(Acoustic blues, Gospels) Reverend Gary Davis and Pink Anderson - Gospel, Blues and Street Songs (1950-56) - 1991, FLAC (image+.cue) lossless

Pink Anderson:
After being raised in Greenville and Spartanburg, South Carolina, he joined Dr. Frank "Smiley" Kerr of the Indian Remedy Company in 1914 to entertain the crowds whilst Kerr tried to sell a concoction purported to have medicinal qualities.
cemetery marker for Pink Anderson in Spartanburg, SC.
Cemetery marker for Pink Anderson in Lincoln Memorial Gardens, Spartanburg, South Carolina
In 1916 in Spartanburg, Anderson met Simeon "Blind Simmie" Dooley, from whom he learned to be a blues singer, this after experience in string bands. When Anderson was not traveling with Dr. Kerr, he and Dooley would play to small gatherings in Greenville, Spartanburg, and other neighboring communities, as well as recording four tracks for Columbia Records in Atlanta in April, 1928.
After Dr. Kerr retired in 1945, Anderson stayed more close to home in Spartanburg, keeping his musical talents in tune with an old Gibson J-50 guitar and a harmonica. He still "went out" annually when he could with Leo "Chief Thundercloud" Kahdot (of the Potawatomi native Americans) and his medicine show, often with the Jonesville, South Carolina based harmonica-player Arthur "Peg Leg Sam" Jackson. In May 1950, Anderson was recorded by folklorist Paul Clayton at the Virginia State Fair. Heart problems eventually forced Anderson to retire from the road in 1957. He was once more recorded at his home in 1962 by Samuel Charters.
"Anderson went on to make some albums on his own after the blues revival commenced in the early 1960s" and played some folk clubs, "establishing him as a minor but worthy exponent of the Piedmont school, versed in blues, ragtime, and folk songs". He also appeared in the 1963 film, The Bluesmen. A stroke in the late 1960s curtailed his musical activity. Attempts by folklorist Peter B. Lowry in 1970 to get Anderson on tape were not successful, although apparently he could occasionally summon up some of his past abilities. A final tour took place in the early 1970s with the aid of Roy Book Binder, one of his "students", taking him to Boston and New York.
He died in October 1974, of a heart attack at the age of 74. He is interred at Lincoln Memorial Gardens in Spartanburg. Anderson's son, known as Little Pink Anderson (b. July 13, 1954), is currently a bluesman living in Vermillion, South Dakota.
Rev. Gary Davis:
"Блайнд" (Слепой) Гэри Дэвис, род. 30 апреля 1896 г., в Лоренсе (Laurens), Южная Каролина, ум. 5 мая 1972 г., в Хэммонтоне (Hammonton), Нью-Джерси.
Виртуозный гитарист, Гэри Дэвис начал играть самоучкой в шестилетнем возрасте, а к подростковому возрасту он уже хорошо играл на гитаре, гармонике и пятиструнном банджо. Частично слепой с детства, он окончательно ослеп к тридцати годам. Кроме этого, в юности он повредил кисть левой руки и она неправильно срослась, но из этого возникла непредвиденная выгода - он смог брать на гитаре недоступные ранее аккорды. В годы Великой депрессии Дэвис зарабатывал себе на жизнь выступлениями на улицах штата Северная Каролина, играя солидный репертуар, состоявший из спиричуэлов, рэгов, маршей и танцевальных мелодий. В 1933 году Дэвис был посвящен в священники-баптисты и продолжал ездить с выступлениями уже в новом качестве проповедника (другой, не менее популярный его артистический псевдоним - Преп. Гэри Дэвис (Rev. Gary Davis)). Пристанищем ему служил Дурхэм (Durham) в штате Северная Каролина, где он встретился и затем сотрудничал с Блайнд Боем («Слепым парнем») Фуллером, Булл Сити Редом (Bull City Red) и Сонни Терри (Sonny Terry).
В середине 30-х годов он записал несколько спиричуэлов и блюзов как Слепой Гэри (Blind Gary) на фирме грамзаписи «Эй-Ар-Си» (ARC) (в соответствии со своими религиозными убеждениями, Дэвис желал записывать исключительно спиричуэлы, однако персонал компании настаивал на исполнении блюзов - вышла размолвка, и в результате на записи буквально зафиксировалось раздраженное состояние Дэвиса, а руководство фирмы больше не приглашало его записываться).
В 1940 году Дэвис переехал жить в Нью-Йорк, где добился определенной известности на фолк-сцене и вновь начал записываться на ряде фирм грамзаписи, в том числе на «Стинсоне» (Stinson), «Риверсайде» (Riverside), «Престиж-Блюзвилле» (Pretige-Bluesville) и «Фолкуэйзе» (Folkways), выпустив в 50-е и 60-е гг. в общей сложности 9 альбомов.
В 1960 году Дэвис записал впечатляющий альбом «Певец гарлемских улиц» (Harlem Street Singer), который привлек к нему внимание нового поколения слушателей. Дэвис обучал виртуозным приемам игры на гитаре и вообще оказал большое влияние на Блайнд Боя («Слепого парня») Фуллера и Стефана Гроссмана (Stefan Grossman); среди его ценителей его творчества были Боб Дилан (Bob Dylan), Тадж Махал (Taj Mahal), Рай Кудер (Ry Cooder) и Донован (Donovan). В 1964 году Дэвис посетил Великобританию, куда впоследствии несколько раз возвращался с сольными выступлениями. Он выступал на многих музыкальных фестивалях, в том числе и на Ньюпортском (Newport) в 1967 году, а также послужил героем двух документальных телепередач, вышедших на экраны в 1967 и 1970 годах, и снялся в фильме «Черные корни» (Black Roots).
Значение Слепого Гэри Дэвиса в истории сельской музыки чернокожих Юга США невозможно переоценить.

