House’s ‘Blues’ recordings from ‘40s remain stunning

Spencer Patterson

Friday, Oct. 10, 2003 | 9:04 a.m.

Last week's Martin Scorsese-produced PBS series "The Blues" showcased some of the genre's legendary figures, from Skip James to Muddy Waters to B.B. King.

I came away from the seven-night program, however, with an entirely unexpected new hero: Alan Lomax.

More than ever I realize that without Lomax's tireless efforts, many of America's most noted early bluesmen might have been lost to history forever.

Beginning in the 1930s, Lomax made it a mission to preserve the music he loved. With financial backing from the Library of Congress -- and a 300-pound "portable" device -- he traveled to the Deep South, where he sought out and recorded some of the genre's true innovators.

Leadbelly, Mississippi Fred McDowell and Waters were just a few of the musicians Lomax helped the outside world "discover," ensuring their music would not be forgotten by future generations.

This disc, featuring celebrated early Delta guitarist Son House, is yet another example of Lomax's remarkable efforts.

Recorded during two sessions in 1941 and 1942, the 15 tracks present House -- born Eddie James House Jr. in 1902 -- midway through his life, and nearly a decade after he had pressed his only recordings to date, a few scratchy sides for Paramount in the early 1930s.

Thanks largely to Lomax, House stands apart from contemporaries Robert Johnson and Charley Patton in that we have semi-modern examples of his groundbreaking style. (It also didn't hurt that House lived until 1988, while Johnson (1938) and Patton (1934) tragically died young.)

On the CD's first five tracks, House is joined by three peers, guitarist Willie Brown, mandolinist Fiddlin' Joe Martin and harmonica player Leroy Williams.

That first session holds up remarkably well more than 60 years later, as if House and his buddies sat down for an impromptu jam on the back porch just this morning.

The final nine cuts feature House on his own, picking at his strings and employing the bottleneck slide technique that so many bluesmen have incorporated into their playing in the decades since.

House's raw vocals teem with emotion, the mark of a man who not only sang about the blues, but truly lived them. He spent time working on plantations, hoboed around the country and even served two years in prison for murder.

Though its sound quality is understandably spotty at times, "Delta Blues" is quite listenable nonetheless and demands a spot in any self-respecting blues collection.

Artist: Son House.

Title: "Delta Blues."

Year of release: 2003 (Sony/Biograph, originally recorded 1941-1942)

Tracklisting: "Delta Blues," "Government Fleet Blues," "Walking Blues," "Shetland Pony Blues," "Levee Camp Blues," "Special Rider Blues," "Low Down Dirty Dog Blues," "Depot Blues," "American Defense," "Am I Right or Wrong," "Walking Blues," "County Farm Blues," "The Pony Blues," "The Jinx Blues," "The Jinx Blues" (alternate take).