Eddie ‘Son’ House was a Delta Blues singer of deep intensity and dark passion. He started out working as a preacher but turned to blues performance in his mid-20s after which he quickly developed a unique style by applying the rhythmic drive, powerful delivery, and emotional intensity of his preaching to the newly learned idiom.
He became something of a mentor to Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters, having first recorded for Paramount in 1930, and then been recorded by the peripatetic Folklorist Alan Lomax in 1940 and 1942 for the Library of Congress. When reissued on album, this had greatly impressed young Blues fans such as Al Wilson as some of the deepest, toughest Delta Blues ever waxed.
By the time of the Blues revival in the early 1960s, it was assumed that Son House was dead, or at any rate lost beyond any hope of rediscovery and rehabilitation. After a lengthy search he was eventually tracked down to Rochester, New York. He hadn’t owned an instrument for years; moreover, he suffered from a hand tremor, compounded by alcoholism. House was about 62 years old by then, and had absolutely no idea that he had fans who were in awe of him.
CD1
1. Death Letter Blues
2. Pearline
3. Louise McGhee
4. John The Revelator
5. Empire State Express
6. Preachin' Blues
7. Grinnin' In Your Face
8. Sundown
9. Levee Camp Moan
CD2
1. Death Letter Blues
2. Levee Camp Moan (Alternate Take
3. Grinnin' In Your Face (Alternate Version)
4. John The Revelator (Alternate Take)
5. Preachin' Blues (Alternate Take)
6. President Kennedy
7. A Down The Staff
8. Motherless Children
9. Yonder Comes My Mother
10. Shake It And Break It
11. Pony Blues
12. Downhearted Blues