Customer Reviews

Key to the Kingdom

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This is some of the most gentle, beautiful spiritual music I have ever heard. The first track of his I'd ever heard was "What are they doing in Heaven today?"- I was floored.... I feel like I'm floating off to meet my maker when I hear this stuff...

Washington Phillips was a man who forged his own style out of playing what is thought to be a dolceola; there is some debate as to what exact zither-style instruments he played.. Regardless he had the voice of an angel and the accompaniment is harp-like and sublime...

Washington Phillips had a short but amazing recording career. He recorded 18 tracks between 1927 and 1929. Only 16 of those records survived and all are included on this collection. It is some of the most beautiful, passionate music I have ever heard.
I first heard Washington Phillips during Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour. He played the song "Denomination Blues" and I became an immediate fan. It's simply amazing to me that these songs are nearly 80 years old and are some of the most enthralling songs I've ever heard. I can't believe that I made it to 35 before hearing this. Thanks, Bob!!
This is true gospel music. It doesn't feel forced or contrived but rather truly inspired (this coming from someone not particularly religous).
The last four songs on this CD were not recorded by Washington Phillips. They are bonus tracks by Mamie and A.C. Forehand and were recorded in 1927. They are a great fit for this album - beautiful and stunning.
This CD is a great find and I urge you to check it out!

Washington Philips is indeed a rare gem. I have had this recording for years and it never ceases to amaze. Among the gospel/blues street preachers, few have been as influential.

The way these preachers worked was this: They would play music on the street until they had gathered a crowd, and when it got big enough they would stop and preach for a while as the crowd dwindled away. Then they would repeat the process. Other extremely fine artists who operated this way included Rev. Gary Davis and Blind Willie Johnson, both guitar players.

"Tatler" was recorded by both Linda Ronstadt and Ry Cooder. I first head "A Mother's Dying Words" played by the Critton Hollow Stringband about 25 years ago. "Denomination Blues" has been recorded by a great many bluegrass and traditional groups, including the Stanley Brothers (re-named "Don't You Hear Jerusalem Moan").

They don't tell here about the unusual instrument he played, called a "dulceola". It was produced for a short time back in the 20s-30s along with many other variations of the European zither, the only surviving one being the autoharp. The dulceola was very much like an autoharp except that instead of having buttons to press for various chords there was a tiny keyboard. The only other one I have heard/seen being played is by a street musician in Prague, Czech Republic. I actually gave him a copy of Washington Philips on a subsequent trip and he loved it. He had never heard anybody else play a dulceola.

Washington Phillips was a great player, singer and composer. Glad that Yazoo continues to keep his music in print.

I just have to add that beyond this music being absolutely wonderful, part of the fascination for me has been what exactly is he actually playing. I found it hard to believe that a man could leave behind 16 tracks and after 70 years people still are not sure what instrument they are listening to. In the last decade research indicates that he was NOT playing a dulceola but instead a fretless zither. And the biography that has been accepted of Phillips' life was of the wrong Washington Phillips. For years it had been believed that he died in 1938/39 but now it looks like the Washington Phillips we are concerned with died in 1954.

I believe this information is included on this issue of the recordings - I have the previous version (the "I Was Born To Preach The Gospel" CD) and that has the wrong bio and the incorrect information about him playing a dulceola. I have listened to the samples of this release and the remastering of these tracks sounds like a definite improvement over what I have so I will be buying this (I didn't even know it was out until today.)

Do a web search on Michael Corcoran and Washington Phillips and you will pull up Corcoran's excellent article "EXHUMING THE LEGEND OF WASHINGTON PHILLIPS" that started the ball rolling to unravel this mystery. Also drop by the fretlesszither website for more info ...

Again, I left the reviewing of this music to others but I have to mention it again - the first time I heard this stuff I had no idea about the controversy over what was being played - I just knew it sounded like nothing I had ever heard before. It is some of the most original and beautiful music ever recorded!

This is strange, tremulous and reverent music, meant in the best sense of those words. It could almost be thought of as the musical equivalent of being in a floatation tank, yet with the strangeness quotient keeping at bay any sense of that soporific, spineless New Age quality. The samples you can find will tell you, however, that the cuts are similar to one another, and lack much sense of dynamic range or shading. For this reason, I'd say the additional, tracks from similarly evangelical peers of Washington Phillips do add to the CD, even as they break a bit with the feel of the proceedings.

As the album cover suggests, the music has a childish and naive quality to it that is disarmingly heartfelt. But what it doesn't tell you is that Phillips is far from an amateur. Compared to the rough and guttural vocal style of other blues musicians of the period, his voice is clear and melodious. His playing of this obscure and strange instrument (the fretless zethir) is also pretty amazing and original. I am not a religious person by any means and not a huge fan of gospel music either, but the music on this record is simply otherworldly and beautiful.