American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, p ...
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...
singer
Skip James
Nehemiah Curtis "Skip" James (June 9, 1902October 3, 1969) was an American Delta blues singer, guitarist, pianist and songwriter. AllMusic stated: "Coupling an oddball guitar tuning set against eerie, falsetto vocals, James' early recordings ...
, recorded in 1964 and released in 1993. It was originally recorded for
Takoma Records
Takoma Records was a small but influential record label founded by guitarist John Fahey in the late 1950s.John Fahey, Bill Barth and
Henry Vestine
Henry Charles Vestine (December 25, 1944 – October 20, 1997), a.k.a. "The Sunflower", was an American guitarist primarily known as a member of the blues rock band Canned Heat. He was with the group from its start in 1965 to July 1969. In late ...
found him in a hospital in
Tunica, Mississippi
Tunica is a town in and the county seat of Tunica County, Mississippi, United States, near the Mississippi River. Until the early 1990s when casino gambling was introduced in the area, Tunica had been one of the most impoverished places in the U ...
. The "rediscovery" of both James and of
Son House
Edward James "Son" House Jr. (March 21, 1902 – October 19, 1988) was an American Delta blues singer and guitarist, noted for his highly emotional style of singing and slide guitar playing.
After years of hostility to secular music, as a prea ...
at virtually the same moment was the start of the "blues revival" in America.
Fahey and his partner in
Takoma Records
Takoma Records was a small but influential record label founded by guitarist John Fahey in the late 1950s.ED Denson, signed James to a recording contract. Along with Barth, they arranged for sessions with sound engineer Gene Rosenthal in Rosethal's basement studio in Silver Spring, Maryland. Due to legal issues concerning the rights to the songs, the recording was not released by Takoma and in 1971 Fahey sold the record to Rosenthal.
The studio sessions are supplemented in this release with live performance recordings made by Rosenthal at the Ontario Place Coffee House in
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
during the same period.Liner notes: ''She Lyin'''
Although James was not initially
covered
Cover or covers may refer to:
Packaging
* Another name for a lid
* Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package
* Album cover, the front of the packaging
* Book cover or magazine cover
** Book design
** Back cover copy, part of ...
as frequently as other rediscovered musicians, the
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies.
* British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...
band
Band or BAND may refer to:
Places
*Bánd, a village in Hungary
* Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran
* Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania
* Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, ...
,
Cream
Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this proces ...
's version of "I'm So Glad" provided him the only windfall of his career. Cream based their version on James's simplified 1960s recording, instead of the faster, more intricate 1931 original.
Deep Purple
Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock, although their musical style has varied throughout their career. Originally for ...
covered "I'm So Glad" on their first album, ''
Shades of Deep Purple
''Shades of Deep Purple'' is the debut album by the English rock band Deep Purple, released in July 1968 on Tetragrammaton in the United States and in September 1968 on Parlophone in the United Kingdom. The band, initially called Roundabout, w ...
''.
Reception
In his review for
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 ...
, Ron Wynn called the newly re-discovered James "still capable of playing entrancing, dynamic music, but was much less consistent and not as striking a vocalist" and the release in general "just as solid as the albums James recorded for Columbia during the same period."
Track listing
All songs written by Skip James except as noted.
# "All Night Long" – 1:20
# "Broke and Hungry" – 1:46
# "
I'm So Glad
"I'm So Glad" is a Delta blues-style song originally recorded by American musician Skip James in 1931. Blues historian Gerard Herzhaft notes "This spiritual probably dates back to the beginning of the blues".
Blues writer Stephen Calt describes ...
Henry Thomas
Henry Jackson Thomas (born September 9, 1971) is an American actor. He began his career as a child actor and had the lead role of Elliott Taylor in the film '' E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' (1982), for which he won a Young Artist Award and rece ...
Skip James
Nehemiah Curtis "Skip" James (June 9, 1902October 3, 1969) was an American Delta blues singer, guitarist, pianist and songwriter. AllMusic stated: "Coupling an oddball guitar tuning set against eerie, falsetto vocals, James' early recordings ...
– vocals, guitar, piano
Production notes:
* John Fahey – producer
* Bill Barth – producer
* ED Denson – producer
* Gene Rosenthal – producer, compilation producer, engineer, mixing, digital editing, photography
*George Mitchell – digital editing
* Dan Doyle – compilation producer
*Dick Bangham – art direction, design
*Linda Gibbon – artwork, graphic design
*Jim Marshall – photography
*
Richard K. Spottswood
Richard K. "Dick" Spottswood (born April 17, 1937) is an American Musicology, musicologist and author from Maryland, United States who has catalogued and been responsible for the reissue of many thousands of recordings of vernacular music in th ...