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Album Review: Son House - Forever on My Mind

Only 50 or so people attended Son House’s Nov. 23, 1964, concert at Wabash College in Indiana. Although virtually one heard it at the time, everyone can hear it now.

Released as Forever on my Mind, the LP represents the earliest post-rediscovery recordings of the foundational Delta bluesman and features the only recorded version of the title track, which opens the eight-song, 43-minute album.

Despite being billed as a complete-show recording, there is no - zero, zilch - crowd noise. And the songs sound edited, coming in as they do on clipped notes and ending awkwardly.

This minor quibble aside, the tapes are crystalline, capturing every nuance of House’s resonator guitar, his occasional introductions and spirited vocals as he sings about leavin’, drinkin’, grievin’, cryin’ and preachin’.

Having been away from music for two decades at this point, House sounds hungry. And a tad rusty. But this only adds to the charm as he stumbles across the fretboard on “Empire State Express” and plays “Forever on My Mind” and “Louise McGhee” to essentially identical melodies.

House’s performs the ubiquitous “Motherless Children” under the title “The Way Mother Did” and nods to his old pal Charley Patton with “Pony Blues.” Taken as a whole, Forever on My Mind is a rare, high-fidelity, nearly modern recording of one of the Delta blues’ founding fathers. And that’s nothin’ to be missin’.

Grade card: Son House - Forever on My Mind - A-