Playing for the Man at the Door: Field Recordings from the Collection of Mack McCormick, 1958–1971

In the 1950s and 60s, the blues was the dominant form of Black vernacular music throughout Texas and the surrounding areas. In segregated neighborhoods, community members gathered in saloons, dancehalls, and each other’s homes to hear their neighbors sing their stories of sorrow, heartbreak, jubilation, and triumph. Robert “Mack” McCormick, an academically untrained but fanatical devotee of the blues, stepped into this world and became one of its most devout advocates and documentarians. By photographing Black and Latino Texans and their neighborhoods, as well as recording and interviewing musicians—many of whom never stepped foot into a proper recording studio—McCormick endeared and eventually embedded himself into these communities. By the time he died in 2015, McCormick had amassed a collection of 590 reels of sound recordings and 165 boxes of manuscripts, original interviews and research notes, thousands of photographs and negatives, playbills, and posters. Because McCormick never published or released most of these materials, his collection became a thing of legend and intense speculation among scholars, blues aficionados, and musicians alike.

Playing for the Man at the Door: Field Recordings from the Collection of Mack McCormick, 1958–1971 is the first compilation of music drawn from this fabled collection, which indelibly documents a pivotal moment in African American history. It features never-before-heard performances not only from musicians who became icons in their own right—including Lightnin’ Hopkins and Mance Lipscomb—but also, crucially, performers whose names may be unfamiliar to even the most devoted blues fans and scholars. Newly mastered recordings and accompanying photographs bring to life many of these forgotten figures: offering insight into their lives and illuminating in new, enlightening ways their joys and anguish, deep social connections, distinctive voices, and cultural networks. The collection spans gospels, ragtime, country blues dirges, the unclassifiable music of George “Bongo Joe” Coleman, and more, showing that no community, no matter how tight knit, is monolithic.

Accompanying the music is a 128-page book, which contains breathtaking photographs by McCormick and his associates, as well as contextual essays by producers Jeff Place and John Troutman on McCormick’s life, and by musicians Mark Puryear and Dom Flemons on some of the marginalized communities throughout “Greater Texas” to which McCormick devoted his life’s work. This release is a partnership with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.

Track Listing

1	Mojo Hand Lightnin' Hopkins	04:03
2	God Moves on the Water Mance Lipscomb	02:33
3	The Clinton Robert Shaw	02:18
4	Sugar Blues Kid Wiggins	02:44
5	St. James Infirmary Dudley Alexander and Washboard Band	04:16
6	Darlin' (You Know I Love You) Cedell Davis	02:55
7	You Gonna Look like a Monkey Dennis Gainus	02:25
8	One Room Country Shack Grey Ghost	03:42
9	Groceries on My Shelf (Piggly Wiggly) Edwin "Buster" Pickens	04:26
10	3 O'Clock Blues Hop Wilson	04:52
11	Anything from a Foot Race to a Resting Place Jealous James Stanchell	03:11
12	Salty Dog Rag James Tisdom	03:18
13	Goin' to the River Gozy Kilpatrick	01:35
14	Quills Joe Patterson	01:14
15	Ma Pa Cut the Cake Lightnin' Hopkins	01:42
16	Crazy about Oklahoma Otis Cook	03:12
17	Little Red Rooster Grey Ghost	03:51
18	My Work Will Be Done The Spiritual Light Gospel Group	03:00
19	Steel Guitar Rag James Tisdom	01:42
20	Tall Angel at the Bar Mance Lipscomb	03:02
21	This Whole World's in a Sad Condition George "Bongo Joe" Coleman	08:59
22	World's in a Tangle Lightnin' Hopkins	05:51
23	Someday Baby Robert Shaw	05:39
24	It's Alright CeDell Davis	03:36
25	Cryin' Won't Make Me Stay R.C. Forest and Gozy Kilpatrick	01:54
26	China Tea Allen Van	02:31
27	Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is George "Bongo Joe" Coleman	03:24
28	Tom Moore's Farm (1) Lightnin' Hopkins	04:34
29	Tom Moore's Farm (2) Mance Lipscomb	04:56
30	Don't Do Me No Small Favors (Help the Bear) Jealous James Stanchell	01:37
31	Fox Chase Billy Bizor	02:20
32	Black Widow Spider Blues R.C. Forest	02:03
33	Come and Go with Me to That Land Hardy Gray	05:26
34	Rollin' and Tumblin' CeDell Davis	03:18
35	Train Roll Up Leroy "Country" Johnson with Edwin "Buster" Pickens	01:44
36	Shorty George Edwin "Buster" Pickens	04:32
37	Matchbox Blues Joel Hopkins	01:49
38	It's My Life Baby Blues Wallace	04:16
39	Hello Central, Gimme 209 Andrew Everett	03:08
40	Bad Lee Brown Jim Wilkie	02:33
41	Tin Can Alley Blues R.C. Forest and Gozy Kilpatrick	02:49
42	Medicine Show Pitch Murl "Doc" Webster	01:52
43	So Different Blues Mance Lipscomb	02:45
44	I Feel So Good James Tisdom	02:41
45	Mr. Charlie Lightnin' Hopkins	04:51
46	The Ma Grinder Edwin "Buster" Pickens	02:08
47	Deep Ellum Blues Paul Elliott	02:37
48	K.C. Ain't Nothing but a Rag Andrew Everett	02:00
49	Lonesome Road Kid Wiggins	02:24
50	Old Judge Blues Dennis Gainus	03:15
51	The Slop Melvin "Jack" Jackson and Lightnin' Hopkins	02:24
52	Corrine, Corrina Lightnin' Hopkins	03:20
53	Talking Blues Jimmy Womack	01:35
54	Good Times Here, Better Times Down the Road Joel Hopkins	03:05
55	Put Me in the Alley Robert Shaw	02:26
56	Auctioneer Walter Britten	00:35
57	Runaway Hardy Gray	03:27
58	Broke and Hungry Hop Wilson	04:14
59	Big Road Blues Mager Johnson	03:46
60	Casey Jones Mance Lipscomb	02:27
61	Atomic Energy Jimmy Womack	02:15
62	Natural Born Lover Long Gone Miles with Lightnin' Hopkins and Love Crazy	04:24
63	Swanee River Boogie E.B. Busby	01:44
64	Rock Me Baby Long Gone Miles	02:53
65	Blues Jumped a Rabbit Lightnin' Hopkins	03:51
66	George Coleman for President, Nobody for Vice President George "Bongo Joe" Coleman	03:12