Song Of The Day 9/5/2016: D.H. “Bert” Bilbro – “C. & N.W. Blues”

Celebrating Labor Day as avidly as I do, I decided to take last night off from the arduous task of sitting down and typing out SOTD, figuring it could come late this morning. Instead I sat down and manipulated sound files, in addition to drafting three fantasy football teams in the morning, because nobody sits down for 10 hours to do facsimiles of hard labor like us 'Muricans.

Anyway, last night I cranked out Mixtape #30. It won't be posted for approximately three to four weeks because I'm still cranking out Hidden '70s mixes, three more of which are going to be posted between September 10 and 20. But I got Mixtape #30 done way in advance because, quite frankly, I wanted to hear something that wasn't Hidden '70s-related for the first time since mid-summer. I got it done. The working title was "Mixtape #30: Fever Reset," which I didn't like and started fussing over mentally, until I realized all I had to do was invert the words, so now it's "Mixtape #30: Reset Fever," which I like a lot more. This glimpse into the creative process is free of charge to you.

Today's SOTD is the opening number on the tape, an amazing harp piece by Bert Bilbro. It's almost always anthologized under the name D.H. "Bert" Bilbro so that's how I rendered it in the title, but in research I discovered that's probably incorrect. Bilbro was a harmonica player from South Carolina who recorded the stunning "C. & N.W. Blues" for the Okeh label in 1928. I'm sure the gimmick will reveal itself to you pretty clearly so I'll let you discover it.

All right, back to leisure for me.