- Louisiana Henry Ratcliff 1:43
- Jim And John Ed Young & others 2:12
- 61 Highway Blues Fred McDowell 3:08
- Stewball Ed Lewis & prisoners 3:25
- Po' Boy Blues John Dudley 3:19
- God's Unchanging Hand A. Burton & Congregation 1:44
- Keep Your Lamps Trimmed And Burning Fred McDowell 2:45
- Emmaline, Take Your Time Sid Hemphill, Lucius Smith 1:43
- I'm Gonna Live Anyhow 'Till I Die Miles & Bob Pratcher 2:35
- Little Sally Walker Mattie Gardner, Ida Mae Towns, Jesse Lee Pratcher 0:52
- Old Devil's Dream Sid Hemphill, Lucius Smith 1:49
- Rolled And Tumbled Rose Hemphill 2:56
- Mama Lucy Leroy Gary 1:36
- Soon One Mornin' Fred McDowell 3:18
- I'm Goin' Home Ervin Webb, with prisoners 3:22
- Interview with Ervin Webb 0:53
- Fred McDowell's Blues Fred McDowell, Moles Pratcher, Fanny Davis 4:12
- Tryin' To Make Heaven My Home Viola James & Congregation 2:19
- Berta, Berta Leroy Miller, with hoe group 4:43
- Germany Blues Fred McDowell 3:11
- Clarksdale Mill Blues John Dudley 2:21
- If It's All Night Long Miles & Bob Pratcher 3:02
- Lord Have Mercy Fred McDowell 1:53
- Didn't Leave Nobody But The Baby Mrs. Sidney Carter 1:03
Notes
Twenty-four tracks from Alan Lomax's 1959 blues recordings in Mississippi, five previously unreleased. Fred McDowell (who has five songs) is the "star," you might say, of these sessions; he would go on to establish a successful performing and recording career, and is the only name recognizable to most listeners. This is an effective document, however, of the different strands of country blues and their roots. It includes not just rural Delta guitar blues, but also field hollers, spirituals, prison songs, fife-and-drum tunes, and Sid Hemphill's quills. Lomax would later note that when he revisited the area 20 years later, most of these forms had all but disappeared from view. This disc is a good reminder of how blues developed from several African-American Southern folk traditions whose influence has sometimes been underestimated.