Today! - Skip James (1966)
Skip James, like a lot of aspiring bluesmen in the early 20th century, recorded a few sides. But by the he got to recording them in 1931, America was already in chaos and there wasn’t a lot of opportunity for even the best blues records to catch on.
By the time some blues enthusiasts actually tracked James down in 1960, they found him poor health and having not performed in some time.
Luckily for all of us, they did manage to get several recording sessions with James. This is one of those, recorded in 1966, just two years before his death.
He has such a sweet voice, it’s easy to ignore the hard times he sings about.
Top notch as both a guitarist and a vocalist, we have the folk and blues revival of the late 50s and early 60s to thank for a lot of artists like James, Blind Willie McTell, Lightnin Hopkins, and lots more who might have faded into history without this preservation work.
