The Complete Friends of Old Time Music Concert

Bessie Jones, John Davis, and the Georgia Sea Island Singers gained wide renown during the 1960s and ‘70s for their powerful performances of traditional songs from the African American Gullah Geechee community on St. Simons Island, Georgia. Most in the group were born and raised on St. Simons, and could trace their ancestry to the enslaved West and Central Africans who worked on the island’s cotton plantations. Throughout the ‘60s, the Georgia Sea Island Singers were prominent voices in the civil rights movement, bringing hundreds of years of Black musical tradition to bear on a pivotal time in American history. This previously unheard recording captures their complete Friends of Old Time Music concert of April 1965, at which they were joined by legendary bluesman Mississippi Fred McDowell, cane fife player Ed Young, and folklorist Alan Lomax, who acted as emcee. The album showcases a variety of traditional music from the Island and beyond, including stirring work songs, emotionally charged spirituals, jubilant songs for children, and revelatory renditions of Mississippi blues.

 

Track Listing

1	Introduction by Alan Lomax / Travelin' Shoes	Georgia Sea Island Singers led by Bessie Jones	02:29
2	Handclapping - Cane Fife	Georgia Sea Island Singers led by Bessie Jones with Ed Young	03:07
3	Buzzard Lope (Dance) - In That Old Field	Georgia Sea Island Singers led by Bessie Jones	02:12
4	Josephine	Georgia Sea Island Singers led by Bessie Jones	01:14
5	Goodbye My Riley O	Georgia Sea Island Singers led by John Davis	02:41
6	Go Row the Boat Child	Georgia Sea Island Singers led by Peter Davis	01:39
7	Join the Band	Georgia Sea Island Singers led by John Davis	01:26
8	Sink 'Em Low	Georgia Sea Island Singers led by Bessie Jones	02:29
9	Going Down to the River	Mississippi Fred McDowell	03:30
10	Shake 'Em on Down	Mississippi Fred McDowell with Mable Hillery	03:04
11	Once There Was No Sun	Georgia Sea Island Singers led by Bessie Jones	02:40
12	Adam in the Garden	Georgia Sea Island Singers led by John Davis	01:26
13	Who Built the Ark	Georgia Sea Island Singers led by Bessie Jones	01:38
14	Let My Children Go	Georgia Sea Island Singers led by John Davis	03:19
15	My God Is a Rock	Georgia Sea Island Singers led by Peter Davis	04:14
16	I Heard the Angels Singing	Georgia Sea Island Singers led by Mable Hillery with Mississippi Fred McDowell	03:11
17	Read 'Em John	Georgia Sea Island Singers led by John Davis	01:37
18	Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning	Georgia Sea Island Singers led by Mississippi Fred McDowell	03:32
19	Sign of the Judgment	Georgia Sea Island Singers led by Bessie Jones	02:45
20	Chevrolet	Ed Young, Emma Lee Ramsey	04:22
21	Write Me a Few of Your Lines	Mississippi Fred McDowell	03:29
22	Don't Ever Leave Me	Mississippi Fred McDowell with Mable Hillery	03:56
23	Marching on the Mississippi Line	Mable Hillery, Emma Lee Ramsey	03:12
24	Down to the Mire	Georgia Sea Island Singers led by John Davis	03:18
25	Before This Time Another Year	Georgia Sea Island Singers led by Bessie Jones	04:56