Today’s topic: Son House, Father of the Delta Blues. He would sing songs like … “Grinnin’ In Your Face”.

Son House was a delta blues singer and guitarist, and he didn’t have a lot of music like singers today. That’s kind of what Delta Blues is. It’s one of the earliest - known styles of blues. It originated in the Mississippi Delta, and is regarded as a regional variant of country blues. Guitar and harmonica are its dominant instruments. Vocal styles in Delta blues range from introspective and soulful to passionate and fiery.

After years of hostility to secular music, as a preacher and for a few years also working as a church pastor, House turned to blues performance at the age of 25. He developed his musicianship to the point that Charley Patton, the foremost blues artist of the Mississippi Delta region, invited him to share engagements and to accompany him to a 1930 recording session for Paramount Records.

Issued at the start of the Great Depression, the records did not sell and did not lead to national recognition.

In 1964, a group of young record collectors discovered House, whom they knew of from his records issued by Paramount and by the Library of Congress. With their encouragement he relearned his repertoire and established a career as an entertainer, performing for young, mostly white audiences in coffeehouses, at folk festivals and on concert tours during the American folk music revival,billed as a “folk blues” singer. He recorded several albums, and some informally taped concerts have also been issued as albums. House died in 1988. In 2017, his single “Preachin’ the Blues” was inducted in to the Blues Hall of Fame.

I’m Gail Nobles and you’re listening to Podcast and Blues. Today’s topic: Son House. Father of the Delta Blues.