed to Blues? I think two chordal/harmonic characteristics most strongly define pre-Blues songs:
* Absence of the "blue" IV chord. Blues have a dominant 7 chord with a flat 7 note relative to the IV chord of the scale. Pre-Blues material has either a straight major triad for the IV chord or a telescoped major 7 chord off of the IV note of the scale.
* Absence of the "blue" I chord. Blues most often have a dominant 7 chord (major triad with a flat 7) off of the I chord of the scale. Pre-Blues material has a straight major triad off of I, or, as with the IV chord, a telescoped major 7 chord.
What separates Blues chordally from the various western musics that preceded it, is that it has dominant 7 chords off of I, IV and V. Neither the major scale nor any of the Greek modes conforms to this chordal configuration. As a result, Blues has both a structure and a sound that does not have commonly known precedents prior to its appearance. Write Comment (0 comments) |
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Sam Collins--Jailhouse Blues Yazoo 1079 |
 This is not a new CD, but it is a great one, collecting most of the strongest titles of the under-appreciated Mississippi singer and guitarist, Sam Collins, in one place. According to the CD's liner notes, Sam Collins was born in 1887 in Louisiana, but raised across the border in McComb, Mississippi. This is in the southern portion of the state, in an area that did not produce many Country Blues musicians who were recorded in the first wave of Country Blues, in the 20s and 30s. If Sam was indeed born at the time reported, he would be placed in the company of such relative oldsters as Frank Stokes, Henry Thomas, and Gus Cannon, all of whom appear to have been in at least their forties when first recorded.
As represented in this CD's program, Sam's music appears to have had two primary strains: slide blues and sacred numbers played in Vastapol tuning and raggy and pre-blues numbers played in C, standard tuning. Whether playing in Vastapol or C, though, Sam Collins's magnificent vocals grab your attention and won't let go. Sam had an incredibly good voice, really one of the most beautiful in the history of the Blues. He knew what to do with it, too; sometimes his vocal rendition out-does the expressive content of the lyric. In "Dark Cloudy Blues" when he sings the line, "I'd rather be in Atlanta than any place I know", he delivers it so wrenchingly I find myself thinking, "Man, he REALLY wants to be in Atlanta!"Write Comment (0 comments) |
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 Weenie Juke Radio has a number of great sides from the 78 collection of Phil Hawkins. Phil digitizes his 78's for his own use and has been kind enough to send us a number of these CD's for Weenie Juke. He has now blown the dust off of some of his rarest sides and has created a CD just for us Weenies, which he has dubbed 'Weenieology'! You'll want to queue these up on the Juke as some of these have probably never been broadcast to the public before!
Phil has put together a great variety of sides, starting with some sanctified material from a variety of labels - don't miss the driving duets of 'Two Gospel Keys', they are terrific. Two sides by Charlie White on the Jaxyson label are probably the rarest including rare accompanying instruments! The Jaxyson label reads: "Charlie White (Blind Street Singer) Vocal with Tin Funnel and Water Bucket". The Water Bucket is readily apparent but the Tin Funnel is going to be tough. There are four excellent mandolin sides, two Country Blues from Vol Stevens and two hot hillbilly numbers by Colman and Harper. Two sides by Mississippi Matilda – a name you do not come across every day. A couple of rare postwar sides by Black Diamond - a great Country Blues guitarist, two hard driving postwar sides by Joe Hill Louis and a couple of spectacular Hawaiian guitar sides - that are Hot! Here are the track listings and Phil’s comments. Thanks Phil! |
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