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Blind Willie Johnson and the Guitar Evangelists
- Artist: Rev. Gary Davis
- Rating:
- Release Date: June 06, 2006
- Type: Compilation (best of)
- Genre: Blues
Review
In the Depression era 1930s and on into the 1950s, the blues and sacred music often went hand and hand like two sides of the same coin in the repertoires of street musicians, who clearly understood both the differences and similarities between Saturday night music and its Sunday morning counterpart. The two styles actually shared the same yearning for a better life and an almost blind hope in deliverance and redemption, and often just the change of a line or two could make a blues song sound sacred or a religious folk hymn sound like street-corner blues. This four-disc set features various street-corner guitar preachers working the sacred side of the street, and includes 17 tracks by the Rev. Gary Davis, along with a disc and a half of sides by Blind Joe Taggart, 15 cuts by Two Gospel Keys (Emma Daniels and Mother Sally Jones, a guitar and tambourine duo), and additional material by Elizabeth Phillips, Henry Green, Blind Willie Davis, Eddie Head, Brother Willie Eason, Rev. Charles White, Blind Gussie Nesbit, Bull City Red, Mother McCollum, and Sister Matthews. Among the highlights are a couple of versions of Taggart's "I Wonder Will My Mother Be on That Train?," his pointed "Scandalous and a Shame," Two Gospel Keys' gentle and kinetic "I Can't Tarry," Sister O.M. Terrell's odd "God's Little Birds," and Blind Gussie Nesbit's "Canaan Land." Also worth noting are Davis' amazing "Civil War March," which is neither blues nor sacred but is instead an instrumental guitar tour de force; Mother McCollum's bizarre and infectious "Jesus Is My Air-O-Plane"; and a strong pair of songs featuring electric guitar from Henry Green, "Storm Thru Mississippi" and the eerie "Strange Things." ~ Steve Leggett, All Music GuideTracks
CD 1
| Track Title | Composers | Performers | Time |
| I Will Not Be Removed | Blind Joe Taggart | (2:41) | |
| Everything's Got to Be Tried | Blind Joe Taggart | (2:44) | |
| I'll Be Satisfied | Blind Joe Taggart | (2:53) | |
| Take Your Burden to the Lord | Blind Joe Taggart | (3:05) | |
| I Wish My Mother Was on That Train | Blind Joe Taggart | (2:43) | |
| Just Beyond Jordan | Blind Joe Taggart | (3:14) | |
| Keep on the Firing Line | Blind Joe Taggart | (2:33) | |
| The Half Ain't Never Been Told | Blind Joe Taggart | (2:54) | |
| C&O Blues | (3:26) | ||
| The Storm Is Passing Over | Blind Joe Taggart | (2:46) | |
| God's Gonna Separate the Wheat from the Tares | Blind Joe Taggart | (2:54) | |
| Been Listening All the Day | Blind Joe Taggart | (2:35) | |
| Goin' to Rest Where Jesus Is | Blind Joe Taggart | (3:09) | |
| There's a Hand Writing on the Wall | Blind Joe Taggart | (2:59) | |
| Scandalous and a Shame | Blind Joe Taggart | (2:56) | |
| I've Crossed the Separation Line | Blind Joe Taggart | (2:50) | |
| Lord Don't Drive Me Away | Blind Joe Taggart | (3:13) | |
| Religion Is Something Within You | Blind Joe Taggart | (2:46) | |
| Mother's Love | Blind Joe Taggart | (2:55) | |
| Wonder Will My Troubles Then Be Over | Blind Joe Taggart | (3:07) | |
| Strange Things Happening in the Land | Blind Joe Taggart | (3:00) | |
| Waded in the Water Trying to Get Home | Blind Joe Taggart | (3:12) | |
| He Done What the World Couldn't Do | Blind Joe Taggart | (2:57) | |
| Satan Your Kingdom Must Come Down | Blind Joe Taggart | (3:04) | |
