« Robyn Hitchcock | Main | Peter Holsapple & Chris Stamey »

(NODEPRESSION.NET) -- That this varied, various-artists release is named for the Fisk University folklorist who collected a great variety of African-American music with and without Alan Lomax says much for the new esteem in which Work is held. Should be held. It is the slightly overdue companion piece to Robert Gordon and Bruce Nemerov's Lost Delta Found, published in 2005.

It is also proof of Work's work, of the variety of vernacular musical styles afoot in black music at the edge of WWII. Some of Work's discs were donated to the Library of Congress (part of the transaction which brought him to Lomax's attention); these fourteen tracks came from the collection he held back, whether as educational tools or private pleasures cannot be said.

Included are examples of black sacred harp singing, of blues, of work songs, of gospel quartets, etc. The Fairfield Four and a brief interview with Muddy Waters provide tentative handholds for contemporary listeners, but it is necessary to remember, no matter modern restorations, that these sides were recorded on modest equipment and well-used.

The pity is that Work's efforts went poorly funded, and that there aren't hundreds of these sides, cut on much better gear. And that Work himself is such an obscure footnote.

-- GRANT ALDEN
Copyright c. 2008 No Depression Inc. and/or Grant Alden