Posts tagged "Son House"

Son House: The Conduit of the Blues

“Don’t never follow your first mind, cause that’s the one that’s wrong. ‘Cause the Devil beats God to you every time.”

- Son House

In the beginning was the blues, and the blues was with Son House, and Son House was the blues. Son House doesn’t play the blues; he is a conduit for it.

Born Eddie James, he took to preaching at an early age. He became Son House when the blues rained down on him. Without him, the blues wouldn’t exist as we know it.

His playing is stripped down, essential. He sings nothing but the naked truth. A skinny kid named Robert Johnson used to follow him around trying to learn to play.

Schooled in the Baptist Church, juke joints, barbecues, and Parchman Farm, Son House produced a yin-yang tapestry of good and evil, man and woman, darkness and light in his music.

If you want to know the blues, listen to Son House.

Death Letter Blues