093074025826

The Complete Friends Of Old Time Music Concert

Bessie Jones, John Davis & The Georgia Sea Island Singers with Mississippi Fred McDowell & Ed Young

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Format: CD

Cat No: SFW40258

Release Date:  14 June 2024

Label:  Smithsonian Folkways

Packaging Type:  Digipak

No of Units:  1

Barcode:  093074025826

Genres:  Blues  Gospel  

  • Description

    Bessie Jones, John Davis, and the Georgia Sea Island Singers gained wide renown during the 1960s and '70s for their powerful performances of traditional songs from the African American Gullah Geechee community on St Simons Island, Georgia. Most in the group were born and raised on St. Simons, and could trace their ancestry to the enslaved West and Central Africans who worked on the island's cotton plantations. Throughout the '60s, the Georgia Sea Island Singers were prominent voices in the civil rights movement, bringing hundreds of years of Black musical tradition to bear on a pivotal time in American history. This previously unheard recording captures their complete Friends of Old Time Music concert of April 1965, at which they were joined by legendary bluesman Mississippi Fred McDowell, cane fife player Ed Young, and folklorist Alan Lomax, who acted as emcee. The album showcases a variety of traditional music from the Island and beyond, including stirring work songs, emotionally charged spirituals, jubilant songs for children, and revelatory renditions of Mississippi blues.

  • Tracklisting

      Disc 1

      Side 1

      • 1. Introduction by Alan Lomax / Travelin' Shoes ft. Georgia Sea Island Singers led by Bessie Jones
      • 2. Handclapping - Cane Fife ft. Georgia Sea Island Singers led by Bessie Jones with Ed Young
      • 3. Buzzard Lope (Dance) - In That Old Field ft. Georgia Sea Island Singers led by Bessie Jones
      • 4. Josephine ft. Georgia Sea Island Singers led by Bessie Jones
      • 5. Goodbye My Riley O ft. Georgia Sea Island Singers led by John Davis
      • 6. Go Row the Boat Child ft. Georgia Sea Island Singers led by Peter Davis
      • 7. Join the Band ft. Georgia Sea Island Singers led by John Davis
      • 8. Sink 'Em Low ft. Georgia Sea Island Singers led by Bessie Jones
      • 9. Going Down to the River ft. Mississippi Fred McDowell
      • 10. Shake 'Em on Down ft. Mississippi Fred McDowell with Mable Hillery
      • 11. Once There Was No Sun ft. Georgia Sea Island Singers led by Bessie Jones
      • 12. Adam in the Garden ft. Georgia Sea Island Singers led by John Davis
      • 13. Who Built the Ark ft. Georgia Sea Island Singers led by Bessie Jones
      • 14. Let My Children Go ft. Georgia Sea Island Singers led by John Davis
      • 15. My God Is a Rock ft. Georgia Sea Island Singers led by Peter Davis
      • 16. I Heard the Angels Singing ft. Georgia Sea Island Singers led by Mable Hillery with Mississippi Fred McDowell
      • 17. Read 'Em John ft. Georgia Sea Island Singers led by John Davis
      • 18. Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning ft. Georgia Sea Island Singers led by Mississippi Fred McDowell
      • 19. Sign of the Judgment ft. Georgia Sea Island Singers led by Bessie Jones
      • 20. Chevrolet ft. Ed Young, Emma Lee Ramsey
      • 21. Write Me a Few of Your Lines ft. Mississippi Fred McDowell
      • 22. Don't Ever Leave Me ft. Mississippi Fred McDowell with Mable Hillery
      • 23. Marching on the Mississippi Line ft. Mable Hillery, Emma Lee Ramsey
      • 24. Down to the Mire ft. Georgia Sea Island Singers led by John Davis
      • 25. Before This Time Another Year ft. Georgia Sea Island Singers led by Bessie Jones