“Born Aug. 11, 1887 in Louisiana, Crying Sam Collins was one of the earlier slide players to be recorded, and had a falsetto voice that linked him to a group of bluesmen that included Skip James, Jack Owens, and King Solomon Hill. He recorded under numerous pseudonyms and on numerous labels in 1927 and again in 1931 — more than half were unissued. In his work, “The Country Blues,” Sam Charters includes him in a group including Charlie Patton and Son House who were “too intensely personal to appeal to any kind of large audience,” as opposed to Paramount’s headliners Blind Blake, Ma Rainey, and Blind Lemon Jefferson. In “The Story of the Blues,” Paul Oliver notes his “wailing holler-style . . . one string and often the whole instrument out of tune” likening that aspect to the “drone notes and vibrators” found in African music. http://www.wirz.de/music/collifrm.htm —LARRY HOFFMAN”

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