sweartotellthetruth

Swear to Tell the Truth for Tuesday, March 24th, (1:00-2:30 pm)

New York blues and R&B from the fifties and Piedmont style blues 1935-1951 on this week’s show.  We had something else in mind but faced a couple of obstacles. The show we did put together began with one track we wanted to play by Reverend Gary Davis. Kinston North Carolina storeowner J.B. Long’s pipeline to New York and Columbia Records ensured that Blind Boy Fuller and his circle, including Gary Davis,  were prominently represented on records from 1935 to 1941, when Fuller became one of the most popular recording artists in blues. Fuller died early in 1941 but the regional style of blues from the Carolinas, Virginia and parts of nearby states had sufficient cachet to retain a share of the post-war blues market. Blues singers were part of the migration to northern cities and New York, not generally regarded to be a blues city,  became home to a small but influential circle of blues artists who benefitted from being close to the heart of the American recording industry.

On the Show:

Sam Price and his Orchestra – Mickey & Sylvia – Wild Jimmy Spruill – Betty James – Reverend Gary Davis – Blind Boy Fuller – Dipper Boy Council – Gabriel Brown – Champion Jack Dupree – Dan Pickett – Carolina Slim – and others

Listen to the program at FM 93.3 in Hamilton or on CFMU online at cfmu.msu.mcmaster.ca. The program will be available to stream or as a podcast until April 20th.

Contact Us

To reach us with comments or queries, write us at sweartotellthetruth@gmail.com.

You can also follow the program at sweartotellthetruth@nosignifying on Twitter.

Next week (April 3rd)

Can’t tell you right now.

cmc