Styles: Texas Blues, Country Blues, Songster, Blues Revival
Released: 1989
Label: Arhoolie
File: mp3 @320K/s
Size: 157.4 MB
Time: 59:16
Art: full
1. Sugar Babe (Lipscomb) - 2:06
2. Goin' Down Slow (Oden) - 3:07
3. Freddie (Lipscomb) - 2:42
4. Jack O'Diamonds (Lipscomb) - 4:05
5. Baby Please Don't Go (Williams) - 1:47
6. One Thin Dime (Lipscomb) - 2:59
7. Shake, Shake Mama (Lipscomb) - 2:53
8. Ella Speed (Lipscomb) - 2:36
9. Mama Don't Allow (Lipscomb) - 2:26
10. Ain't It Hard (Lipscomb) - 3:16
11. 'Bout a Spoonful (Lipscomb) - 3:27
12. Take Me Back (Lipscomb) - 1:59
13. Rag in "G" (Lipscomb) - 2:02
14. Big Boss Man (Dixon, Smith) - 3:09
15. You Gonna Quit Me, Baby (Lipscomb) - 2:38
16. Blues in G (Lipscomb) - 4:11
17. Mama, Don't Dog Me (Lipscomb) - 3:23
18. Willie Poor Boy (Lipscomb) - 3:02
19. Tell Me Where You Stayed Last Night (Lipscomb) - 2:48
20. Knocking Down Windows (Lipscomb) - 2:25
21. Nobody's Fault But Mine - 1:27
22. Motherless Children (Lipscomb, Traditional) - 2:40
rec. 1960-64; contains all of "Texas Sharecropper and Songster" (Arhoolie F 1001, Aug 1960) and much of "Texas Songster in a Live Performance" (Arhoolie F 1026, 1965)
Personnel:
Mance Lipscomb - Guitar, Vocals
Chris Strachwitz - Producer, Engineer
Notes: Mance Lipscomb, a Texas sharecropper for most of his life, was born in 1895. When not farming in his hometown of Navasota, he assumed the role of local entertainer and songstera versatile singer/musician who could handle a hardened blues just as easily as a soft children's song. Although Lipscomb didn't begin recording until he was nearly 65, he left behind a remarkably rich catalog of Texas blues before he died in 1976.
Country blues, that sparse, mostly raw and rootsy form directly linked to slave worksongs and field hollerswas his specialty. Equipped with a voice that could convey a range of emotions, Lipscomb was also an impressive guitarist, as this anthology reveals. Most of the 22 songs on 'Texas Songster' are originals, the best being 'Sugar Babe,' an obscure ditty written by Lipscomb when he was a teen; 'Ella Speed,' a bluesy ballad that remains one of his better-known numbers; and 'Bout a Spoonful,' a clever song about sex.
Lipscomb never quite achieved the popularity in mainstream blues circles as another Texas bluesman, Sam `Lightning' Hopkins. But it wasn't because he didn't deserve the recognition. Listen to this disc, read the excellent liner notes by Chris Strachwitz (the folklorist who discovered him) and Mack McCormick, and you'll agree that Lipscomb is one of the music form's great unsung heroes. ~Review by Robert Santelli
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