The Rough Guide to Holy Blues

Featuring 25 tracks of vintage acoustic blues – almost all of them dating from the 1920s and 30s – this album is a testament to how versatile the form could be. It's also ample proof that professions of religious faith needn't be po-faced. Blind Lemon Jefferson has a jocular swing on ‘He Arose from the Dead’, imparting some carnivalesque swagger to his testifying. Bukka White's ‘I Am in the Heavenly Way' features call-and-response with a female vocalist in classic energetic gospel style. Kate McTell has such a wonderfully sardonic-sounding voice that her duet with her husband, Blind Willie McTell, sounds as if it's expressing anything but holy devotion; then again, it is called ‘God Don’t Like It'.
But the most singular performance is ‘Honey in the Rock’ by one of the least-known artists featured here, Blind Mamie Forehand. There's a ghostly stillness to the song, with its odd, clock-like chimes, leisurely slide-guitar and fluttering, wayard vocal. It will stop you in your tracks, bringing a palpable sense of mystery to this varied, intense and hugely enjoyable blues compilation.