Awesome Performances

Son House: The Conflicted Bluesman

As most of you know, I mostly get into Rock music. I do also enjoy the Blues and Jazz. I recently took a couple of courses on the history of Rock music on Coursera. I discovered a very interesting Delta Blues player that I was not aware of. Son House   was raised in the Baptist Church. His early musical training was Gospel. He considered Gospel music as the Lord's music, and the Blues as the Devil's music. He was a Baptist preacher for a number of years. He found himself drawn to the "dark side" of the Blues. He spent most of his life trying to reconcile his religious beliefs and his love of the Blues.

Son House's full name was Edward James "Son" House Jr. He was called "Son" to distinguish him from his father. The nickname stuck.

Son knew Robert Johnson as a teenager. He told about how he and other Blues players would take a break when playing in juke joints. Johnson would grab one of the player's guitars and try to play. Johnson was not a good musician at the time. House said that the customers would tell them to "get that guitar away from that boy" because it sounded so bad. Robert Johnson then left the Mississippi Delta for a couple of years and returned as a guitar virtuoso. That is where the Crossroads Deal with the Devil legend came from.

When you watch the video, look into Son's eyes, especially when he is speaking. I am more impressed with his spoken words than his music. You can feel his emotions and his conflicted soul. I like to think that he reconciled his love for the Blues and his religious beliefs. I don't believe that the Blues, or any music is inherently evil. I believe that Son did make it to Heaven.

For those who are not of the Christian faith, there is still something to be learned from Son House's words and music. We all must choose between good and evil.

Note: Son refers to "foxfire" when he is talking about love. Foxfire is a luminescent fungus. It is a very impressive sight on a dark night. It glows quite brightly.