Blues From The Delta Skip James

£12.56

Genre:
Blues
Label:
Vanguard
Format:
CD
Catalogue Id:
VCD 79517

Skip James shares something of the same story as Mississippi John Hurt in that they were both re-discovered by blues enthusiasts in the sixties and taken to the Newport Folk Festival and to Vanguard Records. This CD of Skip's work is compiled from the two albums he cut for Vanguard in 1966 and 1968, shortly before his death in 1969. Nine tracks come from the 1966 work “Today!”, and a further nine from 1968's “Devil Got My Woman”, with the remaining two songs ‘She's All The World To Me’ and ‘Everybody Leaving Here’ being previously unreleased. The collection features both his piano playing and his unusual open D-minor guitar tunings, with his vocals varying from a regular mid range to an arresting semi-falsetto.

 

Skip had been born in 1902 in Bentonia in the Mississippi Delta, and spent much of his earlier life attempting to decide between music and the church as his main activity, and at times combining both. He learnt much of his guitar playing and tuning from an older friend, Henry Stuckey, and learnt piano at high school. In his late twenties, he was heard by a talent scout who pointed him towards Paramount Records in Wisconsin. Paramount, mainly a furniture sales company, was regarded at the time as a really cheap operation, existing only to provide any product to sell alongside radiograms. They paid artists a meagre fee, and pressed the results on poor quality shellac, meaning that very few examples of Skip's early work have survived. However the B-side of his first Paramount 78rpm single, ‘Hard Time Killing Floor Blues’, has proved to be one of his best-known songs, particularly through its use in cover form in the O Brother Where Art Thou? film. Of the 26 sides he recorded for Paramount in 1931, 18 of them were issued at the time on a string of nine obscure singles that did not sell in any sort of quantity. Of these over half were revisited on the two Vanguard albums, with the best known being ‘I'm So Glad’, ‘22-20 Blues’ and ‘Devil Got My Woman’, all of which have proved to be influential, attracting covers from Cream, Deep Purple and Dion amongst others.

 

Skip James' re-discovery occurred when three then record collectors, John Fahey, Bill Barth and Henry Vestine (later of Canned Heat), tracked him down and eventually managed to convince him to play at Newport. He was far from enamoured with the folk and blues music business, and remained quite detached from it while retaining great faith in his own abilities. Royalties from the Vanguard albums and Eric Clapton's Cream cover did mean that Skip was able, for the first time in his life, to enjoy some brief fruits from his music making before cancer took him. Various CDs exist of the earlier Paramount recordings, but better by far is this compilation that shows off his unique talents to their best advantage.

Share

Track listing

Show

Side 1

Delivery & Returns

Show

We offer free P&P to UK addresses. For all other territories packaging is free and postage is charged on a weight basis.

We use Royal Mail First Class for UK deliveries and standard Air Mail for all other territories, very large orders will usually be sent via parcelforce. You may cancel your order at any time prior to your order being dispatched by emailing us at orders@acerecords.com ensuring that you quote your name, address and order reference number or by telephoning +44 (0) 208 453 1311 between 9am and 5pm GMT/BST, Monday to Friday. Please note: As music downloads are dispatched immediately after purchase, there is no possibility of cancelling these orders.

In the event that any products supplied to you by us are damaged or defective, we agree to replace or repair the damaged or defective products or refund the amount you paid for such goods (including postage & packaging) providing you notify us (either via post at or e-mail: orders@acerecords.com ) and return the goods within 28 days of purchase. Physical goods should be sent back to us in the same condition you received them to: “Returns” Ace Records, Such Close, Letchworth Garden City SG6 1JF, United Kingdom. Music downloads should be returned to us via the e-mail address above including a copy of your notification.

You have the right to cancel your order within seven days of purchase, or seven days of receipt of the goods (whichever is the longer). If you choose to cancel your order, full payment will be returned to you. Returned items should be sent to: “Returns” c/o Ace Records, Such Close, Letchworth Garden City SG6 1JF, United Kingdom. Music downloads should be returned to us via the email address: orders@acerecords.com including a copy of your notice of cancellation and order number.

Press quotes

Show

I would suggest that if you need at least one anthology of the post-war work of Skip James in your collection - and you most certainly do! - then this is probably it.

Blues & Rhythm

Customer reviews

Show

Related products

Customers who bought this item also bought