Various - Alabama From Lullabies To Blues (Full ALbum)
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Review by Chris Nickson
Recorded between 1934-1940 by folklorist John Lomax, this offers an interesting cross-section of songs sung by \"real\" people in Alabama. And a cross-section it really is, from blues to spirituals to lullabies to work songs. It's a collection that introduces a voice that should have become well-known -- Vera Ward Hall, who opens the set with a startlingly pure \"Another Man Done Gone\" and keeps cropping up throughout. While the emphasis is on song, there's also some wonderful harmonica playing on \"Train on a Hill\" by Richard Amerson (who also reminisces about his days on steamboats), and Tom Bell accompanies himself on guitar on \"Worried Blues.\" Perhaps the most intriguing piece is \"Billy Goat Latin\" from Joe F. Williams & Booker T. Williams, a bizarre field holler. All the way through, material that's become quite familiar over the years pops up in its folk roots -- \"Honey, Take a Whiff on Me,\" \"Hush Little Baby,\" \"Alabama Bound,\" and \"Go to Sleep (Little Baby)\" -- all of which have become part of the national consciousness. Lomax proves to be as able as his son in finding great performers (although you have to wonder when he asks one to take a song into double time, obviously a first-time occurrence for the subject of this particular recording). By its very nature -- field recordings from the 1930s -- the sound quality is sometimes far from perfect, but overall the remastering is little short of miraculous, and the sleeve notes are thorough and extremely informative.
TRACKLIST:
1 Another Man Done Gone
Vera Hall / Alan Lomax / John A. Lomax / Ruby Pickens Tartt
Alan Lomax
feat: Vera Hall
1:24
2 Railroad Bill
Alan Lomax
feat: Vera Hall
1:18
3 Poor Lazarus
Alan Lomax
feat: Vera Hall
3:17
4 Been in the Jailhouse (Sun Gonna Shine in My Door Someday)
Alan Lomax
2:20
5 I Been Drinking
Alan Lomax
feat: Vera Hall
2:44
6 Honey, Take a Whiff on Me
Alan Lomax
3:10
7 Train on a Hill (Train Imitation)
Alan Lomax
feat: Rich Manuel \"Rich\" Amerson
4:44
8 Alabama Bound
Traditional
Alan Lomax
feat: Richard Rabbit Brown
1:45
9 Moaning (I'll Soon Be Gone)
Alan Lomax
feat: Vera Hall / Dock Reed / Henry Reed
1:30
10 Job, Job
Alan Lomax
feat: Vera Hall / Dock Reed
2:43
11 Didn't That Hammer Ring? (I Can't Hold Out No Longer)
Alan Lomax
feat: Vera Hall / Dock Reed
2:51
12 What Is the Soul of Man?
Alan Lomax
feat: Vera Hall / Dock Reed / Henry Reed
1:19
13 Knock John Booker to de Low Ground
Alan Lomax
feat: Mary McDonald
1:40
14 Wake, Sally Baker
Alan Lomax
feat: Country Joe McDonald / Mary McDonald
2:14
15 Go to Sleep (Little Baby)
Alan Lomax
feat: Harriet McClinton
2:32
16 Hush, Little Baby
Alan Lomax
feat: Annie Brewer
0:43
17 Come Up Horsey
Alan Lomax
feat: Vera Hall
2:07
18 Little Bitty Man
Alan Lomax
feat: Mary McDonald
1:07
19 Titty, Give Me Some Titty
Alan Lomax
feat: Mary McDonald
1:04
20 Hopali
Alan Lomax
1:46
21 Ain't Gonna Rain No More
Alan Lomax
0:32
22 Jack, Can I Ride?
Alan Lomax
1:57
23 Billy Goat Latin
Alan Lomax
1:36
24 Hog Hunt
Alan Lomax
feat: Rich Manuel \"Rich\" Amerson
2:22
25 I'm Chopping Cotton
Alan Lomax
1:21
26 Gin the Cotton
Alan Lomax
feat: Harriet McClinton
0:49
27 Boll Weevil Blues
Alan Lomax
feat: Vera Hall
1:18
28 Worried Blues
Alan Lomax
feat: Tom Bell
2:43
29 Steamboat Days
Alan Lomax
feat: Rich Manuel \"Rich\" Amerson
5:01
30 Carrie, Carrie
Alan Lomax
feat: Albert Nicholson
1:23
31 Eighteen Hundred and Ninety-One (Ain't Working Song)
Alan Lomax
1:37
32 Captain, I'm Getting Tired
Alan Lomax
feat: David Alexander / Allen Gordon, Jr. / Albert Nicholson