Release Date: April 23, 1996.
Recording Time: 70 minutes.
Recording Date: 1920s - 1930s.
Release Info: Compilation (Yazoo 2018) Studio Recording.
Styles: Country Blues, Delta Blues, Old-Timey, Regional Blues, Acoustic Blues, Acoustic Memphis Blues, Blues Gospel, Jug Band, Piano Blues, Piedmont Blues, Pre-War Blues, Pre-War Country Blues, Pre-War Gospel Blues, Traditional Country, Vaudeville Blues.
This ambitious and thought-provoking project turns to early black-and-white, religious, and secular traditions for antecedents to modern rap styles. Drawing from the commercial recordings of the 1920s and '30s, The Roots of Rap provides a broad sampling of rural voices straddling the lines of speech and song against the rhythms of piano, banjo, and guitar. The roots of rap, this collection argues, existed in early black work songs and in the Southern pulpit; in the performances of singing street evangelists; and in black vocal traditions such as the "dozens." Early forms of rap emerged in the vaudeville routines of minstrel and medicine shows, arising also in the country humor and talking blues of many rural white performers. To illustrate its thesis, the album draws from some of the greatest performers of the period, including Blind Willie Johnson, Seven Foot Dilly, Butterbeans and Susie, and Memphis Minnie, whose extraordinarily funky "Frankie Jean" closes the set. Like the best of Yazoo's projects, this effort is carefully and intelligently constructed, as well as consistently entertaining. ~ Burgin Mathews
Credits: Allen Brothers - Performer, Primary Artist; Gary Atkinson - Composer; The Beale Street Sheiks - Performer, Primary Artist; Butterbeans & Susie - Performer, Primary Artist; Leroy Carr - Composer, Performer, Primary Artist; Rev. Edward Clayborn - Primary Artist; James Cox - Composer; Jimmie Cox - Composer; Jimmie Davis - Composer, Performer, Primary Artist; John Dilleshaw - Guitar; The Dixieland Jug Blowers - Performer, Primary Artist; Tom Dorsey - Composer; Lonnie Glosson - Harmonica, Performer, Primary Artist; Red Henderson - Primary Artist; Frank Hutchison - Performer, Primary Artist; Frankie "Half-Pint" Jaxon - Primary Artist; Blind Willie Johnson - Composer, Performer, Primary Artist, Slide Guitar, Vocals; Luke Jordan - Composer, Performer, Primary Artist; Kansas City Kitty & Georgia Tom - Performer, Primary Artist; Don Kent - Liner Notes, Producer; Prince Laval - Vocals; Blind Willie McTell - Composer, Guitar, Performer, Primary Artist; Memphis Jug Band - Performer, Primary Artist; Memphis Minnie - Composer, Performer, Primary Artist; Richard Nevins - Producer, Remastering; Joan Pelosi - Art Direction; Rufus G. Perryman - Composer, Piano; Seven Foot Dilly & His Dill Pickles - Primary Artist; Pinetop Smith - Primary Artist; Speckled Red - Performer, Piano, Primary Artist; T.C.I. Section Crew - Primary Artist; Henry Thomas - Performer, Primary Artist; Traditional - Composer; Doris Ulmann - Photographer; Robert Vosgien - Digital Mastering; Willie Walker - Composer, Performer, Primary Artist.
Tracklist:
01. If I Had My Way I'd Tear This Building Down - Blind Willie Johnson
02. Cocaine Blues - Luke Jordan
03. Bow Wow Blues - Allen Brothers
04. Jive Man Blues - Frankie 'Half-Pint' Jaxon
05. Jonah In The Wilderness - Henry Thomas
06. South Carolina Rag - Willie Walker
07. Whitewash Station - Memphis Jug Band
08. Automobile Ride Through Alabama - Red Henderson
09. The Dirty Dozen No. 2 - Speckled Red
10. "Tain't None O' Your Business - Butterbeans & Susie
11. It's A Good Thing - Beale Street Sheiks
12. She's A Hum Dum Dinger - Jimmie Davis
13. Papa's On The House Top - Leroy Carr
14. Let That Liar Alone - Rev. Edward W. Clayborn
15. Back In My Home Town - Frank Hutchinson
16. Track Linin - T.C.I. Section Crew
17. Atlanta Strut - Blind Willie McTell
18. Arkansas Hard Luck Blues - Lonnie Glosson
19. How Can You Have The Blues? - Kansas City Kitty & Georgia Tom
20. Pickin' Off Peanuts - Seven Foot Dilly And His Dill Pickles
21. Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out - Pine Top Smith
22. When I Stopped Running I Was At Home - The Dixieland Jug Blowers
23. Frankie Jean - Memphis Minnie
Notes:
Recordings from the collections of Richard Nevins, Don Kent, Loy Beaver & Sherwin Dunner.
The following are corrections of attribution errors on this release:
Track 7 - Correct Title: Memphis Jug Band - Whitewash Station Blues / Stealin', Stealin'
Track 14 - Correct Title: The Guitar Evangelist (Edward W. Clayborn)* - Let That Lie Alone / Jesus Will Make It All Right
Track 20 - Correct Artist: Dilly And His Dill Pickles* - Georgia Bust Down / Pickin' Off Peanuts
Track 23 - Correct Artist & Title: Memphis Minnie & Kansas Joe - Frankie Jean (That Trottin' Fool)