You Can't Make Me Doubt
Mississippi
2012
Rating: 8 legal pads out of 10
I'm just going to copy from the press that everyone else seems to be copying from:
"First full length album by one of the greatest Gospel musicians of all time! Boyd Rivers was an amazing but unfortunately, little known Gospel artist. Comparisons could be made to Charlie Jackson, but in the end not too many people sound anything like Boyd Rivers. Side one features Boyd playing stunning electric guitar & belting out 6 incredibly heavy songs. Side two finds Boyd playing acoustic guitar - a bit mellower but still impassioned. All the material on this album has never been released, with the exception of 'Fire In my Bones'."
To sum up - mostly undiscovered gospel musician (that sounds like a classic blues man) finally sees a record of just his material released by Mississippi records. Whether Rivers is playing acoustic or electric, his music & voice feel very pre-war blues (the best blues there is in case you were wondering). It's a really great album, maybe not so easy to find, but any fan of pre-war blues would be well served to seek this out.
I had the opportunity to meet Boyd Rivers and to watch his set when he almost opened the Mississippi Delta Blues Festival way back in 1979: powerful singer and guitar player (he was then playing only electric guitar)and a very shy man. As it was the case of most of the Black musicians in this area, Boyd was a sharecropper and music was only a sideline affair. He played mostly in his church and sometimes at parties ans such. Too bad his first full record appears almost 20 years after his death!
ReplyDeleteGreat story Gerard! Really love the record, too bad it wasn't released when he was alive but better late than never...
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