Casey Bill Weldon Vol 1 1935 - 1936

Casey Bill Weldon Vol 2 1936 - 1937

Casey Bill Weldon Vol 3 1937 - 1938
Document DOCD-5219 Casey Bill Weldon Vol 3 Complete Recorded Titles 1935-1938. Casey Bill Weldon, vocal, steel guitar With appearances by Clifford Medlock, vocal; Harry Singleton, vocal; Calvin Dillard, vocal; Big Bill Broonzy, guitar, Ransom Knowling, stand-up bass; and others… Informative booklet notes by Dave Moore. Detailed discography. Casey Bill Weldon’s complete recorded titles can be found on Document DOCD-5217, DOCD-5218, DOCD-5219, DOCD-5276, DOCD-5321, DOCD-5525. According to the billing on his March 1937 recordings, Casey Bill Weldon was accompanied by "His Orchestra". The line-up included a clarinet, probably played by his colleague, Arnett Nelson, as well as an unknown tenor saxophonist on Give Me Another Shot. Some of the titles recorded that day dispensed with the reeds and reverted to the more usual guitar, piano and bass backing. The following August saw a pair of numbers recorded by Weldon and friends under the name of "The Brown Bombers of Swing", this no doubt inspired by the new black hero, and heavyweight boxing champion of the world, Joe Louis, "The Black Bomber". Weldon was accompanied by a talented second guitarist as well as a vocal trio, and the aptly titled Guitar Swing offers a dazzling display of Weldon's skills.

Piano Blues Vol 2 1927 - 1956

Country Gospel 1946 - 1953

Electric / Slide Guitar Gospel - Rev. Utah Smith & Rev. Lonnie Farris (1944 - 1964)
DOCD-5222 Electric / Slide Guitar Gospel; Rev. Utah Smith & Rev. Lonnie Farris (1944 – 1964) Rev. Utah Smith (The Traveling Evangelist), vocal, electric guitar. Rev. Lonnie Farris, vocal, electric steel “Hawaiian” guitar. Also includes; Rev. Le Vol Franklin, vocal, electric bass guitar. Rev. Grimes, washboard. Deacon McMillian, drums. Thelma William, vocal. Rev. Elliott Keyes, tenor sax. Genres; Gospel, Electric Steel “Hawaiian” Guitar Informateive booklet notes by Ken Romanowski. Detailed discography. One of the most animated of the post-war crop of gospel evangelists was Shreveport, Louisiana’s Elder Utah Smith.This evangelistic dynamo whose volatile guitar pyrotechnics are enough to distract a discerning listener from the fact that none of it is affected with a slide. The dynamic Hawaiian guitar of Reverend Lonnie Farris should be proof enough of the resilience and adaptability of modern gospel music. Continued...

Rural Blues Vol 1 1934 - 1956

Texas Piano Vol 1 1923 - 1935

Texas Piano Vol 2 1927 - 1938

Leadbelly Vol 1 1939 - 1940
DOCD-5226 Leadbelly Complete Recorded Works 1939 – 1947 Volume 1 (1st April 1939 to 15th June 1940). Lead Belly’s Commercial recordings. Blues and ballads Lead Belly, vocal twelve-string guitar Includes performance by The Golden Gate Quartet Booklet Notes Ken Romaowski Detailed discography In early 1939, Lead Belly was involved in a fight with another man whom he allegedly stabbed 16 times with a knife. The judge saw fit to give Lead Belly a sentence of one year (due to the fact that in between sentencing, reports Lead Belly had apprehended a bank robber and held him until the police had arrived. To help meet Lead Belly's legal costs, Alan Lomax arranged a session with the fledgling Musicraft label. On April 1s,t 1939, Lead Belly stepped into the studio and recorded material for what was to become a five disc album (five 78 rpm records) titled "Negro Sinful Songs sung by Lead Belly". Even though Lead Belly had recorded over two hundred titles for the Library of Congress, he was virtually unknown to the record buying public. But with this album Lead Belly was to find his own attentive audience in the budding urban folk scene. Continued...

Leadbelly Vol 2 1940 - 1943
DOCD-5227 Leadbelly: Vol. 2 Complete recorded titles 17th June 1940 to mid 1943. Lead Belly, vocal, twelve-string guitar, button accordion. With contributions by the Golden Gate Quartet, male vocal group; Sonny Terry, harmonica. Genres: Texas Country Blues, Ballads, Children’s Songs. Informative booklet notes by Ken Romanowski. Detailed discography. After a series of false starts and blind alleys in the first few years after his release from Angola Penitentiary in 1934, Lead Belly's career had begun, by the beginning of the 1940's to settle comfortably into the activity surrounding the burgeoning urban folk music revival. Although he had severed his ties with John Lomax in 1935, he remained close with Alan Lomax, who continued to record Lead Belly for the Library of Congress as well as arranging for several key commercial sessions. Continued...

Leadbelly Vol 3 1939 - 1947
DOCD-5228 Leadbelly: Vol. 2 Complete recorded titles c. October 1943 to 25th April 1944 Leadbelly, vocal, twelve-string guitar, tap dancing, speech, button accordion, piano. With contributions by Josh White, guitar; Sonny Terry, harmonica. Genres: Texas Country Blues, Ballads, Children’s Songs Informative booklet notes by Ken Romanowski. Detailed discography. Although John and Alan Lomax were responsible for Leadbelly's discovery, it was Moses Asch who gave Huddie room for professional growth through extensive recording, contact with the urban folk revival and most importantly by keeping Leadbelly's songs available to the public. Asch grew up in an ideologically, progressive Jewish household, which left him with a lifelong intellectual curiosity and an empathy for proletarian concerns. By the 1920's he became interested in radio and folk music, eventually combining the two to form Asch Records in 1939. At the beginning of the 40's Asch struck a business relationship with Leadbelly which spawned frequent and numerous recordings. Continued...