A very rain logged edition of the Gate City Blues radio program will be happening tonight from 7-9pm EST and it streams live and in stereo at wuag.net. I need some help with the redisgn (please!) if you check out honeytest you’ll see that the sidebar is all messed up, none of the text lines up properly, also Disclaimer for some reason is pretty far down the page, etc. I dunno how to fix it or how to reconstructed, help please!

Elizabeth Johnson is a pretty average blues singer from the late twenties who was blessed with great session players. This track is a cover of the great Bessie Smith song “Empty Bed Blues.” Johnson’s approach and phrasing is okay but King Oliver on corent and Clarence Williams on piano, the track really shines.

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The Gate City Blues radio program streams tonight from 7-9pm and plays the best pre-war blues the internet can handle. I’m feeling mostly better (and not addicted to nasal spray) but I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before my better half gets sick again and brings me down with her. I need to make sure she’s drinking her OJ in the morning or something.

Today’s track is from a unknown (as far as I can tell) Reverend, BJ Hill. The song of course is Lower My Dying one of my all time favorite gospel tracks and Hill is back by an equally as talented male congregation. This is one of the most powerful versions of the song that I’ve heard, Hill’s voice is just stunning on parts like “…all i want you to do for me/is read it when i’m dead” where he conveys the sadness, but with out fear his time of dying.

Note about the recording:

I always try to post mp3s that don’t have a lot of surface noise, but this is pretty low and scratchy. It’s very audible, however, just crack up the speakers a little bit and it should be okay.

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