Here are some more thoughts on this package. I watched Sam Charter’s film, THE BLUES made on a shoestring with the help of his wife, Ann. I’d probably seen it before, much of it was familiar. The streets of Spartanburg, where some of this was shot, are not much different today in those nieghborhoods. The music is raw, powerful and has the full force of the blues behind it. Blues are different for everyone, these are at my core of how I understand the blues. These are the first blues that drew me in with their raw power that cut to the bone of human pain. When I started out I had a guitar like they had, cheap, ladder braced and not always in tune. I had a middle class home, so it was much more that they would ever have.
I used to cut lunch in high school to read up on the blues and other folk forms. They had Sam’s book Country Blues in the library. I read it and everything else that was there. I would hike to the bus stop, we lived a good ways out of town, and take the bus downtown to the large library there and find anything they had. I played my Silvertone guitar that I got in 1963 until the neck curled so bad that it was almost impossible to fret. Then I started to play it with a homemade slide. All of these great, intense blues ruined me for the British groups that came along later, but the 1960’s were a great time of discovery. Glad to be transported back to those days so long ago. Ever since those days there have been discussions, arguments, and great tomes written about a music made by folks who often could not read and write. I find a lot of that ironic.
Another thing, Baby Tate talks about the difference between being mad and angry. Dogs get mad, we get angry. I remember being told that as youngster
