Stagger Lee Saturdays - Long Cleve Reed and Harvey Hull

Long Cleve Reed and Harvey Hull were also known as The Down Home Boys, and other than that I can't find anything else about them. They recorded a few other sides for a couple of labels, but this record is why they'll be remembered. Not this recording; this record.

This record is incredibly rare -- there's only one copy still extant, and it's worth at least $30,000. (That makes it one of the most valuable records ever.)

I like this -- it feels to me like the best folk music, like something dug out of the dirt and pushed into a primitive shape. The harmony vocals duet with the surface noise to instantly transport me to the past, a time when my ancestors were growing tobacco or cotton in Georgia's red dirt and on weekends they could supplement their income by entering a small record label and singing into microphones.





...wow, I'm more tired than I thought. But it's Saturday, and if I don't finish this now it won't get posted in time. Let's just say I love this recording, and leave it at that.

Long Cleve Reed and Little Harvey Hull - The Original Stack'O Lee Blues
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