Side A
Artist	Song
Austin Coleman	Good Lord (Run Old Jeremiah)
Heavenly Gospel Singers	Mean Old World
Ernest Phipps & Holiness Singers	Shine On Me
Alabama Sacred Harp Singers	Present Joys
Memphis Sanctified Singers	He Got Better Things For You
Sister Clara Hudmon	Stand By Me
Eddie Head and His Family	Down On Me
Blind Joe Taggart	Been Listening All The Day
Blind Roosevelt Graves and Brother	I'll Be Rested (When The Roll Is Called)
The Elders McIntorsh & Edwards Sanctified Singers	Since I Laid My Burden Down
William and Versey Smith	Sinner You'll Need King Jesus
Blind Willie Johnson	Church, I'm Fully Saved Today
Washington White (Booker White)	I Am In The Heavenly Way
Rev. Moses Mason	John The Baptist
Skip James	Jesus Is A Mighty Good Leader
Side B
Artist	Song	Buy
Elder Otis Jones	Holy Mountain
Sister Mary Nelson	Judgement
Blind Willie Johnson	I Know His Blood Can Make Me Whole
Luther Magby	Jesus Is Getting Us Ready For That Great Day
Jaybird Coleman	I'm Gonna Cross The River Of Jordan Some O' These Days
Blind Roosevelt Graves and Brother	Woke Up This Morning (With My Mind On Jesus)
Dennis Crumpton and Robert Summers	Everybody Ought To Pray Sometime
Rev. D. C. Rice and Congregation	In The Battlefield For My Lord
Rev. F. W. McGee	Fifty Miles Of Elbow Room
Middle Georgia Singing Convention No. 1	This Song Of Love
Rev. Edward Clayborn (The Guitar Evangelist)	This Time Another Year You May Be Gone
Blind Willie Johnson	I'm Gonna Run To The City Of Refuge
Blind Willie McTell	Lord Have Mercy If You Please
Rev. J. M. Gates	Oh Death Where Is Thy Sting
Blind Willie Johnson	God Moves On The Water
Elder J. J. Hadley (Charley Patton)	Prayer Of Death - Part 1

Comment:

I am not a religious man, but there is something in this music that I find in little other music I've encountered. Conviction? Perhaps, though who could argue that the Minutemen did not have conviction? Spirituality? Certainly, but can that not be found in the music of John Coltrane too? All I know is that, perversely enough, this music brings me down to earth hard, like a skydiver whose chute won't open. Maybe that makes sense though. If God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit sprang from the Human Mind then the fifty miles of elbow room that F. W. McGee sings about is somewhere down here among us. If I were to pray, I'd pray that we find it, soon. NOTES: The classification "Blues" is obviously wrong, but it was the closest I could find. Most of this is Gospel Blues, but some of it is pure Gospel and some of it is Gospel tunes done in a Jazz Style. All of it dates from the late 20s and early 30s. At least 65% of the material comes from two sources: Disc 2 of Volume 2 of The Harry Smith Anthology of American Folk Music and Revenant's compilation American Primitive Vol. 1 - Raw Pre-War Gospel, two unbelievably great collections of music. The rest comes from the following sources: Sony's Complete Blind Willie Johnson and Definitive Blind Willie McTell; Yazoo's Complete Early Recordings of Skip James; and Volume 4 of The Harry Smith Anthology of American Folk Music, recently issued by Revenant.

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