Hi all,
Despite the supposed dichotomy between Blues, "Devil's Music", and religious numbers, many or most blues musicians who recorded more than a couple of titles recorded religious numbers as well as blues. Charlie Patton recorded about as many religious songs as he did secular ones, and such musicians as Josh White, Skip James, John Hurt and Lemon Jefferson also recorded religious songs as well as blues.
I was interested in identifying Blues musicians, primarily from the acoustic or Country Blues era, who never recorded any religious numbers. For that distinction to have any significance, it would seem the player would have had to have recorded more than a couple of titles. If we arbitrarily include only musicians who recorded more than four titles, who are some of the musicians who would fall into the category of Blues musicians who never recorded a religious song? Just to get the ball rolling, I'll suggest a couple of people who I think fall into that category:
* Henry Townsend
* Luke Jordan
Can you think of other Country Blues players who recorded more than four titles who never recorded a religious number?
All best,
Johnm
Despite the supposed dichotomy between Blues, "Devil's Music", and religious numbers, many or most blues musicians who recorded more than a couple of titles recorded religious numbers as well as blues. Charlie Patton recorded about as many religious songs as he did secular ones, and such musicians as Josh White, Skip James, John Hurt and Lemon Jefferson also recorded religious songs as well as blues.
I was interested in identifying Blues musicians, primarily from the acoustic or Country Blues era, who never recorded any religious numbers. For that distinction to have any significance, it would seem the player would have had to have recorded more than a couple of titles. If we arbitrarily include only musicians who recorded more than four titles, who are some of the musicians who would fall into the category of Blues musicians who never recorded a religious song? Just to get the ball rolling, I'll suggest a couple of people who I think fall into that category:
* Henry Townsend
* Luke Jordan
Can you think of other Country Blues players who recorded more than four titles who never recorded a religious number?
All best,
Johnm