1927 78 rpm Texas Blues HENRY THOMAS Cottonfield Blues Vocalion 1094 VG++
$
304
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Description
HENRY THOMAS 'Ragtime Texas"
-A: John Henry: "voice whistling and guitar" (note there is no whistling- he plays the very rare southern pan-pipe instrument the quills- very intriguing sound)
-B: Cottonfield Blues: vocal with guitar
Vocalion 1094
Condition: VG++
Record has a lot of light surface scuffing that does not penetrate to the recorded surface. Record plays like an E condition record. Excellent sound quality. There are a lot of surface scuff marks and lite scratches that do not affect play except on the John Henry side there are three minor clicks due to a small sand pit about an inch before the end of the song.
On the Cottonfield side the surface noise is a little higher for the first half inch and then it settles in to be barely noticeable.
We are looking at a record that plays really well but that was not well looked after and was not sleeved for many years. Labels are bright and clean.
from Wikipedia:
Henry Thomas (1874–1930) was an American country blues singer, songster and musician, who enjoyed a brief recording career in the late 1920s which has latterly been influential.[1][2] He was often billed as "Ragtime Texas".[3] His style was an early example of what later became known as Texas blues guitar.[
Thomas was born into a family of freed slaves in Big Sandy, Texas in 1874.[4] He began traveling the Texas railroad lines as a hobo after leaving home in his teens. He eventually earned his way as an itinerant songster, entertaining local populaces as well as railway employees.[1]
He recorded 24 sides for Vocalion Records between 1927 and 1929, 23 of which were released.[3][4] They include reels, gospel songs, minstrel songs, ragtime numbers, and blues.[5] Besides guitar, Thomas accompanied himself on quills, a folk instrument fabricated from cane reeds whose sound is similar to the zampona played by musicians in Peru and Bolivia. His style of playing guitar was probably derived from banjo-picking styles
Thomas' legacy has been sustained by his songs, which were revived by musicians beginning in the folk music revival of the early 1960s. Among the first of these was "Honey Won't You Allow Me One More Chance", which was re-interpreted by Bob Dylan on The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan in 1963 under the title "Honey, Just Allow Me One More Chance". Dylan may have been introduced to Thomas through Harry Smith's 1952 compilation Anthology of American Folk Music, which includes two of Thomas' songs, "Old Country Stomp" and "Fishing Blues". Dylan may have heard Thomas' song on the 1962 album Henry Thomas Sings the Texas Blues.[8][9]:43 Although Dylan re-worked the melody and almost totally re-wrote the lyrics, he credited Thomas as co-writer on Freewheelin'.[7]
Thomas' song "Fishing Blues" was recorded by US folk-rock group The Lovin' Spoonful in 1965, appearing on their hit debut album Do You Believe in Magic.[10] The song was recorded three years later, in 1968, by blues musician Taj Mahal for one of his first albums, De Old Folks at Home and has since been released on many of Taj Mahal's greatest hits compilations.[11][12] The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band also covered the song on their album Will the Circle Be Unbroken, Volume III in 2002.[13]
"Bull-Doze Blues", another of Thomas' Vocalion recordings, was reworked by pianist Johnny Miller in 1927 who re-wrote the words and gave it to Wingy Manonewho recorded two versions titled "Up the Country" in December 1927 on Columbia and September 1930 on Champion Records.[14][15] Except in jazz circles, it remained an obscure blues number until it was picked up by the blues-rock group Canned Heat, as the basis for the song "Going Up the Country". Though re-arranged, the Canned Heat song is musically the same, down to a faithful rendition of Thomas' quill solos by Jim Horn. Fellow band member Alan "Blind Owl" Wilsonre-wrote the lyrics entirely and received credit on the song's original release in 1968 on Canned Heat's third album, Living the Blues. The next year, the group played at the Woodstock Festival. Their live performance of "Going Up the Country" was featured in the motion picture Woodstock and appeared as the second cut on the soundtrack album.
I know how to pack 78's so that they arrive safe and unbroken
Record can be returned for full refund if you feel that I have misrepresented the condition.
Shipping: I charge the actual cost for me to ship you the item, not including materials which are free.
>>>>>>Please wait for me to send you an invoice as shipping is NOT $4.00.
Please do not pay right away as I would have to send you a supplementary invoice for the rest of the shipping...
Shipping to the US is $6.00 via Media Mail mailed from the US. Shipping to Canada is around $12.00
Shipping to the rest of the world is around $22.00- Please wait for the invoice.
Buy more than one- I will calculate combined shipping based on the weight- way less for the second record...