FOR SAL: If we're gonna talk about black music we need to stop derailing that other thread.

And if we're gonna talk about it and listen to it, we need to start by going all the way back to the beginning. To the one who is now recognized as the "father" of it.

Here's his music and lyric.



I got a letter this mornin, how do you reckon it read?
It said, "Hurry, hurry, yeah, your love is dead."
I got a letter this mornin, I say how do you reckon it read?
You know, it said, "Hurry, hurry, how come the gal you love is dead?"

So, I grabbed up my suitcase, and took off down the road.
When I got there she was layin on a coolin board.
I grabbed up my suitcase, and I said and I took off down the road.
I said, but when I got there she was already layin on a coolin board.

Well, I walked up right close, looked down in her face.
Said, the good ole gal got to lay here til the Judgement Day.
I walked up right close, and I said I looked down in her face.
I said the good ole gal, she got to lay here til the Judgement Day.

Looked like there was 10,000 people standin round the buryin ground.
I didn't know I loved her til they laid her down.
Looked like 10,000 were standin round the buryin ground.
You know I didn't know I loved her til they damn laid her down.

Lord, have mercy on my wicked soul.
I wouldn't mistreat you baby, for my weight in gold.
I said, Lord, have mercy on my wicked soul.
You know I wouldn't mistreat nobody, baby, not for my weight in gold.

Well, I folded up my arms and I slowly walked away.
I said, "Farewell honey, I'll see you on Judgement Day."
Ah, yeah, oh, yes, I slowly walked away.
I said, "Farewell, farewell, I'll see you on the Judgement Day."

You know I went in my room, I bowed down to pray.
The blues came along and drove my spirit away.
I went in my room, I said I bowed down to pray.
I said the blues came along and drove my spirit away.

You know I didn't feel so bad, til the good ole sun went down.
I didn't have a soul to throw my arms around.

By the way,  if you listen closely to his licks,  you'll recognize them.  Because you'll hear them in many blues and rock records made many years later.  And I guarantee you,  you'll find elements of what he was doing so long ago in hiphop too.

That unusual looking guitar you see him playing is called a resonator guitar (sometimes called a Dobro because that was the company that made most of them).
Before there was amplification, it was designed to be louder than a conventional acoustic guitar. That gave him the capacity for his playing to be heard by larger crowds.

The River, The Plantation, and The Juke.

http://www.blueshighway.org/icons.htm