Re: [ARSCLIST] John Hammond discovered everybody, was Community Radio

[steven c <stevenc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Lennick" <dlennick@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
> And Robert Johnson..unless we're referring to the LP reissues. Johnson was
sort of
> dead when Hammond wanted him for the Spirituals to Swing Concert.
>
Actually, the story goes that Hammond heard Johnson's ARC recordings,
wanted to hire him for that event, and when he went looking for RJ
discovered he was somewhat dead...news that had never reached New
York at that point. And it's very likely that Hammond was behind the
release of "King Of the Delta Blues Singers," since CBS had access
to other better-known blues artists (i.e. "Big Bill" Broonzy) who
could have been reissued on LP. Nevertheless, it's always been my
thought that the ready availability of that LP when various UK
would-be-blues-revivalists went looking for original material
to cover was what turned RJ into the mythic figure he became
among white blues-wannabes, and remains to this day!

Steven C. Barr
(who, if the truth be known, prefers Broonzy's songwriting...)