I have been listening to Always Lift Him Up, a tribute to Blind Alfred Reed and have enjoyed every track. This led me to wonder how many other folk here at Mudcat are familiar with the tribute CD or Blind Alfred Reed.

Blind Alfred Reed is a relatively obscure West Virginia musician who did not leave a large body of recorded music but there is a quality to his music that deserves to be heard. Some songs such as Why Do You Bob Your Hair Girls seem a bit dated and a bit narrow minded but do reflect an era of time and the treatment they receive on the Tribute CD is lighthearted and fun. According to Tim O'Brien's comments, Reed was unknown to many of the West Virginia artists who participated in the project. The artists did, however, put new life into Reed's songs and some of these songs do deserve a much wider circulation. "Always Lift Him Up" is one of those songs. The Old Crow Medicine Show did my favorite version of this song on their recent CD Tennessee Pusher. Dwight Diller sings the song on the Tribute CD. I also really liked Bare Bones version of "There'll Be No Distinction There" another song that should be better known.

I did find one other thread about Reed with some excellent comments by Stewie on Reed's music and debated about whether to continue that thread or start a new one. If someone decides to tie them together that is no problem. Anyone not familiar with Reed's music should definitely read Stewie's comments.