Blind Joe Taggart - Complete Recorded Works Vol. 1 (1926-34)

Artist:

Taggart, Blind Joe

UPC:

714298515329

Description:

Personnel: Blind Joe Taggart (vocals, guitar); Josh White (vocals, guitar).
Liner Note Author: Ken Romanowski.
Recording information: 1926-1928.
When divine inspiration was upon him, guitar-strumming evangelist Blind Joe Taggart was capable of sounding something like Blind Willie Johnson. The primary difference between the two was Taggart`s occasional crossover into blues territory, a secular region carefully avoided by the devoutly religious Blind Willie. Volume one in Document`s complete Taggart edition opens with his first 11 recordings, which were cut for Vocalion in New York City during November and December of 1926. Some of these are duets with either a woman identified as Emma Talbert or with his son, James Taggart. Three alternate takes enable those who are so inclined to engage in contemplative, comparative listening. Tracks 12-16 were all waxed in Chicago on Thursday, June 30, 1927 but were released on three different labels under three different names. Columbia`s "C & O Blues" is credited to Blind Joe Amos in an apparent move to differentiate Taggart from his evangelical self as heard on Vocalion`s "The Storm Is Passing Over," and "God`s Gonna Separate the Wheat from the Tares."
For Taggart to have also recorded that day for Paramount with a friend or two as Blind Percy & His Blind Band would not have been all that unusual, and the primary performer does sound like Taggart with a kazoo wedged between his teeth. The other instrument that crops up on this session for the first time in this artist`s discography (if indeed Percy was Taggart) is a violin, played by an unidentified fiddler who may be the same individual as is heard on "Been Listening All the Day" and "Goin` to Rest Where Jesus Is," which were recorded for Paramount in January 1928. Tracks 19-24 were cut in October and December 1928 with young Josh White playing guitar and providing backup vocals. Again Taggart`s identity changed depending upon which label was presenting his music, for even though these were primarily Paramount releases, this protean character was billed on Broadway records as Blind Joe Dunnell and on Herwin as either Blind Tim Russell or Blind Jeremiah Taylor. His remaining works (and a couple of titles perhaps apocryphally attributed to him) are combined with performances by two other guitar evangelists on Complete Recorded Works, Vol. 2, Document`s sequel to this fine collection of historic rarities. ~ arwulf arwulf

Track Listing:

DISC 1

1. I Will Not Be Removed
2. Everybody`s Got to Be Tried
3. I`ll Be Satisfied - (48)
4. I`ll Be Satisfied - (49)
5. Take Your Burden to the Lord - (50)
6. Take Your Burden to the Lord - (51)
7. I Wish My Mother Was on That Train - (52)
8. I Wish My Mother Was on That Train - (53)
9. Just Beyond Jordan
10. Keep on the Firing Line
11. Half Ain`t Never Been Told, The
12. C & O Blues
13. Storm Is Passing Over, The
14. God`s Gonna Separate the Wheat from the Tares
15. Coal River Blues
16. Fourteenth Street Blues
17. Been Listening All the Day
18. Goin` to Rest Where Jesus Is
19. There`s a Hand Writing on the Wall
20. Scandalous and a Shame
21. I`ve Crossed the Separation Line
22. Lord Don`t Drive Me Away
23. Religion Is Something Within You
24. Mother`s Love

Album Information

Release Date:

07/15/1993

Type:

Performer

Genre:

Blues

Subgenre:

Country Blues

Label:

Document (USA)

Producer:

Johnny Parth

Catalog Number:

DOCD 5153

Original Release Year:

1994

# of Discs:

1

Studio/Live:

Studio

Mono/Stereo:

Mono

Runtime:

70 : 15

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