Son House and the Great Delta Blues Singers – Various Artists – Complete Recorded Works (1928-1930)

Son’s insistent guitar with its thudding bass and incisive slide would sell his records to blues fans on its own but coupled with his mighty voice, one of the most intense in the music, it forms a combination that is, in blues terms, sublime. …the supporting cast here is strong enough on its own to beggar my supply of superlatives. All have voices rough enough to cause abrasions as they sing about the concerns of Mississippi blacks in the 1920s to a series of accompaniments that form the very sinews of the tradition. From the harmonised field hollers of Joe Calicott to the relative sophistication of the otherwise unknown Jim Thompkins, there isn’t a track here that isn’t prime.

Keith Briggs: Blues & Rhythm – Issue 56