GOD DON’T NEVER
CHANGE:
THE SONGS OF BLIND WILLIE
JOHNSON
TRIBUTE ALBUM ONLY HAPPENS IF FANS FUND
IT
Salute
to legendary gospel singer-guitarist Blind Willie
Johnson,
with new recordings by Tom Waits, Sinead
O’Connor,
Lucinda
Williams, Luther Dickinson, Cowboys Junkies, Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi,
Blind Boys of Alabama and Rickie Lee Jones, is a Kickstarter project in the
works.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Johnson's music was charred with purgatorial fire —
more than sixty years later, you can still
smell the smoke on it.—Francis Davis, The History of the Blues
More than 60 years after his death, Blind Willie Johnson continues to
capture listeners in a way that few singers or musicians have equaled. The list
of artists he has influenced goes back to Robert Johnson and forward to the
White Stripes. The most obviously indebted would include several generations of
hard country gospel singers, from the Blind Boys of Alabama to the Staple
Singers, and the most soulful and virtuosic slide guitarists, from Mississippi
Delta bluesmen to Ry Cooder.
Raising $125,000 in 30 days for an album of new recordings celebrating the
music of Blind Willie Johnson is a risk that music producer Jeffrey Gaskill
finds completely worthwhile. “I think when Blind Willie Johnson sat down in
the recording studio in the late ’20s he understood the importance of
posterity, that he was recording something to be heard by future generations.
Today, his music is on a spaceship representing mankind in outer space and yet
many of his recordings are virtually unknown.” But Gaskill realizes, “It’s a
labor of love that will not be supported by a record label; God Don’t Never
Change will
only happen if it’s going to be funded by appreciators of good music.”
According to the Encyclopedia of American Gospel Music, “It would be
impossible to list every musician influenced by Blind Willie Johnson, because it
would require mentioning almost everyone who ever listened to one of his
records.” In
his time, Johnson was considered a singing gospel preacher. Today, he is
called a “holy bluesman,” reflecting all of the blues and rock fans and
musicians who have been inspired by his work. Either way, there is no more
compelling voice in early American music. His music lives on, both in the gospel
world and in genres he never could have imagined, and it is
a fitting honor that his legacy be saluted and carried forward into
the 21st century.
In order to raise enough money to fund the project, a group of rare and
collectible items are available for sale. The
fundraiser’s crown jewels include The Blind Pilgrim Collection, a set of
five, unique handcrafted cigar-box
guitars made from the wood of Johnson’s 1930s Marlin, Texas home. For
sale individually, the guitars are a limited, numbered set exclusively for
this effort.
The Kickstarter fund raising effort begins on October 16 and ends on
November 16, 2013.
The project features several rewards for investors at several levels.
One-of-a-kind collectibles, content exclusives, and premiums for backers of the
album include:
· Backer-only “making-of-the-album” video updates
· Exclusive CD version of the album
· Limited-edition Blind Willie Johnson T-shirts
· Set of two 180-gram LPs in a gatefold package (includes re-mastered,
original Blind Willie Johnson recordings)
· Limited, signed and numbered art prints
· Box set in a hardbound case that includes 10” vinyl 33 RPM singles for
each track, with a
new recording on one side and the original Johnson recording on the
flipside
· Advance digital download of the new album two weeks before release
· Hand-crafted cigar-box guitars made from the wood of Johnson’s Texas
home Kickstarter campaigns operate under an “all-or-nothing” funding model so if
the Blind Willie Johnson project doesn’t reach its goal at the end of the 30
days the
recording won’ happen.
The project can be followed on
