The Daily Chat

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Assorted Recordings - Blues, R&B, Soul & Gospel Volume 70 today serves you up another eclectic hodge-podge of recordings dated from 1952 through to 2021. Among the fine artists featured here are: Elmore James, Pee Wee Crayton, Solomon Burke, Dinah Washington, Ike & Tina Turner, Anita Bryant, and Big Al Downing.

And The Best Of Country, Pre-War & Acoustic Blues, now up to Volume 42, today focuses on the Blind Blues/Gospel Singers, of which there were many back in the pre-war years. Kicking things off is Blind Willie Johnson, assisted by his wife Angeline. Blind Willie Johnson is one of my most favorite pre-war blues singers, I place him right up at the very top, alongside Son House and Robert Johnson. There's an infectious beat to most of Blind Willie Johnson's recordings and every time I listen to him my feet are instantly tapping away to his driving rhythms. Following Blind Willie is Blind Blake with "He's In The Jailhouse Now" a song that has been covered hundreds of times over the decades by a vast assortment of blues, hillbilly, country and folk singers. Others included here today are: Sonny Terry, Blind Willie McTell, Snooks Eaglin, Rev. Gary Davis, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Roosevelt Graves, The Blind Boys Of Alabama, and a few others. 

It's interesting to note how many of the early and pre-war bluesmen prefixed their names with their afflictions. Out of the almost countless blind singers we have Blind Willie McTell, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Tom Wiggins, and Sonny Terry was often known as Blind Sonny Terry. Then there are the groups, such as The Blind Boys of Alabama and The Blind Boys of Mississippi. Plus we have Peg Leg Howell, Cripple Clarence Lofton, we have a couple of "Beady-Eyes" and there was an early blues singer called "Crapeye". One day when I've got nothing better to do I must go through Dixon and Godrich's "Blues and Gospel Records" and compile a more detailed list of these interesting names.

Anyway, as always my friends, dig in and enjoy.