Last year I drove into the heart of the San Fernando Valley to cherry pick some records from this guy’s collection who was selling stuff on eBay. It was a weird experience, being invited into this person’s house to basically sift through hundreds of records for a few I was interested in, while he sat on the couch like a slob watching soap operas. I found some cool things, a second pressing UK copy of In The Court of The Crimson King, some Mark Lanegan records, a few other oddities and fun titles. Then I came across this record, whose title had me chuckling for the remainder of the day. I don’t think I paid more than a buck for it, but it was worth it just to tell people I had a record by a guy who called himself “The Ragtime Cowboy Jew.”
The record openings with a pretty rocking number called “So The Say,” but most of the numbers on this record are solo acoustic works, in the vein of a John Fahey or Leo Kottke. There’s a number of cover songs by Son House, Mississippi John Hurt, and the Reverend Gary Davis. The credits list “Eugene House” as the vocalist on the two Son House tracks, but since Eddie isn’t short for Eugene I’m not entirely sure who that is (novice record nerd alert!). “The Birthday Song” is borderline acid folk, but it’s not quite there. “The Alini (Hush My Baby)” features a couple electric guitar leads but it’s not fuzz or psych. The album isn’t quite folk, isn’t quite rock, isn’t quite psych. It’s hard to pin down. I think the solo acoustic ditties are the highlight here, if you put them all together you’ve got a nice little ragtime guitar album.
Oh, and Sandy Denny sings backup on “A Pretty Little Tune,” the album’s final song. That’s a pretty important note, because her first solo album didn’t come out until a year after this record. Denny had already committed vocals to some Fairport Convention stuff, so her contribution to this record came relatively early on in her career.
Check it out. There isn’t too much information on this record available online outside of discographies. Hopefully sharing it will help attract some attention and help us learn more about it.
Stefan Grossman
The Ragtime Cowboy Jew
Transatlantic, 1970
MegaUpload DL Link
01. So They Say
02. Sound Techniques Recording Blues
03. The Birthday Song (People Get Ready)
04. Odyssey
05. The Alibi (Hush My Baby)
06. Georgia Camp Meeting
07. A Praire Song
08. Waterfalls
09. New Pony Blues [Son House]
10. Bye And Bye
11. Matesa
12. Morning Blues
13. Satisfied And Tickled Too [Mississippi John Hurt]
14. High Society
15. Soldiers March [Rev. Gary Davis]
16. Fat Man
17. Kokomo
18. Belozona Blues
19. Orphan Sunday
20. Little Sally Walker
21. Make Believe Stunt [Rev. Gary Davis]
22. Roseberry Hill
23. Yonder Comes The Blues [Son House]
24. A Pretty Little Tune
