Buddy Moss

Complete Recorded Works (1933 to 1941)

Vol. 3: 21st August 1935 to 23rd October 1941

Featuring the recordings of:

Buddy Moss, vocal, guitar; Joshua White, guitar added on 4, 5, 6. Buddy Moss, vocal, guitar; Joshua White, guitar. Joshua White, Buddy Moss, vocal duet / guitar duet. Buddy Moss vocal, guitar; Joshua White, vocal on 14 / guitar. Buddy Moss, vocal; acc. self or Brownie McGhee, guitar. Buddy Moss, vocal, guitar; Brownie McGhee, piano added on 17, 19, 20.

Genres: Blues, Country Blues, Georgia Blues, Piedmont Blues, Country Blues Guitar, Blues Piano, National Guitar

Abridged form this album’s original booklet notes. By 1935 Buddy Moss’s star was definitely in the ascendency and with Blind Willie McTell moving to Decca the record company had in Moss an established artist with all the sales potential of McTell. In August he was recalled to the studio and, unlike the previous year, was back with an accompanist – Josh White. As such this alliance was probably one of convenience since White, another Piedmont artist, had been in the studio most of the year recording blues (as Pinewood Tom) and spirituals (as the Singing Christian). It was therefore a logical step to pair them. At one of these sessions White, in his Singing Christian guise, duetted with Moss. Despite all the positiveness on the part of the record company, Buddy Moss’s career was to suffer a serious setback. In the autumn of 1935 he fell foul of the law and was jailed. His incarceration lasted for five years during which time several attempts were made to get him released on parole. All failed. Parole was finally granted due to the combined efforts of Art Satherley and J. B. Long. Moss was given a job by J. B. Long at his home in Elon College – probably a condition of the parole and as a house guest met there Brownie McGhee, Sonny Terry, Jordan Webb, Robert Young and George “Oh Red” Washington. In October 1941 they travelled together to New York to record for Okeh and over a two day period Moss, McGhee and Terry all cut sides. Moss recorded thirteen numbers but in the event only three 78s were released and McGhee, who a few years earlier had been hailed by the company as the next Blind Boy Fuller, fared equally badly – in both cases for reasons other than record industry fickleness as will be seen. Moss’s comeback couldn’t have come at a less propitious time. Within two months of his return to recording the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor which resulted in the curtailing the use of shellac other than for purposes of the war effort. If that wasn’t bad enough, Moss, like every other recording artist was affected by James C. Petrillo’s ban. Buddy Moss, in every sense of the phrase, was an unfortunate victim of circumstance. Disillusioned by this turn of events he gave up music, finally settling in the Durham area working in the tobacco industry. During the early fifties he returned to Atlanta and took day jobs doing everything from truck driving to elevator operating.

DOCD-5125