Blind Alfred Reed

This West Virginia singer/songwriter and fiddler was among Ralph Peer’s discoveries over the legendary 1927 Bristol field trip that unearthed both Carter Family members and Jimmie Rodgers. Reed was one particular exclusively Southern contradictions, both reactionary and intensifying in his music. “HOW DO a Poor Guy Stand Such Situations and Live?” echoed the sentiments from the rural poor (who tasted non-e from the Roaring Twenties success), while “Why WOULD YOU Bob NICE HAIR, Young ladies?” invoked Biblical sanctions against flappers. Topical ointment commentary of the sort was uncommon in early hillbilly recordings: Reed’s contemporaries generally pruned a branch in the folk tree or swiped a full page from Mom’s Victorian songbook. Incongruously, Reed was a protest vocalist/songwriter out of period and place. Ry Cooder revived several his songs within the ’70s, the 10 years of Rounder’s reissue of many Reed performances, HOW DO a Poor Guy Stand Such Situations and Live?