This week’s artist is none other than the great Blind Willie Johnson. A fire and brimstone preacher with a voice that is equal parts scary and soulful. Aside form the signature “Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground” (yep, its on voyager’s golden record), “Motherless Children Have a Hard Time” is guaranteed to send shivers up your spine, unless you got a hole in your soul (Burnside, 1979 – more on him later). I drift off to sleep exhausted after a hard day at UBC more often to this artist, then all others combined. Spin this, sit back, and get carried away to a street corner somewhere in Beaumont, sometime in the 30’s…….

Key tracks:

Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground

Motherless Children Have a Hard Time

God Moves on the Water

 

Best served with:

Something old simple and beautiful  – Dovetail joint

Whiskey…neat