Blues with a Message

Various Artists

All blues songs have a message, and it is often a statement of the singer’s hopes and fears for themselves and their community. In this collection, producer Paul Oliver presents a mix of country and urban bluesmen (including Essie Jenkins) singing about the trials of being black in America in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. Among the songs are versions of “Tom Moore’s Farm,” “Tom Moore’s Blues,” “John Henry,” “Depression Blues,” “Stockyard Blues,” and “Things Are Going to Get Better.”

*Content Advisory: Track 101 on this album contains derogatory language in the lyrics. The "n-word" was originally circulated and popularized through blackface minstrelsy and used by an American society steeped in white supremacist values, especially during the Jim Crow era, to unjustly describe and identify Black people. Please click here for additional context.

For our policy on controversial recordings, please see our Frequently Asked Questions page.

Track Listing

101	I Have to Paint My Face*	Sam Chatmon	02:50
102	John Henry	John Jackson	03:53
103	Walked Down So Many Turnrows	Mercy Dee	03:08
104	Tom Moore's Farm	Mance Lipscomb	03:41
105	Tom Moore's Blues	Lightnin' Hopkins	05:01
106	River Blues	Lowell Fulson	05:19
107	Levee Camp Blues	Fred McDowell	05:36
108	The 1919 Influenza Blues	Essie Jenkins	04:04
109	Why I Like Roosevelt	Willie Eason	05:59
110	Little Soldier Boy	Doctor Ross	03:03
111	Prisoner's Talking Blues	Robert Pete Williams	05:14
112	I Got to Climb a High Mountain	Johnie Lewis	03:15
113	Depression Blues	Herman E. Johnson	04:46
114	Stockyard Blues	Johnny Young and Big Walter Horton	03:24
115	What Will I Tell the Children	Juke Boy Bonner	03:30
116	It's Enough	Juke Boy Bonner	02:59
117	Things Gonna Get Better	Bee Houston	03:10
118	Back Home Blues	Big Joe Williams	04:21

Catalog

Blues with a Message

Track Listing

Release Info

Catalog Number(s)

Year(s) Released

Label(s)/Collection(s)

Country(s)

Genre(s)

Instrument(s)

Language(s)

Recording Era(s)

Credit(s)

.