Alright alright alright!!! Back at it. Here we go again gettin’ on down to the nitty gritty. We gotta keep rolling cause we just can’t stop!
“The wheel is turning and you can’t slow down
You can’t let go and can’t hold on
You can’t go back and you can’t stand still
If the thunder don’t get you then the lightning will”
That’s what I’m talkin’ bout!
So here we are at number seven, ole lucky number seven. Seven Seven Seven Seven Seven and we roll the dice.
This next artist goes way back and I mean way the hell back. He came up, made some recordings and then the great depression hit and no one bought his music so he went into obscurity until his rediscovery by John Fahey and Henry Vestine in the mid-’60s. Though he had not played the blues for more than 20 years, his skills were largely undiminished.
Wiki:
Nehemiah Curtis “Skip” James (June 9, 1902 β October 3, 1969) was an American Delta blues singer, guitarist, pianist and songwriter. Born in Bentonia, Mississippi, United States, he died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
He first learned to play guitar from another bluesman from the area, Henry Stuckey. His guitar playing is noted for its dark, minor sound, played in an open D-minor tuning with an intricate fingerpicking technique. James first recorded for Paramount Records in 1931.
His songs have influenced several generations of musicians, being adapted or covered by Kansas Joe McCoy, Robert Johnson, Alan Wilson, Cream, Deep Purple, Chris Thomas King, Alvin Youngblood Hart, The Derek Trucks Band, Beck, Big Sugar, Eric Clapton, John Martyn, Lucinda Williams and Rory Block. He is hailed as “one of the seminal figures of the blues.”
Skip James – Hard Time Killing Floor Blues
This song was re-recorded by Chris Thomas King and used in the movie Oh Brother Where Art Thou, it’s on the movie soundtrack.
April 23, 2017 at 10:09 AM
… very badly photoshopped picture of Paramount 13065 you have there! π
July 21, 2018 at 2:57 AM
Actually it was one of the better images that I found online. Most are barely recognizable at all I suppose because it’s so old, 1931. But I just wanted to show that there are some good jams on some of these old records.
July 21, 2018 at 3:36 AM
… still cannot understand why you of all things did chose the only label pic available that is *really* badly photoshopped (false typeset and all) – I think you should rather use one of those label pics that I have gathered at http://www.wirz.de/music/jameskip.htm (some of them are not in too bad shape, and they all have the advantage of being of actually existing records!) π
July 23, 2018 at 2:58 AM
Just performed a secondary search online since you have me a bit curious about this old record now. The image I have posted is the only one I can find of the original 13065 album, the song itself is on side B. It is identical to 13066 which is a different album with different songs but obviously the next one he made after 13065. Looking at your site you have no images of this specific album, it’s only listed. Thanks for checking out The Audio Museum. π