Happy Birthday Robert Johnson-When The Sun Goes Down- Blind Willie McTell

CD REVIEW

When The Sun Goes Down, Blind Willie McTell, BMG Music, 2003

Recently I have been doing a run of reviews on old time country blues players that have included the likes of Mississippi John Hurt and Son House. Here we are getting a little slice of what the acoustic blues looked like when it went to the Southern cities in the 1920’s and 1930’s. Hurt and House stayed on the farm, so to speak, but McTell, blind from birth I believe, went to the streets of the cities to sing his songs and make his daily bread. Along the way he worked with women singers and sometimes with the legendary Tommy Dorsey (no, not the bandleader from the forties). But mainly he worked the streets and joints alone.

A close listen immediately tells you that this artist is different from the country blues singers. The guitar work is more polished (check it out on Statesboro Blues, if you want a treat) but the whole presentation is also different. The lyrics are more polished and the presentation is clearly for an audience that can walk out the door if it does not like what it hears. Hell, there are seven other guys or gals down the street to listen to. This is really the first manifestation, in song, of the changeover in the blues from the chant like quality of the pace of the cotton field to the rhythms of urban life. It changes again latter when it goes north and gets electrified but here McTell and a little later Big Bill Broozey (and as always Robert Johnson) are pushing the work in new directions

***From The Archives- 75th Anniversary Of The 13th Amendment Concert (1940)

Click on title to link to Josh White performing on YouTube.

CD REVIEW

February is Black History Month

Freedom: A Concert in Celebration of the 75th Anniversary of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States (1940). The Golden Gate Quartet and Josh White at the Library of Congress, Bridge Records, 2002

Originally I had intended to review this historically valuable CD as part of my review of the work of Josh White (see Josh White review, “Free and Equal Man”, Archives February 2, 2009). However, after reading the copious liner notes provided by the Library of Congress, as always informative, that accompany the CD and then hearing the songs and oral presentations I believe that this work deserved a separate entry in this space. Especially as this is being reviewed during Black History Month.

One can argue for the historical value of this work on two levels. First as a tribute to the 75th Anniversary of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, the one that formally abolished slavery after the Northern victory in the bloody Civil War. That is a worthy tribute in itself. Second, the Cd has value as an extremely informative and almost scholarly presentation of the way that black musical culture acted as an integral part of the general American musical milieu as it evolved over the past couple of centuries. The first reason needs no special explanation here as the issue of the roots of slavery, the central fact of slavery (and its aftermath) in American history and the fight against it have been detailed in many entries and at many times elsewhere in this space. I will thus concentrate on the musical element.

Needless to say any musical program that has Josh White on it is assured of being a quality presentation. Here Josh accompanies the Quartet as guitarist and does a couple of his own songs. Moreover, the Golden Gate Quartet is a rather fine example of that old jubilee singing tradition popular in the early part of the 20th century that is discussed in the liner notes. What is surprising, although it should not be, is that the oral presentations are so informative. Based on the well-known researches of John and Alan Lomax and others like Sterling Brown and Alain Locke this is one of the best compilations of information about the roots of black music in all its forms: work songs, labor camp songs, prison songs; the farm; the hard life; the hard loves; and, in a few pieces just plain whimsy.

Most importantly though, this 1940 Concert CD and its accompanying booklet should let one and all know that well before we of the “Generation of ’68” , who cut our political teeth on the civil rights struggle in the South in the early 1960’s, took up the battle other forces had already paved our way. I speak here of the ground work done by the Lomaxes and others to bring this music to the notice of the larger public, but also of Josh White and others like Big Bill Broonzy in the cultural struggle against segregation as well as attempts by black scholars like John Hope Franklin and the above-mentioned Sterling Brown and Alain Locke to give some historic perspective to the struggle against slavery. I would hope that in 2015 when the 150th Anniversary celebration comes along we have a comparable piece of work to present on that occasion. And a more, much more, equitable society.