''American Street Songs'', reissued as ''Gospel, Blues and Street Songs'', is a shared album by blues musicians

Pink Anderson Pinkney "Pink" Anderson (February 12, 1900 – October 12, 1974) was an American blues singer and guitarist. Life and career Anderson was born in Laurens, South Carolina, and raised in nearby Greenville and Spartanburg. He joined Dr. William R ...

and

Reverend Gary Davis Gary D. Davis (April 30, 1896 – May 5, 1972), known as Reverend Gary Davis and Blind Gary Davis, was a blues and gospel singer who was also proficient on the banjo, guitar and harmonica. Born in Laurens, South Carolina and blind since infanc ...

recorded in 1950 and 1956 and released on the Riverside Folklore Series label in August 1956.

Reception

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

reviewer Lindsay Planer stated: "these sides loom large in the available works of seminal blues icons Pink Anderson and Rev. Gary Davis. Both performers hail from the largely underappreciated Piedmont blues scene – which first began to flourish in the late 19th and early 20th centuries – near the North/South Carolina state border. Anderson's seven tracks were recorded in Charlottesville, VA, on May 29, 1950 – while he was literally on the road. His highly sophisticated and self-accompanied style of simultaneously picking and sliding – accomplished using a half-opened jackknife – could pass for an electronic effect. ... The Rev. Gary Davis side – which appropriately contains all spirituals – was recorded in N.Y.C. on January 28, 1956. However, Davis' delivery is steeped in the minstrel and street blues of his native Carolinas. Here is where the worlds of Davis and Anderson sonically intersect. As a performer, his clean and intricate acoustic picking and guttural vocalization stand as his trademark. Included here are several of the Reverend's most revered works".

Track listing

All compositions are uncredited traditional blues/gospel except where noted

Pink Anderson Side: Carolina Street Ballads

# "

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" – 5:25 # "Every Day in The Week" – 3:30 # " The Ship Titanic" – 3:14 # "Greasy Greens" – 2:56 # " Wreck of the Old '97" – 3:26 # "I've Got Mine" – 3:05 # " He's in The Jailhouse Now" (

Jimmie Rodgers James Charles Rodgers ( – ) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician who rose to popularity in the late 1920s. Widely regarded as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Father of Country Music", he is best known for his di ...

) – 3:42 *Recorded in Charlottesville, Virginia on May 29, 1950

Reverend Gary Davis Side: Harlem Street Spirituals

# "Blow, Gabriel" – 2:14 # "Twelve Gates to the City" – 3:23 # " Samson and Delilah" – 3:52 # "Oh Lord, Search My Heart" (Reverend Gary Davis) – 3:04 # "Get Right Church" (Davis) – 3:05 # "You Got to Go Down" (Davis) – 2:42 # "Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning" (Davis) – 2:36 # "There Was a Time That I Was Blind" (Davis) – 2:38 *Recorded in New York City on January 28, 1956

Personnel

Performance

– guitar, vocals *

– guitar, vocals *Jumbo Lewis – washboard ("Every Day in The Week" only)

Production

* Paul Clayton (Pink Anderson Side), Kenneth S. Goldstein (Reverend Gary Davis Side) –

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

References

{{Authority control Pink Anderson albums Reverend Gary Davis albums 1956 albums Riverside Records albums