Bessie Johnson's Sanctified Singers

I've been feeling like posting some gospel for awhile, so here are four of the six known sides Bessie Johnson recorded out of Memphis in the early 30's. Bessie Johnsons was a gospel singer from one of the Sanctified sects, from Columbus, Mississippi, and much like several rural blues artists, sunk back into the depths of obscurity never to be heard from again. Last information on her tracks her to Arkansas in 1964. Remembered by Lonnie McIntorsh as “the singingest woman I’ve ever known”, Johnson possessed a huge contralto voice, with a rasping vibrato as wide as a church door.
She was at her best when accompanied by McIntorsh’s metronomic guitar, or that of Will Shade; her own Sanctified Singers were endearingly ragged, and she had to order them to “Come on” or “Get the beat”. The fact that recordings including such ad libs were released speaks for their raw authenticity. One of the sides on this records on this post is the original version of the Laurie Johnson hit, "He's Got The Whole World In His Hands"

Every other day I will be posting a requested download, so if you'd like anything uploaded, send me a comment.

Salvation lies within.

Lucille Bogan & Walter Roland - 1927-1935

Here's some music my friend Mary Love requested... I'll be uploading anything anyone requests for their downloading pleasure.

Lucille Bogan was one of the first blues artists to record. Her music is most signature for its frank, rique' nature; often dealing with sex, prostitution and lesbianism... much of which often makes her comparable to Bessie Smith. She started recording for Paramount in 1927, where she reached success having a song covered by Blind Blake. During this time she also began recording for Brunswick, where she cut records with Cow Cow Davenport and Tampa Red.

By the 1930's here records were primarily ALL dirty, and often her unissued Banner acetate of "Shave 'Em Dry" can be found on SCORES of dirty blues compilations.

Her birthday was a few days ago (April 1, 1897) and even though it's a few days late, this is the best way to celebrate. I tried to do a blog search, and couldn't find any that featured more than a song or two. So here ya go, for your own personal archive, is the Yazoo compilation "1927-1935", which offers an even split of songs recorded by herself, and solos by her piano accompanist Walter Roland. This set is transfered from some of the rarest (and thus, battered to shit) 78 rpm records... the quality, considering, is pretty damned decent.

Lucille Bogan passed away August 10, 1948 in Los Angeles, CA... You can visit her grave at Lincoln Memorial Park in Compton.

HARDCORE

As a bonus, in a seperate download, here is her claim to fame, "Shave 'Em Dry" recorded 1935, but not released for the Banner label. If you've never heard it, you're in for a treat... it's one of the most blatant, shocking and obscene records ever recorded from the 78 era. It's had several re-issues, the most common is on the LP 'Copulatin' Blues'. I love her at the 2:10 mark, you can just tell how much fun she's having recording this.

SHAVE EM DRY

Still not enough?

Well then scoot on over to Red Hot Jazz where you can hear nearly her entire discography for free on streaming audio.