Talk:Son House

Son House
Eddie James House, Jr. (March 21, 1902 - October 19, 1988), better known as Son House, was an influential blues singer and guitarist. His birth is a matter of debate. While all legal records place his birth on March 21, 1902, Son House himself gave contradictory information: that he was middle aged during World War I, that he was 79 in 1965, that he was born in 1886. Certainly, the voice in his recordings for the Library of Congress in 1941 and 1942 was not one of a young man.

He was born in Riverton, Mississippi.

He played alongside Charley Patton, Willie Brown, Robert Johnson, "Fiddlin'" Joe Martin, and Leroy Williams.

After killing a man in self-defense, he spent time on Parchman Farm.

Son House made recordings for Paramount Records in 1930 and for Alan Lomax from the Library of Congress in the early 1940s. He then faded from public view until the country blues revival in the 1960s when he was "re-discovered". He subsequently toured extensively in the US and Europe and recorded for CBS records. Like Mississippi John Hurt he was welcomed into the music scene of the 1960s and played at Newport Folk Festival in 1964.

Unlike some blues guitarists of the 1920s and 30s, House was not a virtuoso, and there is little that is technically impressive about his playing. He more than made up for this lack of technique, however, with his powerful and innovative style, featuring very strong, repetitive rhythms, often played with the aid of a bottleneck, coupled with singing that owed more than a nod to the hollers of the chain gangs. The music of Son House, in contrast to that of, say, Blind Lemon Jefferson, was emphatically a dance music, meant to be heard in the noisy atmosphere of a barrelhouse or other dance hall. House was an important influence on not only Muddy Waters but also Robert Johnson, who would later take his music to new levels. It was House who, speaking to awe-struck young blues fans in the 1960s, spread the legend that Johnson had sold his soul to the Devil in exchange for his musical powers.

Ill health plagued his later years and Son House stopped performing in the early 1970s and died in Detroit, Michigan.

Copyrights of Congress Library recordings
Are Alan Lomax recordings in public domain or free to use? If so, I think I would like to upload some of them into Wikimedia Commons. --128.214.205.6 13:25, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Stop Breaking Down
Again, sir, I have removed your shameless use of Wikipedia for your own self promotion. My suggestion would be to stop adding YouTube links to your thesis film (regardless if it did win an Emmy or not) to the sections on the Blues Musicians who your film is about. This site is not for advertising and your film is not, in my opinion, notable enough to be listed here. Perhaps if you were not so blatant about your own self promotion (and explain, perhaps, who you are when you say "my thesis film", etc.) we could leave the links.

Also, if you're going to make an addition such as the one you have made, come to the discussion board first and ask to see if others find it notable enough for inclusion. And if you're going to make unchecked additions, make sure that they are within formatting guidelines and do not stick out from the rest of the article (as they do). Liontamarin 05:35, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Mike Was Here
I removed the Mike was here section because I thought the stupid ramblings of bored teenagers was disrespectful to the memory of Son House and to blues music in general —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.9.112.72 (talk) 01:11, 16 September 2007 (UTC)


 * See also Talk:Robert Johnson (musician) Studerby 23:53, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

Penn State
Son House played at Penn State, at the University Park campus in May of 1969, as part of the Black arts Festival. Pustelnik (talk) 23:08, 9 October 2008 (UTC)

Willie Wilson?
Who is he — Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.184.140.180 (talk)

Why mention the race of the record collectors that "discovered" Son House?
It doesn't make any sense. It's not like Son House was well known in the black communities. I know a lot of white people have a profound guilt for "discovering" black music and making it "popular" - to the point of self flagellation - but it's completely irrelevant here.24.189.110.120 (talk) 08:17, 27 August 2013 (UTC)
 * I've taken it out. It's true, and not completely irrelevant, but it's not mentioned in the main article text - which the introduction is supposed to summarise - and on balance it seems unnecessary to me to include it.  Ghmyrtle (talk) 09:21, 27 August 2013 (UTC)

Discography review
As with many old blues artists, their current available discography is often quite muddled. In the case of Son House, there are albums out there (which are listed in the discography) that draw from the pre-war recordings, his only studio album, some Library of Congress and even some live recordings.

I am thinking of cleaning up the discography by pointing out that the following original recordings were made and issued: - Pre-War/Paramount - Library of Congress - 1965 CBS Studio Album - Various Live concert recorings

Under each category, I would list the "original" releases. I would then point out that these recordings have been reassembled in various ways and would list some of the compilations.

Feedback to this approach? Aggsl74 (talk) 16:20, 1 April 2016 (UTC)


 * I suggest you liaise with, doyen of blues discographers, who I'm sure has all the relevant information. Ghmyrtle (talk) 16:38, 1 April 2016 (UTC)


 * Sounds like a good idea. I find the sessionography info useful.  Will it be expanded or changed? —Ojorojo (talk) 13:34, 2 April 2016 (UTC)


 * Of course I know Stefan's collected wealth of information, that would definitely be included. The challenge - as you probably know - is giving a clear overview which versions of for example "Death Letter" exist and when they were recorded. I am thinking about this as a labor of love, so I don't know when I will actually get to it. Aggsl74 (talk) 21:15, 14 April 2016 (UTC)

Grinning in Your Face
The Son House song “Grinning in Your Face” is sampled on Beyoncé’s “Smoke Hour,” an interlude track on Cowboy Carter with different samples that sound like scanning a radio. I was considering adding this to the page but this particular song isn’t mentioned yet, and I wasn’t sure where to add it. Figure I would post here and see if anyone had thoughts or if this seems worth including to others. Klarazim (talk) 19:34, 19 April 2024 (UTC)