by Lindsay Planer (AMG)
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.
concordmusicgroup
Pink Anderson and Gary Davis, both born in South Carolina around the turn of the century, were among the last of a breed of entertainers known as songsters--singing guitarists adept at a variety of material, including blues, folk, minstrel, popular, and religious. Both men spent much of their lives singing on the streets, trying to please whoever passed by. Anderson's plaintive music was captured on record several times between 1928 and 1962, and the 1950 session for folk collector Paul Clayton that's heard on the first half of this CD displays Anderson's remarkable versatility. Davis, whose eight 1956 titles comprise the other half, abandoned the secular side of his repertoire early on to concentrate on singing and picking for the Lord. While Anderson, who died in 1974, became too ill later in life to take much advantage of this album on Prestige/Bluesville, Davis continued to tour and record widely until a heart attack felled him on the way to a concert in 1972.
amazon.com customer
# Great performances by Pink Anderson, specially: John Henry and The Ship Titanic; but best of all; Greasy Greens. The Reverend Gary Davis is so great that he'll single-handedly convert any delta blues holdovers to the piedmont style at first hearing.
# I got a copy of this album thanks to my interest in Pink Floyd (Which Anderson incidentally named) and I was astounded.
There was something magical about the music.
I fell immediatly. The songs (Though traditional) "glued" themselves to my mind in a way that no 2001 pop song could.
And now I go around humming songs that were recorded in 1950.
This combined with the unlikely parallel to the Brittish Rock Band Pink Floyd turned out to be the biggest surprise (Musically) that I've ever experienced.
All thanks to a man called Pink Anderson
# This is an important album by two of the key musicians in the Piedmont blues guitar style.
Pink Anderson is best known for the three excellent Bluesville albums he recorded in 1961. Apart from four tracks in 1928 with Simmie Dooley, the only other recordings Anderson made prior to then are the first seven tracks of this CD, recorded in May 1950 by Paul Clayton, who came across Anderson playing in a medicine show in Charlottesville, Virginia. Anderson is in peak form here, stronger than in 1961, playing fine slide guitar on "John Henry", singing the blues "Every Day of the Week", and comic songs such as "I've Got Mine" and "He's In the Jailhouse Now". Great entertainment.
Gary Davis was a virtuoso guitarist in the Piedmont style who abandoned blues in the mid 1930s in favour of evangelical gospel songs, which he performed with great fervour in a voice that could be heard above heavy traffic and with superbly dynamic guitar accompaniment. These performances, from 1956, find him in electrifying form. He recorded many of these pieces again in the 1960s for Bluesville and others, but this session is hard to beat.
Strongly recommended.
Recorded in Charlottesville, Virginia on May 29, 1950 and in New York, New York on January 29, 1956.

Reverend Gary Davis (vocals, guitar)
Pink Anderson (vocals, guitar)
Jumbo Lewis (washboard)