The Lead Belly Songbook - Lead Belly, no stranger to the blues

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Fort Worth and Dallis Blues

Click here to listen to Real Audio format 28.8 modem.

The publisher originally registered this using the spelling "dallis", so it remains. It is interesting that this type of spelling to signify a song sung in a strong rural accent is no longer commonplace.

Oh to have been a fly on the wall listening to Lead Belly and Blind Lemon play together. One of the verses about Jesse James makes me wonder whether Lead Belly or Blind Lemon originally made it up, or perhaps neither did. This is not an easy song to play (or transcribe). The steady bass beat with the thumb and the melodic counter beats with the finger, with their strong blues notes combine for one of the most interesting blues in Huddie's repertoire. Huddie's recording of this song on the Library of Congress discs (available on Rounder Records) is full of fire.  Click here to listen to it in G2 format

I don't know of any recording Huddie made of this song after 1935 or so. Perhaps he was satisfied with using this basic tune, in the G position, to present "Good Morning Blues". In the 1935 ARC recording of this song, he sings a line - "Good morning blues, blues how do you do - I'm doing mighty well, good morning how are you?".