Fred McDowell: The Alan Lomax Recordings

by Alan Lomax Archive

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slysaker What McDowell does with a guitar should be accompanied by a parental advisory. Favorite track: Good Morning Little Schoolgirl.

Chandeskee Field recording gold. Favorite track: Wished I Was In Heaven Sitting Down.

Katimavik86 Absolutely essential stuff and the sound quality really took me by surprise. Finding these Alan Lomax recordings on BC has made my week! Favorite track: Shake 'Em On Down.

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Full Digital Discography

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Get all 13 Alan Lomax Archive releases available on Bandcamp and save 25%.

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Get In Union, Songs of Hard Times: Up, Over & Through (1936-1982), Root Hog Or Die: An Alan Lomax Centennial Tribute, Music for Work and Play: Carriacou, Grenada 1962, Singing At the Ship Inn: Alan Lomax's 1953 Blaxhall Recordings, Sid Hemphill: The Devil's Dream (The 1942 Library of Congress Recordings), United Sacred Harp Convention: The Alan Lomax Recordings, 1959, Fred McDowell: The Alan Lomax Recordings, and 5 more. , and , .

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1.	Shake 'Em On Down 02:44	buy track
2.	Good Morning Little Schoolgirl 02:58	buy track
3.	Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning 03:11	buy track
4.	Fred McDowell's Blues 04:14	buy track
5.	Woke Up This Morning With My Mind on Jesus 03:18	buy track
6.	Drop Down Mama 02:53	buy track
7.	Going Down to the River 05:04	buy track
8.	Wished I Was In Heaven Sitting Down 02:11	buy track
9.	When the Train Comes Along 02:52	buy track
10.	When You Get Home Please Write Me A Few of Your Lines 03:25	buy track
11.	Worried Mind Blues 03:35	buy track
12.	Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning 00:34	buy track

about

These are the first recordings made of Fred McDowell—before the folk festivals and blues clubs, before “Mississippi” was inserted in front of his name, before the Rolling Stones covered his “You Got To Move.” They’re the sound of the music McDowell played on his porch, at picnics, and juke joints; with his friends and family; occasionally for money but always for pleasure. Remastered from 24-bit digital transfers of Alan Lomax’s original tapes, and annotated by Arhoolie Records’ Adam Machado and the Alan Lomax Archive’s Nathan Salsburg, they are an illustration of the mind-blowing revelation that was Fred McDowell.

On the first day of fall, 1959, in Como, Mississippi, a farmer named Fred McDowell emerged from the woods and ambled over to his neighbor
Lonnie Young’s front porch with a guitar in hand. Alan Lomax and Shirley Collins were there recording the Young brothers’ fife and drum ensemble, as well as the raggy old country dance music of their neighbors, the Pratcher brothers, and they had no idea what to expect from this slight man in overalls. They certainly didn’t expect that Fred would soon become internationally known as one of the most original, talented, and affecting country bluesmen ever recorded.

Download the liner notes here: culturalequity.org/ce_images/features/McDowell/GJ1007_FredMcDowell_Booklet.pdf

credits

released August 2, 2011

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about

Alan Lomax Archive

Alan Lomax (1915–2002) was a documentarian, ethnologist, cultural activist, and arguably the foremost folklorist of the 20th century. Over his seven-decade career he collected thousands of audio recordings of folk and traditional music from around the US and the world, and dedicated himself to the pursuit of what he called "cultural equity." 100% of proceeds go to the Assoc. for Cultural Equity. ... more

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