Church Choirs, Gospel Singers & Preachers Vol 2 1925 - 1955

Too Late Too Late Vol 9 1922 - 1945

Leadbelly Vol 1 1934 - 1935
DOCD-5591 Leadbelly - The Remaining ARC and Library of Congress Recordings Leadbelly, vocal, 12-string guitar. Genres: Folk, Blues, Texas Blues, Country Blues. Informative booklet notes. Detailed discography. The recordings on this Leadbelly CD were originally made for the Library of Congress from July 1934 to March 1935, under the supervision of John and Alan Lomax. These sessions took place at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola while Leadbelly was still a prisoner, and also at Little Rock, Pine Bluff State Farm, Gould, Shreveport, Bellwood Prison Camp, Wilton and New York City. Continued...

Leadbelly Vol 2 1935
DOCD-5592 Leadbelly Vol 2 (1935) Leadbelly, vocal, 12-string guitar. Texas Country Blues, ballads, dance tunes Texas Songster Informative booklet notes. Detailed discography. The recordings on this Leadbelly CD were originally made for the Library of Congress in February/March 1935, under the supervision of John and Alan Lomax. The bulk of the session was recorded at Wilton, Connecticut in February 1935, an area with a strong anti-slavery sentiment, Wilton also served as a stop on the Underground Railroad. There is a wide selection of songs and genres of music in Leadbelly's seemingly endless repertoire, which places him as much of a “songster” as a bluesman. Continued...

Leadbelly Vol 3 1935
DOCD-5593 Leadbelly Vol 3 1935 Leadbelly, vocal, 12-string guitar Genres: Texas Country Blues, Texas Songster. Informative booklet notes. Detailed discography. The session on this Leadbelly CD was recorded in March 1935, Wilton, Connecticut. This was to be a very productive time for Leadbelly and over these sessions he recorded around eighty-nine songs. John and Alan Lomax encouraged Leadbelly during these recordings to perform not only the songs but also the stories behind them. Leadbelly remade all of his songs trying to put them into their context, creating spoken interludes about the background of the song, the events surrounding a song or his personal involvement in the song. "He created those cante-fables (the half spoken, partially sung introductions) in a month," said Alan Lomax. "For me that was the most remarkable thing he ever did." Continued...

Leadbelly Vol 4 1935 - 1938
DOCD-5994 Leadbelly Vol 4 1935 - 1938 Leadbelly, vocal, 12-String guitar. With contributions by Jim and Sarah Garland Genres: Blues, Country Blues, Texas Blues, Country Blues Guitar, Country Blues, Bottleneck-slide Guitar, Folk. The Leadbelly sessions on this CD were recorded between 1935 and 1938 in Wilton, Washington, Pineville and Havers studio, New York City. Leadbelly continued to record not only the songs but he also put them into their context, creating spoken interludes about the background of the song, the events surrounding a song or his personal involvement in the song.

Leadbelly Vol 5 1938 - 1942
DOCD-5595 Leadbelly Vol 5 1938 - 1942 Leadbelly, vocal, 12-String Guitar. With contributions by: Brownie McGhee, vocal, guitar; Sonny Terry, vocal, guitar. Informative booklet notes. Detailed discography. The sessions on this Leadbelly CD were recorded in Havers Studio, New York City (1938) and in Washington D.C. (1940 - 1942). During this time Leadbelly was recording and socialising with the political / urban folk scene. This is shown on the opening track. Scottsboro Boys reflects Leadbelly's political awareness in which he tells the story of a group of black boys who were wrongly accused of a gang rape of two white girls in 1931. The second and third tracks recount the story of John Henry a legendary black rail worker who challenged a steam drilling machine to a contest, which he won, but then died of exhaustion. Continued...

Black & White Piano Vol 1 1923 - 1931

Black & White Piano Vol 2 1929 - 1942
Note: See also Document DOCD-5655 and 5656.

Field Recordings Vol 8 Louisiana Alabama Mississippi 1934 - 1947

Field Recordings Vol 9 Georgia South Carolina North Carolina Virginia Kentucky 1924 - 1939

Field Recordings Vol 10 / 11 1933 - 1941
DOCD-5600 Field Recordings Vols. 10 & 11 (1933-1941) Interviews conducted by John Henry Faulk for the Library of Congress of Ex Slaves; Laura Smalley and Harriet Smith in Texas, 1941. Includes spoken word and songs. Also includes recordings made for the Library of Congress of songs by: Washington (“Lightnin’”), vocal; accompanied by convict group. (Texas, 1933) Lester Powell, vocal. (Texas, 1940) John Handcock, vocal. (Washington, D.C. 1937) Genres: Afro-American aural history, slavery, Blues, Songster, Folk. Informative booklet notes by Professor Steve Tracy. Detailed discography. The recordings that make up the bulk of these two CDs feature material that belongs to a genre that provided some of the most significant examinations of and challenges to the hypocrisy of the notion of an existing wholly democratic America, the slave narrative. Continued...