Complete Library of Congress Recordings (1940) [IMPORT]

Blind Willie McTell

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 26, 1995)
• Original Release Date: 1969
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Document
• ASIN: B000000JI1
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #197,455 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a guy!!, March 2, 1999

By A Customer

This is an amazing tour of the world of Blind Willie McTell, circa 1940. Recorded in a hotel room in Atlanta, Georgia, with John Lomax, McTell plays some amazing guitar and talks about his life as a blind musician. In one incredible sequence he describes in voice and guitar the history of the blues. Equally incredible is Lomax's stunningly insensitive prompt to get McTell to play a "complaining song," one describing how whites mistreat the blacks, and McTell's sensitive evasions to do so. A time capsule of race relations in that time and place. Any lover of Blind Willie McTell and his music should own this CD.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars McTell Tells It Like It Was, August 19, 2001

By	Howard Sauertieg "Howard Sauertieg" (Harrisburg, PA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a very good collection of spirituals, blues and rags, played and sung with panache for the Lomax field-recording clan. It's rare to hear McTell singing hymns and he's a remarkably moving, if not sincere, performer of these religious numbers. The slight flaw with this disc is inconsistency, as McTell was apparently asked to provide samples of the different types of material he knew. The disc has a unity of purpose, however, that makes it more listenable from start to finish than most compilations of 78 rpm blues recordings. The conversation between McTell and the Lomaxes is VERY interesting, as others have noted here. McTell is asked about Blind Willie Johnson, and from the tone of the inquiry it sounds as if the Lomaxes thought they had the other "Blind Willie" when they arranged this recording session. (That would account for the initial preponderance of spirituals.) This is a remarkable historical document and a superior McTell disc.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best., March 13, 2000

By A Customer

Just an incredible recording. Anyone who likes Mctell and/or acoustic blues should own this CD. Mctell's 12 string slide playing is breath taking. An amazing talent playing his usual excellant material. I can't say enough good things about this CD or Blind Willie.