Friday Blues Jukebox #4 – Gospel Edition

Happy Friday morning folks! I’m trying something a little different this time around on the Friday Jukebox—no commentary, just tunes, with performer & song listed, & links in case you want to explore further.

This will be the last Friday Blues Jukebox until I’m back from next month’s road trip. Hope you enjoy the music!

John the Revelator: Blind Willie Johnson



Jesus is a Dying Bed-Maker: Charlie Patton



Twelve Gates to the City: Reverend Gary Davis

Friday Blues Jukebox #3

I expect most folks here in the States realize that February is African American History Month, & as such I wanted to delve a bit more into blues roots & history in February’s two Friday Blues Jukebox installments. In order to do this, we’re going to start by looking at a very harsh scene—a scene that's a significant part of this country’s history, but is not widely known. This is the prison farm system of the reconstruction & Jim Crow eras, & specifically, Parchman Farm —now the Mississippi State Penitentiary. I’ll be writing about the background & not the songs themselves—work songs sung by the inmates in field recordings from the 1940s; they’re too strong musically & emotionally to need my words, so I’ll mix the videos in with the text.

Parchman Farm as it existed in the late 19th century & well into the 20th was essentially a labor camp for convicts—part of Mississippi’s “penal plantation system.” The prison was conceived by Mississippi Governor James K. Vardaman, whose idea (according to the book, Worse Than Slavery": Parchman Farm and the Ordeal of Jim Crow Justice) was “that a prison farm, ‘like an efficient slave plantation,’ was necessary to provide young African-Americans with the ‘proper discipline, strong work habits, and respect for white authority’ that the end of slavery had eliminated.” (quoted from the page linked to above).



Parchman Farm was sued by civil rights lawyer Roy Haber & four inmates in 1971 with the charge that conditions there constituted cruel & inhuman treatment. “In the case, Gates v. Collier, federal judge William C. Keady found that Parchman Farm violated the Constitution and was an affront to 'modern standards of decency'. Among other reforms, the accommodation was made fit for human habitation and the trusty system (where lifers were armed with rifles and set to guard other inmates) was abolished.” (quoted from Wikipedia)



Some notable men have been imprisoned there—some of the 1961 Freedom Riders served time at Parchman Farm, & two very famous bluesmen, Booker T. “Bukka” White & Son House also spent time there as inmates, & both wrote songs about it. Since today’s songs are all “work songs” from the prison, I haven’t included White’s “Parchman Farm” or House’s “Mississippi County Farm Blues,” but the links will take you to YouTube versions, & I plan to feature them in an upcoming Friday Blues Jukebox post.

John & Alan Lomax visited Parchman several times to record the inmates—in fact, there’s a version of Bukka White playing his “Poor Boy Long Ways from Home” that was recorded at the prison—& that’s the source of the three recordings today. The structure of these songs, with the call & response & the leader “lining out a phrase to be answered by the other singers, is the very fundamental stuff of blues music. Those of us who perform blues music today—especially those of us from a European rather than African heritage—need to be aware that the blues grew up in the atmosphere of Reconstruction & Jim Crow & conditions much harsher than most of us will experience.

Friday Blues Jukebox #2

Happy Friday, everybody, & time for another Blues Jukebox. These songs aren’t tied together by any theme, but they all feature some amazing guitar work & vocals—really breathtaking in each case. So, without further ado, let’s get to the music!

Mississippi Fred McDowell: Goin’ Down to the River

Mississippi Fred McDowell is probably the least well-known of the three artists represented in today’s offering, but his powerful slide guitar work is some of the best you’ll hear. McDowell’s playing is interesting in that it has a more modal, droning sound than the “standard” 12-bar blues, which is very much based on the pattern of tonic, subdominant & dominant chord changes. Of course, the more one looks into the old acoustic blues, the more one realizes that the 12-bar pattern was just one of many followed by these artists; &, as I pointed out in one of the Blues Xmas Train posts, McDowell isn’t alone in favoring the drone over the chord change—Robert Wilkins & Howlin’ Wolf (among others) both have one-chord songs built on a modal riff.

But enough music theory—this song is just too good to pass up!

Available on: Mississippi Fred McDowell: Mississippi Fred McDowell (Rounder)



Robert Johnson: Preachin’ Blues (Up Jumped the Devil)

Anyone with a passing knowledge of the early blues knows that Robert Johnson has a reputation as one of the very best guitar players in that style; & among his many fine songs, it would be hard to choose one that outdoes “Preaching Blues” for sheer pyrotechnics. After a brief introductory turnaround, Johnson launches into the sort of slide & shuffle performance that caused many folks, on first hearing his recordings, to believe that two guitarists were playing. Johnson’s singing always is first-rate, but in my opinion, this is one of his very greatest vocal performances.

“Preachin’ Blues” is unquestionably a re-working of Son House’s “Preachin’ the Blues,” but it’s a very thorough re-working both in terms of music & lyrics. House’s song explores the way in which he’s torn between religion & the blues. He sings: “Oh, I'd-a had religion to this every day, but the women whiskey, they would not let me pray.” House also suggests that blues has supplanted organized religion for him: “I'm a-preach these blues, and I, I want everybody to shout.”

