1. John Henry - 5:25
2. Every Day In The Week - 3:30
3. The Ship Titanic - 3:15
4. Greasy Greens - 2:56
5. Wreck Of The Old 97 - 3:27
6. I've Got Mine - 3:06
7. He's In The Jailhouse Now - 3:43
8. Blow, Gabriel - 2:15
9. Twelve Gates To The City - 3:23
10. Samson And Delilah - 3:53
11. Oh Lord, Search My Heart - 3:04
12. Get Right Church - 3:04
13. You Got To Go Down - 2:40
14. Keep Your Lamp Trimmed And Burning - 2:36
15. There Was A Time That I Was Blind - 2:37

Reverend Gary Davis - vocals, guitar (8-15)
Pink Anderson - vocals, guitar (1-7)
Jumbo Lewis - washboard (2)

Prior to the advent of the long-playing medium (read: LPs and/or CDs), the two collections presented here were available in separate packages. Stylistically, the works of both artists remain compelling evidence of the once fertile regional Piedmont Blues scene. In its late 19th and early 20th century heyday, the distinct folk-based music was a common presence throughout the Carolinas, stretching into Virginia, Georgia and Tennessee. Tracks one through seven feature Pink Anderson (guitar/vocals) accompanying himself on vocals and guitar. Not only are his most notable songs given striking renderings, but also Anderson's utterly unique instrumentation is captured to great effect. What stands as most exemplary is the delivery, executed in a half-picking/half-sliding style, rumoured to have been accomplished by using a jack knife blade to bend and manipulate the strings. The derivation of the traditional "John Henry" examines this technique in perhaps the greatest detail. However, the robust tone -- from his trademark and inimitable well-worn Martin guitar -- is likewise capable of a more piercing precision as heard on "Every Day in the Week" and "Wreck of the Old 97." There are some prime examples of Anderson plying his sly wit and goodtime humor during "He's in the Jailhouse Now" and "I Got Mine." They also display otherwise lighthearted observations of the strictly enforced segregated communities in lyrics such as "I remember last election/The white folks was (sic) in action/Trying to get themselves a President...." Perhaps this was an attempt to redirect any anti-Caucasian sentiment, as Anderson's tale recounts a black man who is "in the jailhouse now" for attempting to vote "not once, but twice." Keen-eared listeners may even pick up on brief verbal inflections and asides thrown in between the lines, further adding to any surreptitiously racial implications. --- Lindsay Planer, Rovi

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01. Samson and Delilah
02. Let Us Get Together
03. I Belong to the Band, Hallelujah!
04. Pure Religion
05. Great Change Since I Been Born
06. Death Don't Have No Mercy
07. Twelve Gates to the City
08. Goin' to Sit Down by the Banks of the River
09. Tryin' To Get Home
10. Lo, I Be With You Always
11. I Am the Light of the World
12. I Feel Just like Goin' On

Gary Davis was born blind, black, and broke in South Carolina in 1896. Big obstacles, but he also was blessed with talent and got paid for his guitar-pickin' by the time he was a teen. Ordained as a minister at age 36, he changed his song inventory to Gospel and hymns exclusively. He ended up in NYC, performing at mostly Black churches and on the streets. In the late '50's, the "Folk Revival" of blessed memory provided him a brief celebrity beyond those venues. This album was recorded in 1960 at the Jersey jazz studio of the legendary engineer Rudy Van Gelder. You get 44 minutes of soul survival stuff here, and any blues buff ought to own it. The more casual fan may have to listen a few times to really like Gary's vocals, but his guitar work is fun from the first chord. The recording quality is excellent. To me, the only flaw is that each song would have benefitted from one fewer sung verse, and one more instrumental passage. It's not that Gary's voice is any more rough than other bluesmen. The problem is that the lyrics of these church songs belabor the point and get a bit repetitious. Still, he was one of the best of his kind. Imagine him at 64, alone in the recording booth for three hours, doing 20 songs, of which these are supposedly the best takes of the best 12. He had not recorded anything in four years: in fact, he had only recorded in 1935, '54 and '56 prior to this August 24, 1960 session. On that day, Kennedy and Nixon were running for president, the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Yankees were heading toward a classic World Series, and I was living about 40 miles south of the studio, getting ready to begin 11th grade. Rev. Davis was doing something more important: preserving the Black church songs of early 20th century for posterity. --- William E. Adams (Midland, Texas USA)

