The 22 titles included here were recorded in Georgia between 1934 and 1943 and run the gamut from unaccompanied group work songs and spirituals, to banjo and guitar pieces, solo harmonica and 12 string blues guitar numbers. The work songs come from convict groups in prisons and work farms near Atlanta, Canton and Milledgeville and range from raw to the more polished "performance" pieces, aimed at entertaining an audience, rather than being used to pace a gang of workers. Its interesting to note that the Lomaxes were driven on this 1934 trip by Lead Belly, working for them after they'd obtained his release from prison a few years earlier by recording his plea song to the governor.

The harmonica pieces were both somewhat derivative: John Lee Thomas (winner of a 1941 Fir Valley State College Folk Fest, a 15 year tradition) probably got his train imitation number from the radio performances of Deford Bailey on the weekly Grand Ole Opry, while Buster Brown took his "War Song" style from the recordings of Sonny Boy Williamson I. Incidentally, yes, this is the SAME Buster Brown who hade a top ten R&B hit with "Fannie Mae" after moving north in the fifties. His early style here is rawer, and owes a debt to Sonny Terry, who had been heard both with Blind Boy Fuller and on his own solo recordings.

Banjo player Sidney Stripling does 4 numbers in a mix of blues-vaudeville-party song that harks to an even earlier era than these 1941 cuts. There are a couple of string band "rag" pieces as well, that also come from an ear when black and white musical styles were entwined fairly deeply.

What will catch the ears of most blues fans are the 4 tracks by fabled 12 string street singer Blind Willie McTell. He had previously recorded extensively commercially, cutting 46 released titles for Victor, Columbia, Vocallion and Decca labels between 1927 and 1935. When the Lomaxes found him in late 1940, they wound up spending two hours in the morning recording some 40 minutes of music and memories, over 19 titles. McTell had a late career resurgence as well; cutting LPs worth of material for Regal and Atlantic in 1949, and his "last sessions" cut in 1956 came out later on Bluesville label. "Boll Weevil" is a ballad version of the wide-spread folk tune, with an easy rag feel to it. "Dying Crapshooters Blues" is a raggy piece with words piled on words, all detailing the funeral requests of a dying man. (There are elements of "St James Infirmary" used here.) "Just As Well Get Ready, You Got To Die" is a spiritual piece with some subtle, sweet slide guitar work, as the guitar finishes out the verse when the vocal drops out. In the same vein is "I Got To Cross The River Of Jordan", again guitar shares the vocal lines with the voice. This is a real tour de force with some nice dynamics displayed. McTell was another songster with blues being only part of his repertoire, Lomax did a good job of plumbing his spectrum.

Quality of the recordings is good considering they were all cut as 78 RPM acetates some 50-60 years ago. If you want to look through a window into another place and time, here is your chance.

This review is copyright © 2001 by Tony Glover, and Blues On Stage, all rights reserved. Copy, duplication or download prohibited without written permission. For permission to use this review please send an E-mail to Ray Stiles.

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