Son House - Live at Oberlin College 1965 - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

This album-a 1998 Rolling Stone Top 25 all-time blues title-features the guitar and vocal style that helped define Delta blues, generations before it moved north to Chicago. Includes Death Letter; Preachin' Blues; Levee Camp Moan; Downhearted Blues, and more of the most influential blues recordings ever made. Album Tracks 1. Death Letter 2. Pearline 3. Louise McGhee 4. John the Revelator 5. Empire State Express 6. Preachin' Blues 7. Grinnin' in Your Face 8. Sundown 9. Levee Camp Moan 10. Pony Blues 11. Downhearted Blues

John Smith Hurt, commonly known as Mississippi John Hurt was born in the early 1890's and is one of those legendary blues singers of the same generation at Son House, Big Bill Broonzy, Blind Lemon Jefferson and Charlie Patton. He started playing guitar at age 9 and worked on and off as a sharecropper, recording for Okeh and Vanguard Records but the resurgence of his career came when he was invited to play at the 1963 Newport Folk Festival. This excellent concert recording from a performance at Oberlin College in 1965, less than 2 years before his death, came at a time when Mississippi John Hurt was coming back into the blues spotlight and being discovered by a new generation of fans. Hurt's rich, gentle voice and relaxed, flowing guitar lines could soothe the stormiest Monday. Among the hymns and traditional songs heard here are InchThe Angel's Laid Him AwayInch and InchHere I Am, Oh Lord, Send MeInch. Complementing those are Hurt folk/blues staples, notably InchSalty DogInch InchCoffee Blues,Inch and InchMonday Morning Blues.Inch While not showcasing the raw emotion of his earlier work, the blues patriarch's warmth and intimacy shine through here, especially during his exchanges with his audience. This performance offered Hurt's fine balance of child-like and mature, his voice mellow and his skill in the technically difficult art of finger-picking never diminished. Album Tracks 1. Candy Man 2. My Creole Belle 3. Make Me a Pallet on the Floor 4. Shake That Thing 5. I'm Satisfied 6. Salty Dog Blues 7. Nobody's Business (But Mine) 8. The Angels Laid Him Away 9. Casey Jones (Talkin' Casey) 10. Baby What's Wrong with You 11. Lonesome Blues 12. Rich Woman Blues 13. Trouble I Had All My Days 14. C.H.I.C.K.E.N. Blues 15. Coffee Blues 16. Monday Mornin' Blues 17. Frankie and Albert 18. Talkin' Casey 19. Here I Am, Oh Lord, Send Me 20

Recorded after Son House's rediscovery, these recordings were made at his New York Home. They are Informal yet typically intense and powerful. Album Tracks 1. Son's Blues 2. Yonder Comes My Mother 3. Shetland Pony Blues 4. I'm So Sorry Baby 5. Plantation Song 6. Mister Suzie-Q 7. Evening Train 8. Sundown 9. Preachin' the Blues 10. Empire State Express 11. Never Mind People Grinnin' in Your Face 12. Sun Goin' Down 13. A Spoken Message