CoronaVinyl Day 426 (J): The Best of Blind Willie Johnson by Blind Willie Johnson

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Today's CoronaVinyl category is "J," and I listened to the 2017 American Epic "Best of" release of Texas gospel blues legend Blind Willie Johnson, a compilation of 16 songs recorded between 1927 and 1930.

Johnson was a blues man, an influential slide guitarist, and an evangelist (hence the "gospel blues" label).  Like others of his time -- Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Blake, Blind Roosevelt Graves, Blind Willie Davis, and Blind Willie McTell, to name a few -- Johnson was without sight, commonly believed to have been caused by his stepmom when Johnson was seven.  During a domestic dispute, in which Johnson's father confronted his stepmom about cheating on him, Johnson's stepmom splashed Johnson with a lye water solution that blinded him.  Fucking a.

As I mentioned back in late November when I discussed the Lead Belly album I bought and in March when I discussed a blues compilation album I bought when I visited Third Man Records in Detroit in early November (both from the same American Epic series).  As with the other two albums, the engineers performed a phenomenal restoration of these songs.  

Johnson's voice is often rather gruff, though that is offset on several songs by the backing/co-lead vocals of his then-wife, Willie B. Harris.

With his gospel blues style and Biblical themes, many of the songs have an eerie and apocalyptic quality to them.  Like many blues men of the '20s and '30s, Johnson was not wealthy during his lifetime, but became highly influential posthumously.  If you're a fan of the blues or even the blues rock revival of the '60s, then you've likely heard some of the songs on this album.  

• He was the first to record "John the Revelator," which was famously recorded by Son House in the '60s and also used in The White Stripes' song "Cannon" from their 1999 debut album.  
• "It's Nobody's Fault But Mine" was reworked by Led Zeppelin in 1976 as "Nobody's Fault But Mine" on the Presence album.
• "Mother's Children Have a Hard Time," which is also sometimes called "Motherless Children," was rearranged and recorded under the latter by Eric Clapton on his 1974 album Motherless Children.
• "Jesus Make Up My Dying," which is also known as "In My Time of Dying," has been covered by Led Zeppelin on Physical Graffiti in 1975 and Bob Dylan on his 1962 self-titled debut album.
• In my March post referenced above, I highlighted "Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground," a haunting song from 1927 with just Johnson playing his bottleneck slide guitar and humming and moaning, like a Delta funeral dirge.  It was one of 27 samples of music included on the Voyager Golden Record strapped to the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecrafts, so, you know, aliens are listening to this shit.

Johnson died in 1945 after his home in Beaumont, Texas burned down and he continued to live in it anyway and contracted malaria, but no hospital would admit him, likely because of the color of his skin.

Favorite Song on Side 1:  "It's Nobody's Fault But Mine"
Johnson's vocals are strained (in a good way) as he belts out this one, accompanied only by his slide guitar and whatever anguish Johnson had in his soul.

Favorite Song on Side 2:  "Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning"
Were this song title not a reference to the Bible, I would assume it was a subtle suggestion to his ladyfriend.