"Whiskey and women would not let me pray"

Cover artwork by R. Crumb... Three 78s issued in 1930 by Paramount Records, another bunch of songs recorded by Alan Lomax in 1941-42 for the Library of Congress and a trio of 1965 concert recordings during his "rediscovery" phase... I am LOVING my "Heroes of the Blues" compilation of SON HOUSE songs.
Kerstin and I listened to it en route to the Dubuque Regional Humane Society, where we volunteered today.
The songs from 1930 -- featuring a booming voice and hard-to-hear guitar -- sound like urgent messages from beyond. Recording equipment had improved by 1941, so on the Lomax sides you can actually hear what House is singing about.
The 1965 pieces are stark -- on "John The Revelator," House is accompanied only by hand claps. It sounds remarkable.
House preached before he sang the blues, and the conflict between religion and "whiskey and women" is inherent in his work.
His career ended tragically, almost as if ripped from the blues lyric sheet.
He passed out drunk in a snowbank during the winter of 1969-70 and his hands became frostbitten. He played only occasionally after this accident. When House died in 1988 in Detroit, it caught many blues aficionados by surprise. They thought this musical giant had already long since passed away.