Search - Various Artists :: Negro Blues & Hollers

After recording this essential collection of performances during the monumental Library of Congress-Fisk University field expedition of 1941 to 1942, Alan Lomax referred to these "alley blues" and "hallelujah spirituals" as "the best art our country has produced." The efforts of Son House and Willie Brown here are particularly vital; with their handful of earlier commercial releases poorly recorded and hard to find, it is significant that these mentors of Robert Johnson were still in their prime when they entrusted their legacy to Lomax and family. Brown is heard shouting "East St. Louis Blues," "Mississippi Blues," and "Ragged and Dirty," while House gives us "Special Rider Blues," "Depot Blues," and a growling "Low Down Dirty Dog Blues." Also compelling are "Worried Life Blues" by David "Honeyboy" Edwards, who was with Johnson the night the legendary bluesman was poisoned, and the haunting "Cornfield Hollers" of Charley Berry, which resonates with Johnson's "32.20 Blues." --Alan Greenberg