Indeed, it is nice to have all of his recordings available for listening (if not for downloading, unfortunately). In my humble estimation, he certainly ranks high among those newly-discovered bluesmen of the period, and his relative obscurity continues to amaze me. As I noted earlier in this thread, I wish Alan Lomax had had the time and/or resources to interview John Dudley more fully ? and I wish, too, that someone could have followed up with this artist and recorded him more thoroughly. But, of course, we must be thankful for what was preserved for us.
Here, though, is something interesting: perhaps Mr. Lomax did indeed interview John Dudley with more depth than has been reported. Though we may never know the full story, the reel-to-reel box from the original recordings has survived and is pictured on the Cultural Equity website (see attachment). Though brief, the notes on Mr. Dudley are tantalizing:
"John Dudley comes from Tunica County, knew Robt. & Son House, Muddy Waters. Played for country dances..."
Interesting. One can assume that the "Robt." in question is one Mr. Johnson, given Alan Lomax's investigations into that artist. (And, in fact, Dudley's version of "Big Road Blues" ? which you can listen to on the Cultural Equity site ? includes a "who's been driving my Terraplane" lyric.)
-Jeff
