Sunday, October 17, 2010

Son House: John The Revelator

As we cap off blues week, I am reaching back to an old Blind Willie Johnson song that was revived by Son House in 1965. House’s first LP, “The Legendary Son House Father of the Folk Blues,” was released after he was rediscovered working in Rochester, NY.and was subsequently signed to Columbia Records. I received a copy of this album as a gift in 1973 or thereabouts. It was the first time I heard the song “John the Revelator” and immediately liked it.


Son House’s a cappela treatment of this spiritual is different than Willie Johnson’s original. House specifically added verses that dealt with the fall of man, Christ’s final week, and the resurrection.


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