12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"the dogs is comin', and I've got to go", August 7, 2003
This review is from: Deep River of Song: Big Brazos: Texas Prison Recordings, 1933 and 1934 (Audio CD)
I have noticed that this website doesn't bring up every disc in this series with just a "Deep River Of Song" search. In the interest of helping people find these discs here, I'll name every other disc in the series.
South Carolina
Bahamas 1935
Bahamas 1935 Volume 2
Mississippi: The Blues Lineage
Mississippi: Saints and Sinners
Georgia
Black Texicans
Black Appalachia
Virginia and the Piedmont
Alabama
Even moreso than the Black Texicans disc, this disc (recorded in 1933 & '34, on various prisons and "work farms", aka Texas prisons) seems to really illustrate life in hell. That of the black Jim Crow Era prisoner, although many of the songs and social situations would have been things to which I'm sure any black person of this era could relate. Unfortunately. No one should have had to live and sing these tales, but they did, and we should not forget them and their stories.
This music...these people with their songs and stories... are letting me take a glimpse into a world that I cannot even imagine. One of the great failures of the American education system is that it places no emphasis on music. Perhaps a student can sit bored in a classroom and be unmoved by stories on the page, but it's less easy to overlook the actual human voice of someone who was living those stories.
From the racial brutality (and all-too-common scenario of dogs used to hunt down black Americans) in Moses "Clear Rock" Platt and James "Ironhead" Baker's version of Old Rattler, to the back-breaking hardship that you can't help but be haunted by in Augustus "Trackhorse" Haggerty's Mama, Mama. If you've read any of the great books about the Jim Crow Era, this disc will certainly strike a deep chord within you, as these are the voices from the page.
Lightnin' Washington and group are not to be missed on this set of recordings. Some of the tree-cutting songs on here are favorites of mine.
As I said for the Black Texicans disc...this is not for the faint of heart. There is no studio polish here. These are hard songs sung by hard men who had hard lives and were doing the hardest of time. If you can get with field-recordings of music by the true "folk" then this is for you, but if not, I fear you may be disappointed with this disc. I just want to make sure people see that caveat. I love this disc but I certainly understand that many may not.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