| I Ain't No Sinner Now | Blind Joe Taggart | (2:58) | |
| Pressin' Up That Shiny Way | Blind Joe Taggart | (3:01) | |
| In That Pearly White City Above | Blind Joe Taggart | (3:04) |
CD 2
| Track Title | Composers | Performers | Time |
| I Wonder Will My Mother Be on That Train? | Blind Joe Taggart | (3:02) | |
| God's Gonna Separate the Wheat from the Tares | Blind Joe Taggart | (3:21) | |
| When I Stand Before the King | Blind Joe Taggart | (3:00) | |
| I Ain't No Sinner Now | Blind Joe Taggart | (2:55) | |
| Charity | (2:32) | ||
| I Love Traveling | (2:13) | ||
| I Want My Crown | (3:09) | ||
| We're Gonna Have a Good Time | (3:05) | ||
| Precious Lord | (3:12) | ||
| You've Got to Move | (2:47) | ||
| I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore | (2:29) | ||
| You've Got to Move (When the Lord Gets Ready) | (2:55) | ||
| Can't No Grave Hold My Body Down | (2:42) | ||
| Jesus Met the Woman at the Well | (2:51) | ||
| Precious Lord | (3:12) | ||
| I Don't Want to Go Down There, Pt. 1 | (2:55) | ||
| I Don't Want to Go Down There, Pt. 2 | (2:52) | ||
| This Heart of Mine | (2:39) | ||
| Every Man Got to Lay Down and Die | (2:57) | ||
| I Can't Tarry | (2:49) | ||
| A Little Old Fashioned | (2:56) | ||
| There Is Nothing Like the Holy Spirit | (3:06) | ||
| Storm Thru Mississippi | (2:31) | ||
| Strange Things | (2:42) |
CD 3
| Track Title | Composers | Performers | Time |
| When the Saints Go Marching In | Blind Willie Davis | (1:58) | |
| Rock of Ages Chicago | Blind Willie Davis | (2:52) | |
| Your Enemy Cannot Harm You | Blind Willie Davis | (3:08) | |
| I've Got a Key to the Kingdom | Blind Willie Davis | (3:13) | |
| Trust in God and Do the Right | Blind Willie Davis | (2:40) | |
| I Believe I'll Go Back Home | Blind Willie Davis | (2:46) | |
| Down on Me | (3:07) | ||
| Lord, I'm the True Vine | (3:07) | ||
| Tying to Get Home | (3:07) | ||
| Within My Mind | (3:14) | ||
| There'll Be No Grumblers There | (2:54) | ||
| I Want to Live (So God Can Use Me) | (2:53) | ||
| How Long | (2:43) | ||
| Life Is a Problem | (2:36) | ||
| How Long Nashville | (2:27) | ||
| God's Little Birds | (2:50) | ||
| The Bible's Right | (2:49) | ||
| The Gambling Man | (2:55) | ||
| I'm Going to That City | (2:51) | ||
| Swing Low Sweet Chariot | (2:34) | ||
| Lord I Want You to Lead Me | (2:42) | ||
| Pure Religion | (3:21) | ||
| Canaan Land | (3:24) | ||
| Motherless Children | (3:09) | ||
| I'll Just Stand and Wring My Hands and Cry | (3:16) |
CD 4
| Track Title | Composers | Performers | Time |
| I'm Throwin' Up My Hands | (2:51) | ||
| Cross and Evil Woman Blues | (3:04) | ||
| I Am the True Vine | (3:15) | ||
| I Am the Light of the World | (3:11) | ||
| O Lord Search My Heart | (3:05) | ||
| I Saw the Light | (3:05) | ||
| You Can Go Home | (3:08) | ||
| Twelve Gates to the City | (3:08) | ||
| Have More Faith in Jesus | (3:03) | ||
| You Got to Go Down | (3:18) | ||
| I Belong to the Band -- Hallelujah! | (3:13) | ||
| The Great Change in Me | (3:18) | ||
| Lord, I Wish I Could See | (3:04) | ||
| Lord Stand by Me | (3:08) | ||
| The Angel's Message to Me | (3:08) | ||
| Civil War March | (5:28) | ||
| I Cannot Bear My Burden by Myself | (2:52) | ||
| I'm Gonna Meet You at the Station | (2:41) | ||
| I Want to See Him | (2:58) | ||
| When I Take My Vacation in Heaven | (2:55) | ||
| You Can't Hide | (2:37) | ||
| Jesus Is My Air-O-Plane | (3:20) | ||
| Oh Lord I'm Your Child | (3:03) | ||
| Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! | (2:55) | ||
| Stand by Me | (2:55) |
