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Josh White
From New York to London
RELEASE
September 03, 2002
LABEL
Jasmine Records
GENRES
Blues, Songster, Pre-War Gospel Blues, Blues Revival, Political Folk, Folk Revival, Regional Blues, Piedmont Blues, Folk-Blues
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Album Review
Josh White
had a remarkable talent for self-reinvention, and his career -- which began in the 1920s and stretched essentially uninterrupted all the way into the '60s -- is an amazing story of adaptability and survival. Slick, sly, and fiercely intelligent,
White
became a sort of pre-
Harry Belafonte
black sex idol, complete with a leftist social and political agenda, during his so-called cabaret blues period in the late '40s, and when the McCarthy era led to his blacklisting, he rebounded into the folk revival period with several carefully assembled albums for
Jac Holzman
's Elektra label that recast him as a folk balladeer. Although some folk purists were aghast, doubting
White
's authenticity as a folk-blues performer (perhaps unaware of
White
's solid Piedmont blues background and his fine run of vintage blues 78s in the '30s), the fact remains that
White
was an excellent acoustic guitar player and a subtle and versatile singer who carefully selected his material, well aware of how it made him appear. This double-disc, 42-track set is drawn from
White
's cabaret period and features recordings he made in New York between 1944 and 1947 (disc one) and in London in 1950 and 1951 (disc two). The range of styles here is telling, as
White
rolls all manner of songs, from light gospel to small-combo jazz and blues, into a kind of folky high art. Among the highlights are a stark reading of
Billie Holiday
's "Strange Fruit" and
White
's small-combo jazz take on
Casey Bill Weldon
's classic "I'm Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town." Fiercely independent, and always in control of his own image in an era when black performers were seldom afforded that luxury,
White
helped pave the way for
Belafonte
, who followed the same sort of template to international stardom a mere half-dozen years after these recordings were made.
–
Steve Leggett, Rovi
Track Listing
Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out
Sometime
John Henry
Back Water Blues
Watercress
Josh and Bill Blues
Dip His Finger in the Water
Frankie and Johnny
Jelly, Jelly
Green Grass Growing All Around
The Lass with the Delicate Air
Waltzing Matilda
Evil Hearted Man
I Gave My Love a Cherry
Lord Randall, My Son
Molly Malone
The House of the Risin' Sun
Strange Fruit
Jim Crow
Good Morning Blues [*]
When the Sun Goes Down [*]
I'm Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town
Take a Gal Like You
Like a Natural Man
Hard Time Blues
The Foggy Dew
The Lass with the Delicate Air
I Want You and I Need You
Free and Equal Blues, Pts. 1 & 2
T. B. Blues
On Top of Old Smokey
Barbara Allen
Lonesome Road
Waltzing Matilda
Apples, Peaches and Cherries
Call Me Darling
Molly Malone
Wanderings
He Never Said a Mumblin' Word
Black Girl
The Butterfly Song
I Ain't Got Nothin' But the Blues
purchase full album
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