Hymns, Spirituals, Blues - 1940s, 50s

I am a writer and owner of an online record store. Here I share unique, rare, and out-of-print LP (33, 45 rpm) and tape (but no "CD") recordings from my personal record collection of what are generally recognized to be among the greatest compositions across all genres from the early 12th through the mid-to-late 20th century. Real or perceived quality of the performance is of less importance to me that the imperative of ensuring that these recordings are brought to life and not lost to history.

YouTube is regarded by scholars and researchers as a primary source archive; thus it is essential to document these musical performances with as much detail as the video format will permit, both for research purposes and, perhaps as importantly, to strengthen viewer confidence in the provenance and authenticity of the recording to which they are listening. (For the latter reason I may upload historically important recordings which are purported to already exist on YouTube.)

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