{"id":142,"date":"2010-09-02T13:47:00","date_gmt":"2010-09-02T18:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nowthissound.com\/ntsib\/?p=142"},"modified":"2011-10-01T23:12:00","modified_gmt":"2011-10-02T03:12:00","slug":"skip-james-never-get-down-this-low-no-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.nowthissound.com\/ntsib\/2010\/09\/02\/skip-james-never-get-down-this-low-no-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Skip James: Never get down this low no more"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It was not Nehemiah Curtis James\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, a.k.a. Skip, music that first sparked my fascination with the blues musician from Bentonia, Mississippi. I was skimming through a book I had just brought home from the library, a coffee table companion to the PBS American Roots Music<\/i> series, when a full-page portrait stopped my hand. The man\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s stare was hard, direct, uncompromising. It was a face that revealed no secrets but hinted at stories untold. I was transfixed.<\/p>\n

At the time, my familiarity with James was relegated to other people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s interpretations of his songs, namely Chris Thomas King\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s recording of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Devil Got My Woman\u00e2\u20ac\u009d for the film O Brother, Where Art Though?<\/i> and the Gutter Twins\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 cover of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hard Time Killing Floor Blues\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. That was going to change right quick.<\/p>\n

Born in 1902 on a plantation in the Jim Crow South, Skip James\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 overall story is not much different from many of the other blues musicians and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153songsters\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of his time and place. From early on, he wavered between music, bootlegging and the church. In 1931, he auditioned for local record dealer and de facto talent scout H.C. Spier, who sent James to Wisconsin to record for Paramount Records. James recorded 18 sides for Paramount, a label that was in the midst of collapsing. The recordings were not the hits he expected, and James abandoned his career as a blues musician (though he continued to play in church and for recreation).<\/p>\n

In 1964, a small group of blues record collectors initiated a blues \u00e2\u20ac\u0153revival\u00e2\u20ac\u009d when they sought out the musicians who created the 78s they had obsessively collected. The young, white men searched the South and brought back the likes of Son House, Bukka White, Mississippi John Hurt and James and took the musicians – some who would be playing the blues for the first time in years – to Rhode Island to perform at the Newport Folk Festival. While the blues musicians would continue to play Newport for a few more years, the revival was no great success for them and many found the opportunities for paying gigs dwindling rapidly. Barely able to pay his rent, James died of inoperable cancer in 1969, his hospital and funeral expenses covered by royalties from Cream\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s cover of James\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m So Glad\u00e2\u20ac\u009d.<\/p>\n

Inexplicably preoccupied with the arresting photo of Skip James, I sought out his music and found myself stopped in my tracks once again, this time by the first song James ever recorded – and what I feel may be the greatest blues song – \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Devil Got My Woman\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I decided,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d James said of his music, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d try to play something just as lonesome as I could. To try to take an effect.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d* James proves to be a master of taking an effect. I have listened to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Devil Got My Woman\u00e2\u20ac\u009d numerous times now, and each time, it leaves me with a hollowed heart and a great, pathetic sigh rising up in my chest. James\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 high, bereft vocals hang over his sparsely-picked guitar. James eschewed chords, and his finger-picking allows all the space this song needs to spread out and encompass emptiness.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/param><\/param><\/embed><\/object>Devil Got My Woman<\/a> by Skip James<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

While arguably his best, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Devil\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is not James\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 only song to telegraph unmitigated sorrow. The feeling also permeates songs like \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hard Time Killing Floor Blues\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Cypress Grove Blues\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. Even \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m So Glad\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, a song which would appear upbeat on paper with its title and its bluegrass-speed finger-picking, comes across as a statement of irony. And while even James\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 lighter fare is great (check out his piano tunes like \u00e2\u20ac\u015322-20 Blues\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153How Long Buck\u00e2\u20ac\u009d) it is this skill to give<\/i> listeners the blues that, for me, puts Skip James above the rest.<\/p>\n

\n

*from I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d Rather Be the Devil: Skip James and the Blues<\/i> by Stephen Calt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was not Nehemiah Curtis James\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, a.k.a. Skip, music that first sparked my fascination with the blues musician from Bentonia, Mississippi. 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