Johnson takes this at least one step further—in his case, there’s no explicit comparison between the blues & organized religion—for him, the blues is a supernatural force that’s controlling his life:

“The blues, is a low-down shakin' chill
(spoken: Yes, preach 'em now)
Mmmmm mmmmm
Is a low-down shakin' chill
You ain't never had 'em I, hope you never will”

This is further personified in the great opening line: “I was up this mornin', ah, blues walkin' like a man.”

“Preachin’ the Blues” is one of Johnson’s best songs—do check it out!



Available on: Robert Johnson: The Complete Recordings (Sony)

Skip James: I’m So Glad

If you only know “I’m So Glad” thru Cream’s cover version, you must listen to Skip James’ original version. Not only is the original quite different in feel from the Clapton-Bruce-Baker cover, but it’s undoubtedly one of the premier fingerstyle guitar performances by any blues artist. Period. James’ playing on this song will leave you reeling—the fact that his guitar accompaniment provides a backdrop for a brilliantly powerful vocal just makes the song that much more—what’s the right word? Intense—James’ music is always intense & complex & edgy, & this is one of his greatest songs. I can listen to his

Available on: Skip James: The Complete Early Recordings of Skip James (Yazoo)



Pic shows Skip James (with guitar) & Mississippi John Hurt

Friday Blues Jukebox #1

Happy Friday, folks, & time to kick off a new series that will run for some indefinite period of time on alternate Fridays: the Friday Blues Jukebox!

Over the past few months I’ve been thinking a lot about slide playing—more details on why that’s the case to follow, possibly as early as Monday morning. But because that is the case, I thought I’d dedicate our inaugural Friday Blues Jukebox to some great slide playing. Don’t reach for your change—the quarter is on me!

Blind Willie McTell: Mama, ‘Tain’t Long Fo’ Day

This Blind Willie McTell tune has been a long time favorite. Besides the wonderful lyrics, the unusual sound of a 12-string being played with a slide makes “Mama ‘Tain’t Long Fo’ Day” really stand out. McTell’s main instrument was a 12-string—a reasonable choice for a musician who’s main livelihood was street performing, both because the 12-string has more volume & also because the doubled strings can give something like a “chorus” effect that enhances the “one-man band.” Playing it with a slide is interesting, however, because there are certain slide effects (like playing octave notes with intermediate notes muted) that even make a regular 6-string sound like a 12-string, so using a slide on the doubled strings just heightens that effect.

You can find this tune on: Blind Willie McTell: The Best of Blind Willie McTell (Yazoo), which is pretty essential for those interested in acoustic blues, & also on Rory Block: Gone Woman Blues (Rounder)—as “Daddy, ‘Tain’t Long Fo’ Day.



Bukka White: Aberdeen Mississippi Blues

Eberle isn’t as big a fan of blues as I am, but there are some performers & performances she likes quite well—one such performer is Bukka White, & her reason for liking his music can be summed up in one word: rhythm. White’s guitar playing can unleash some complex rhythms, as is certainly the case in his wild celebration of Aberdeen, Mississippi. There’s an interesting story about this song—guitarist extraordinaire John Fahey, who had a passionate interest in the old acoustic blues, wanted to contact White & wrote him a letter addressed to "Bukka White (Old Blues Singer), c/o General Delivery, Aberdeen, Mississippi." This is similar to the story about revivalists finding Mississippi John Hurt thru his song, “Avalon Blues,” which contains the line “Avalon, my home town,” just as this song contains the line “Aberdeen is my home.” The difference is that White wasn’t living in Aberdeen by the time Fahey wrote the letter; he was working in a factory in Memphis. However, the letter was forwarded to him, & he & Fahey met & became friends. White went on to have a successful second career in the 60s & 70s.

You can find this tune on: Bukka White: Fixin' to Die (Snapper UK)



Rory Block: If I Had Possession Over Judgment Day

Here’s a great way to round out our set for today: the great Rory Block covering a great Robert Johnson song. Block plays some scorching slide guitar here & sings this song with great passion—she has a remarkable capacity for inhabiting a song. Also, as I mentioned with Bukka White, Block is skilled at producing all sort of rhythmic variation on top of a blues song’s basic 4/4 structure.

Johnson’s tune is a re-working of the old Mississippi blues standard “Rollin’ & Tumblin” by medicine-show performer Willie Newbern, but as usual with Johnson, his re-worked material becomes a completely individual statement. Interestingly, this song wasn’t released in Johnson’s lifetime—musician & writer Elijah Wald has theorized that the song, despite Johnson’s new treatment, sounded old fashioned to the Brunswick record label!

You can find this tune on: Rory Block: The Lady and Mr. Johnson (Rykodisc); & of course the great original on: Robert Johnson: The Complete Recordings (Sony), which is an essential blues album.