The CD that Les refers to is 'Complete Recorded Works' Document DOCD-8022. I agree that there is a preachiness to some of his pieces, indeed to the extent that one begins to wonder how serious he actually was and suspects perhaps a wry smile at times. I am very glad to own the CD; there are some lovely recordings on it. Reed's voice is strong and clear and his fiddle playing very fine. He was an extremely religious man and many of his secular pieces have a hymn-like austerity, but are none the less moving for that. His own simple compositions reflect the rural southerner's contempt for materialism, hypocrisy and exploitation. His event ballads, such 'The Wreck of the Virginian' and 'Fate Of Chris Lively and Wife' stand as well as similar pieces by his contemporaries and his reworkings of familiar themes - 'Explosion in the Fairmount Mines', 'The Prayer of the Drunkard's Little Girl', 'Black and Blue Blues', 'Always Lift Him Up And Never Knock Him Down - have his personal stamp.

Three of the 4 recordings in his first session were gospel pieces - 'I Mean to Live for Jesus', 'You Must Unload' and 'Walking in the Way with Jesus'. The remaining side was 'Wreck of the Virginian'. 'Unload' was a popular gospel song of the time, but he may or may not have had a hand in the composition of the other two. In his subsequent 2 sessions, he eschewed gospel for his ballads and novelty songs. His masterworks are 'How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live' and 'There'll Be No Distinction There', the latter being one of the few early recordings, black or white, on the subject of discrimination and subsequently recorded twice by the Carter Family [there is also a version in the Brown Collection of NC Folklore]. The 2 moralistic songs about flapper hairstyles, 'Why Do You Bob Your Hair Girls' and 'Why Don't You Bob Your Hair Girls No 2' [Victor mistakenly had 'Don't' on the label of the latter], are dated and perhaps stilted, but nevertheless are of historical interest in respect of the countryman's attitude towards fads and the jazz age. In a similar vein to 'Poor Man' was 'Money Cravin' Folks'. The condition of marriage was a favourite theme for Reed, giving rise to 'Woman's Been After Man Ever Since' and 'We've Got to Have 'Em, That's All', two songs that I reckon hold up pretty well.

My personal favourites of Reed's are two on which his son, Arville, shares the vocals [Arville also played guitar on most of his recordings]: 'Beware' and 'You'll Miss Me'. 'Beware' is particularly delightful with charming fiddle accompaniment - as Rick said above, the fiddle plays the melody [Reed kept rattlesnake rattles in his instrument in hopes of improving the tone]:

We know young men are bold and free
Beware, oh take care
They tell you they're friends but they're liars you see
Beware, oh take care

'You'll Miss Me', a secular song, has faint echoes, particularly in the chorus, with 'Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone', a gospel song perhaps best known by the Carter Family recording.

The 2 songs not mentioned so far are a sentimental piece called 'The Old-Fashioned Cottage' and a topical Reed composition that was recorded solo by Arville on vocal and guitar - 'The Telephone Girl'.

--Stewie.