Source: LL (from CD)
Released: 2000
Styles: Blues
Time: 41:26
Size: 95,9 MB
Covers: Full
(2:56) 1. Just As Well Get Ready, You Got To Die: Climbing High Mountain, Trying Get Home
(1:56) 2. Monologue On Accidents
(1:58) 3. Boll Weevil
(2:33) 4. Delia
(3:11) 5. Dying Crapshooter's Blues
(1:38) 6. Will Fox
(4:38) 7. I Got To Cross The River Jordan
(3:08) 8. Monologue On Old Songs: Old Time Religion, Amen
(1:21) 9. Amazing Grace
(5:44) 10. Monologue On History Of The Blues: Monologue On Life As Maker Of Records: Monologue On Himself
(1:49) 11. King Edward Blues
(3:05) 12. Murderer's Home Blues
(2:43) 13. Kill-It-Kid Rag
(2:50) 14. Chainey
(1:51) 15. I Got To Cross De River O'jordan
By the time Georgia native William Samuel "Blind Willie" McTell earned ten dollars by sitting down in a hotel room in Atlanta on November 5, 1940, to preserve his artistry on 15 transcription platters for the Library of Congress, he had achieved a degree of fame by having recorded some 85 sides for multiple labels during the years 1927-1936. This 2000 release of McTell's Library of Congress recordings served as a welcome addition to several volumes of chronologically stacked McTell that had appeared on Document in 1990. McTell was a skilled 12-string guitarist, an expressive vocalist, and a well-versed interpreter of ragtime, spirituals, blues, and a wide range of rural folk forms. He performed well for the Library of Congress, sometimes narrating and explaining the social background for his music while fielding John Lomax's rather careless and insensitive questions. What you get here is an excellent spectrum of McTell's stylistic range and repertoire. His slide maneuvers on "Amazing Grace" are strikingly reminiscent of Blind Willie Johnson's technique. The overall content of this hotel room recital points directly to McTell's Atlantic session of November 1949. -- Allmusic.
This is a very good collection of spirituals, blues and rags, played and sung with panache for the Lomax field-recording clan. It's rare to hear McTell singing hymns and he's a remarkably moving, if not sincere, performer of these religious numbers. The slight flaw with this disc is inconsistency, as McTell was apparently asked to provide samples of the different types of material he knew. The disc has a unity of purpose, however, that makes it more listenable from start to finish than most compilations of 78 rpm blues recordings. The conversation between McTell and the Lomaxes is very interesting. McTell is asked about Blind Willie Johnson, and from the tone of the inquiry it sounds as if the Lomaxes thought they had the other "Blind Willie" when they arranged this recording session. (That would account for the initial preponderance of spirituals.) This is a remarkable historical document and a superior McTell disc. -- Amazon.
This is a very good collection of spirituals, blues and rags, played and sung with panache for the Lomax field-recording clan. It's rare to hear McTell singing hymns and he's a remarkably moving, if not sincere, performer of these religious numbers. The slight flaw with this disc is inconsistency, as McTell was apparently asked to provide samples of the different types of material he knew. The disc has a unity of purpose, however, that makes it more listenable from start to finish than most compilations of 78 rpm blues recordings. The conversation between McTell and the Lomaxes is very interesting. McTell is asked about Blind Willie Johnson, and from the tone of the inquiry it sounds as if the Lomaxes thought they had the other "Blind Willie" when they arranged this recording session. (That would account for the initial preponderance of spirituals.) This is a remarkable historical document and a superior McTell disc. -- Amazon.
Complete 1940 Library Of Congress Recordings
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