Hi all,
Blind Connie Williams was a street singer discovered in 1961, playing on South Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by Pete Welding, who subsequently recorded an album of Connie for the Testament label (still available on CD). Connie was playing accordion when Pete first heard him and spoke to him, and it came up in conversation later that Connie considered himself a better guitarist than accordionist, but that he used the accordion for its greater volume. Pete provided Connie with a National guitar in decent shape, and Connie worked himself back into good playing condition pretty quickly. It turns out that he was one of the most sophisticated stylists working in Vestapol, with a bigger chordal vocabulary in that tuning than any of the early masters, as well as exciting expertise with a slide. On top of all of this, he was a superlative singer, who could shout or sing sweetly with equal power and finesse. He specialized in religious material, though he also played some blues standards. I saw him perform once, at a blues workshop at the Philadelphia Folk Festival, in 1964, I believe, and was truthfully not ready for the strength of what he did at that time (I was thirteen years old). In retrospect, I think it's something of a tragedy that he didn't get more opportunities to perform and record at that time, when so many re-discovered blues players and people who had never previously recorded were out playing. At least we do have the one album of him that Pete Welding recorded and some film footage on a recent Vestapol performance video put out by Stefan Grossman's Guitar Workshop.
Connie Williams played "Milky White Way" out of Vestapol, as he did everything he ever recorded on guitar. He probably got the song from a recording by the Trumpeteers, a Gospel Quartet whose performance of the song was posted by Bruce Nemerov in the "Mississippi John Hurt Lyrics" thread, at http://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=449.msg93517#msg93517. Here is Connie Williams' performance of the song:
http://youtu.be/tBRn_8vYkQ0?list=PL1oqGgxnNe0lA5JT8uzQOJ_qEISE_Ea5v
Yes, I'm gonna walk the Milky White Way, my God, some of these days
Yes, I'm gonna walk the Milky White Way some of these days, well, well, well, well
I'm gonna walk up, take up my stand, gonna join, Christian band
That's when they walk the Milky white Way some of these days
Gonna tell my dear Mother, "Howdy", when I get home
Yes, I'm gonna tell my dear Mother, "Howdy", when I get home, well, well, well, well
Gonna walk up, take up my stand, gonna join the Christian band
That's when we walk, Milky White Way some of these days
SOLO
Gonna walk up, take up my stand, gonna join, Christian band
That's when we walk, Milky White Way, Lord, some of these days
INTERLUDE
I'm gonna tell God the Father and God the Son
Yes, I'm gonna tell, mm God the Father and God the Son, well, well, well, well
I'm gonna walk up and take up my stand, gonna join, Christian band
That be when we walk, Milky White Way, Lord, some of these days
All best,
Johnm
Blind Connie Williams was a street singer discovered in 1961, playing on South Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by Pete Welding, who subsequently recorded an album of Connie for the Testament label (still available on CD). Connie was playing accordion when Pete first heard him and spoke to him, and it came up in conversation later that Connie considered himself a better guitarist than accordionist, but that he used the accordion for its greater volume. Pete provided Connie with a National guitar in decent shape, and Connie worked himself back into good playing condition pretty quickly. It turns out that he was one of the most sophisticated stylists working in Vestapol, with a bigger chordal vocabulary in that tuning than any of the early masters, as well as exciting expertise with a slide. On top of all of this, he was a superlative singer, who could shout or sing sweetly with equal power and finesse. He specialized in religious material, though he also played some blues standards. I saw him perform once, at a blues workshop at the Philadelphia Folk Festival, in 1964, I believe, and was truthfully not ready for the strength of what he did at that time (I was thirteen years old). In retrospect, I think it's something of a tragedy that he didn't get more opportunities to perform and record at that time, when so many re-discovered blues players and people who had never previously recorded were out playing. At least we do have the one album of him that Pete Welding recorded and some film footage on a recent Vestapol performance video put out by Stefan Grossman's Guitar Workshop.
Connie Williams played "Milky White Way" out of Vestapol, as he did everything he ever recorded on guitar. He probably got the song from a recording by the Trumpeteers, a Gospel Quartet whose performance of the song was posted by Bruce Nemerov in the "Mississippi John Hurt Lyrics" thread, at http://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=449.msg93517#msg93517. Here is Connie Williams' performance of the song:
http://youtu.be/tBRn_8vYkQ0?list=PL1oqGgxnNe0lA5JT8uzQOJ_qEISE_Ea5v
Yes, I'm gonna walk the Milky White Way, my God, some of these days
Yes, I'm gonna walk the Milky White Way some of these days, well, well, well, well
I'm gonna walk up, take up my stand, gonna join, Christian band
That's when they walk the Milky white Way some of these days
Gonna tell my dear Mother, "Howdy", when I get home
Yes, I'm gonna tell my dear Mother, "Howdy", when I get home, well, well, well, well
Gonna walk up, take up my stand, gonna join the Christian band
That's when we walk, Milky White Way some of these days
SOLO
Gonna walk up, take up my stand, gonna join, Christian band
That's when we walk, Milky White Way, Lord, some of these days
INTERLUDE
I'm gonna tell God the Father and God the Son
Yes, I'm gonna tell, mm God the Father and God the Son, well, well, well, well
I'm gonna walk up and take up my stand, gonna join, Christian band
That be when we walk, Milky White Way, Lord, some of these days
All best,
Johnm