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1. I Belong to the Band-Hallelujah!
2. Great Change in Me, The
3. Angel's Message to Me, The
4. I Saw the Light
5. Lord, Stand by Me
6. I Am the Light
7. O Lord, Search My Heart
8. Have More Faith in Jesus
9. You Got to Go Down
10. I Am the True Vine
11. Twelve Gates to the City
12. You Can Go Home
13. I'm Throwin' up My Hands (Ain't Gonna Work Here No More)
14. Cross and Evil Woman Blues
15. I Cannot Bear My Burden by Myself
16. Meet Me at the Stadion

Rev. Gary Davis - guitar, vocals

One can't possibly own too much of the Reverend Gary Davis's music from any era, but he made so few recordings in the 1930s that the material is represented on several overlapping CDs. The Yazoo collection of his sides cut for the American Record Company is good as far as it goes -- which is a long way -- giving as complete a picture as one will ever find of Davis's output during that decade, with good sound and a superb set of sleeve notes on his life and work. It is not, unfortunately, as full an account of Davis's pre-'50s career as other discs that are available (especially from Document Records), and purchasers should be aware of one thing that they can be sure of concerning Davis -- they will want more of his music. ---Bruce Eder, Rovi

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1. Pure Religion
2. Mountain Jack
3. Right Now
4. Buck Dance
5. Candy Man
6. Devil's Dream
7. Moon Goes Down
8. Cocaine Blues
9. Runnin' to the Judgement
10. Hesitation Blues
11. Bad Company
12. I Didn't Want to Join the Band
13. Evening Sun Goes Down
14. Seven Sisters
15. My Heart is Fixed
16. Time is Drawing Near
17. Crucifixion

Rev. Gary Davis - guitar, vocals

This Rev. Gary Davis release has been issued throughout the world under a bevy of names and should not be confused with the Prestige disc simply titled Pure Religion. These recordings are notable for both their sacred and secular nature. Equally as interesting is the wide range of performance styles that the Reverend incorporates throughout this long-player -- the first full-length disc to do so. Among them are the rarely displayed preachin' blues of "Bad Company," "Runnin' to the Judgement," and "Pure Religion." Notable are the spoken introductions or talkin' blues recitation techniques, as well as the more obvious and overtly religious themes. Davis took his commitment to the Lord seriously and had become an ordained minister in the summer of 1937. His vehemence and compulsion to spread the word is a blatant motif that works on several simultaneous strata. In the musical parables of "Seven Sisters" -- which should not be considered a voodoo reference -- and "Right Now," Davis recalls the fatality of not rebuking sin with lyrics like the following: "Don't 'cha put off today for tomorrow -- for tomorrow may never be. Let the Saviour bless yo' soul, right now." This collection also includes a few equally heady instrumentals -- most notably "Cocaine Blues," "Buck Dance," and "Hesitation Blues." Davis' astonishingly potent guitar playing and conversational approach have arguably never been captured more aptly on record. The direct lineage to artists such as Dave Van Ronk, Jorma Kaukonen, Stefan Grossman, and Brownie McGee becomes infinitely clear. Their versatility in technique coupled with simultaneous chord strumming and picking can be sourced right here. "Moon Goes Down" is one of the more secular pieces and originates in the slave fields as a "holler." Davis' emotionally heavy performance and dirge-like chord changes rank the tune among his most emotive recordings. Pure Religion & Bad Company was amended with two additional and otherwise previously unreleased tunes -- "Time Is Drawing Near" and "Crucifixion" -- when the title was issued on CD in 1991. Both tracks are from the same June 1957 session documented by Tiny Robinson and Fred Gerlach in New York City. ---Lindsay Planer. Rovi

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