The Special Music Issue CD: Passed Down Things: Liner Notes and Track List

Passed Down Things

Liner Notes and Track List

Note: The Special Music Issue's CD is attached inside the back cover.

If the blues, as B.B. King says, is "a passed-down thing," it is a most unusual kind of hand-me-down. For the blues tradition inspires musicians to preserve its legacy even while augmenting it. The music, as King says and as the tunes on this disc make clear, regenerates itself and reinvents itself at the same time.

Consider Lovey Williams. A Mississippi bluesman and a sharecropper, Williams learned his craft from his father and from the radio. Here he takes John Lee Hooker's "Boogie Chillun" and makes it his own.

1. "A passed-down thing. . .", B.B. King, 2:07
   B.B. King at his home, 11 December 1974. All B.B. King tracks are courtesy of the William R. Ferris Collection #20367, Southern Folklife Collection, Wilson Library, UNC-CH.
2. Boogie Chillun, Lovey Williams, 2:14
   Lovey Williams: guitar & vocals. Recorded in Morning Star, MS, by William R. Ferris, ca. 1968. Lovey Williams field recordings, William R. Ferris Collection #20367, Southern Folklife Collection, Wilson Library, UNC-CH.

The infectious pulse of Williams's blues shook the juke joints in Mississippi's Delta, and a similar energy, as King suggests, moved inside the region's sanctified churches. Certainly, Fannie Bell Chapman and her family praying band testify to the belief in the Holy Spirit's healing power.

3. "The sanctified preacher played guitar. . .", B.B. King, 0:42
   B.B. King, Calhoun Master's Lounge, 1974.
4. When All God's Children Get Together, Fannie Bell Chapman, 1:09
   Fannie Bell Chapman: lead vocals. Recorded in Centreville, MS, by William R. Ferris and Judy Peiser, Jan. 1974.
   Fannie Bell Chapman field recordings, William R. Ferris Collection #20367, Southern Folklife Collection.
5. "The same feeling. . .", B.B. King, 0:14
   B.B. King at his home, 11 December 1974.
6. Go Where I Send Thee, Fannie Bell Chapman, 3:43
   Fannie Bell Chapman: lead vocals. Recorded in Centreville, MS, by William R. Ferris and Judy Peiser, July 1973.
   Fannie Bell Chapman field recordings, William R. Ferris Collection #20367, Southern Folklife Collection.

King insists that the worldly blues heal, comfort, and cure. (Why wait for the sweet by and by?) The blues' healing power arrives in many forms. James "Son" Thomas sings "Beefsteak Blues," a patchwork traveling tune in which the weary singer reassures himself that things will be better up the road. Lovey Williams remains unconvinced. The ribald Williams seems to be having some car trouble: "I got a little starter, baby," he growls in a classic line of blues double entendre, "and your motor wouldn't go." Williams's amorous difficulties, however, pale in comparison to the off-target lover in Tommy Edwards's hilarious "My Tears Spoiled My Aim," a bluegrass melody that aims to pierce the fleshy body of southern folk songs devoted to spurned sweethearts. But in a reversal from "Beefsteak Blues," James Thomas won't let you laugh long. By the last verse of his ominous "44 Blues," you're convinced that nothing will spoil this singer's aim.

7. "Something like a tonic. . .", B.B. King, 0:26
   B.B. King, Calhoun Master's Lounge, 1974.
8. Beefsteak Blues, James "Son" Thomas, 4:01
   James "Son" Thomas: guitar & vocals. Recorded in Leland, MS, by William R. Ferris, ca. 1968.
   James "Son" Thomas field recordings, William R. Ferris Collection #20367, Southern Folklife Collection.
9. Baby, Let Me Ride in Your Automobile, Lovey Williams, 2:04
   Lovey Williams: guitar & vocals. Recorded in Morning Star, MS, by William R. Ferris, ca. 1968.
   Lovey Williams field recordings, William R. Ferris Collection #20367, Southern Folklife Collection.
10. My Tears Spoiled My Aim, Tommy Edwards, 2:42
    Tommy Edwards: guitar & lead vocals. Songwriting Credits: John Reed and Tommy Edwards/Hidden Gem.
    From Old Songs/New Songs, Salisbury Street Recordings, Post Office Box 364, Pittsboro, North Carolina, 27312.
11. 44 Blues, James "Son" Thomas, 3:34
    James...