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Blues with a Message

Various Artists
Blues with a Message

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

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101
Sam Chatmon
02:50
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102
John Jackson
03:53
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103
Mercy Dee
03:08
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104
Mance Lipscomb
03:41
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105
Lightnin' Hopkins
05:01
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106
Lowell Fulson
05:19
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107
Fred McDowell
05:36
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108
Essie Jenkins
04:04
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109
Willie Eason
05:59
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110
Doctor Ross
03:03
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111
Robert Pete Williams
05:14
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112
Johnie Lewis
03:15
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113
Herman E. Johnson
04:46
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114
Johnny Young and Big Walter Horton
03:24
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115
Juke Boy Bonner
03:30
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116
Juke Boy Bonner
02:59
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117
Bee Houston
03:10
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118
Big Joe Williams
04:21