From: Eric LeBlanc-CISTI <leblanc@DAO.NRC.CA><br>
Subject:      A TRIBUTE TO SON HOUSE (w/DISCOGRAPHY)<br>
To: Multiple recipients of list BLUES-L <BLUES-L@BROWNVM.brown.edu><br>
<p>
 SON HOUSE was born Eddie James House Jr., Friday, March 21, 1902, Riverton, MS.
<p> 
<blockquote>
 "His blues were intense, anguished, and powerful. Unlike his 30s playing
 partner Charley Patton -- a "clowning man" with a guitar -- Son House took his
 music mighty seriously. Sitting on a straight-back chair, he'd suddenly whip
 his head back, roll his eyes inside his skull, and slide a bottleneck up his
 guitar's neck. Veins bulging in his forehead, he'd moan, thump a bass note,
 and sing with the deep conviction of a sinner on judgment day. Seeing him in
 1930 caused a teenage Robert Johnson to abandon harmonica for guitar. House
 cast a lifelong spell over Muddy Waters too. Eddie James "Son" House remained
 true to his Mississippi roots. His 1930 Paramount 78s captured unsurpassed
 Delta blues singing but brought him little money or recognition. He made
 superb field recordings -- solo and with a band -- in 1941 and 1942, and then
 followed a girlfriend to Rochester, NY, where he took a job on the New York
 Central Railroad.  Blues researchers located House in 1964 and prompted him
 into playing again. The hard-drinking guitarist recorded passionately
 primitive albums for Columbia, Verve/Folkways, Vanguard, and other labels,
 giving concerts until deteriorating health forced his retirement in 1974. He
 lived with his family in Detroit until October 19, 1988, when the last great
 voice of first-generation Delta blues was finally stilled."
<p>
- Jas Obrecht
</blockquote>