Another volume in Document Records' field recording series, this one kicks off with a stomping gospel declaration called "No Condemnation" by the congregation of the Church of God in Christ recorded by
Alan Lomax in Lula, MS in 1941, and continues on with an odd and interesting assortment of hollers, blues fragments, and gospel pieces collected for the Archive of American Folk Song under the auspice of the Library of Congress. Two obvious highlights here are a pair of songs ("Sic 'Em Dogs On'" and "Po' Boy") by
Bukka White, recorded in 1939 while
White was an inmate of Parchman Prison. Charles Perry adds two hushed and intimate work hollers, while the Frazier Family delivers an affecting and calming "Oh Mary, Don't You Weep." Eight tracks credited to Blind Pete & Partner (the partner is actually guitarist George Ryan) close the disc, and a pair of these, "Cacklin' Hen" and the extraordinary "Black Bayou Ain't Got No Bottom," exhibit Blind Pete's wild, exhilarating, and keening fiddle runs. Although listed as an album of field recordings from Mississippi, the Blind Pete selections were actually recorded in Little Rock, AR in 1934. ~ Steve Leggett