If I could name one person who catches a bad rap in blues circles, it’s Josh White. In the 40s he was one the first black artists to find commercial success in America but he has always been dogged by the blues critics who claim he was a “sellout” for expanding his repertoire to include songs from all genres of his day(folk, tin pan alley, etc). He became quite well known in his day as a performer and actor and he even used his fame to raise awareness of racial issues at the time but he was eventually labeled as a Communist during the Red Scare and lost quite a bit of his popularity from both his white audiences(for the Communist accusations) and his black audiences(who didn’t feel he was a true blues artist anymore).

For the record, I thought he really brought hip voicings and more sophisticated chord changes to the blues style - especially on those old minor key blues songs. I just think it’s a shame he doesn’t get the credit he deserves for being a true blue artist who furthered the genre while doing more socially for his people than most other blues artists - especially in a time when blacks had almost no representation at all. Take this clip from the early 40s where three white musicians are begging Josh to play for them and even providing back up vocals for him. How many times did you see a scene like this in the 40s? Probably never….hell I don’t even see that in this day and age.

John Henry by Josh White