One Kind Favor

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Lyrics/Song history research on other recordings by The Rosinators

Old Joe Clark
Orange Blossom Special
I Saw the Light (Hank Williams)
In My Time of Dyin'
Blue Ridge Mountain Blues
Cindy's Breakdown (aka Get Along Home Cindy)
Joli Blon (aka Jolie Blonde)
Little Sadie
Looking for the Stone (aka Daniel Saw The Stone)
Poncho's Lament (Tom Waits)

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"On the first listening I was under it's spell;
on the second I was hooked! This is real
acoustic roots at its best. Don't let this one
pass you by!" [Maverick Magazine]

"It blew me away. Just such a wonderful
piece of work." [Bill Hahn, 'Traditions,
WFDU FM, New Jersey, USA]

"Buy the album. You won't regret it"
[Gail Comfort, CMR Nashville]


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The Rosinators on the Leftfield Stage, Glastonbury Festival, 2005

"When American roots music deejays rave about bluegrass passion, Cajun verve
and country-gospel authenticity, you know that The Rosinators are the real deal.
From deep in the heart of Balham Alligator territory, the London-based trio have
added their own stamp to the American old time tradition so convincingly that most
of their radio airplay comes from US stations. Formed in 2001, they blazed out of
the traps with dynamic three-part vocal harmonies and fiery twin-fiddle attacks
driven by crackin' guitar picking."
[Acoustic Music Centre - Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Aug 2005]

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Lyrics

Song History / Major Recordings / Links

Origins - see this Mudcat thread

Blind Lemon Jefferson

'See That My Grave Is Kept Clean'


Blind Lemon Jefferson recorded the traditional "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" in October 1927, two years before he froze to death on the streets of Chicago. When Jefferson learned the song it was a folk spiritual called "Two White Horses In A Line", also known as "One Kind Favour". He turned it into something entirely his own and although Dylan followed Jefferson's arrangement fairly closely on his debut album, the two versions are also quite different. As Robert Shelton put it: "Blind Lemon's recording is sprightly, sweet and benevolent, while Dylan's is stark and morose". [Uncut Magazine]


/ Amazon.co.uk / Amazon.com

Handbook of Texas Online
JEFFERSON, BLIND LEMON (1897-1929). Blind Lemon Jefferson, blues musician, son of Alec and Cassie Jefferson, was born in Coutchman, Texas, in July 1897 (an estimated date since no records are available). He was born blind and was known all his life as Blind Lemon Jefferson. Jefferson received no formal education and instead traveled from town to town in the Wortham area, playing his guitar and singing songs, most of which were his own compositions. He later moved to the Dallas-Fort Worth area and became a well-known figure in the Deep Ellumqv district of Dallas. There he met Huddie Ledbetter (better known as "Leadbelly"), and for a time they played together in some of the brothels of Texas' cities. Leadbelly's "Blind Lemon Blues" was in honor of his friend. Jefferson was discovered by a talent scout for Paramount Records while in Dallas and was taken to Chicago. He made seventy-nine records for Paramount in the 1920s, each estimated to have sold 100,000 copies; he also made two recordings under the "Okeh" label. Recordings included "Matchbox Blues," "Black Snake Moan," and "See that My Grave is Kept Clean." He recorded spirituals under the pseudonym Deacon L. J. Bates. Jefferson is recognized as one of the earliest representatives of the "classic blues" field, considered to be one of the best folk blues singers of the 1920s, and said to have influenced such artists as Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith, and Bix Beiderbecker, and to have encouraged Sam "Lightnin'" Hopkins when Hopkins was an eight-year-old boy in Buffalo, Texas. It is not definitely known whether Jefferson was married, although one source says he married in 1922 or 1923 and had a son. He died in late December 1929 in Chicago. The exact date and cause of death is unknown because there was no death certificate, but it was reported that he had a heart attack and died on the streets during a snowstorm. Blind Lemon was buried in the Wortham Negro Cemetery, and his grave was marked as an official Texas historical monument in 1967. Jefferson was inducted into the Blues Foundation's Hall of Fame in 1980.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Alan B. Govenar, Meeting the Blues (Dallas: Taylor, 1988). Alan Lomax, Folk Songs of North America (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1960). Robert Santelli, Big Book of the Blues: A Biographical Encyclopedia (New York: Penguin Books, 1993). Vertical Files, Barker Texas History Center, University of Texas at Austin.

Marilynn Wood Hill

/ Amazon.co.uk / Amazon.com

According to Gary Keenan in this American String Conspiracy blog post,

"The Two Poor Boys recorded and released "Two White Horses In A Line"
in 1927, a year earlier than Jefferson, and it could be that Jefferson's
"There's one kind favor I ask of you" verse is his only original lyric
contribution to the song." Read full article here.

Lyrics


'In the Shadow of Clinch Mountain'
(12 CD Box Set)

Amazon.co.uk / Amazon.com

(May 10, 1897—January 11, 1965) - an American  old-time musician. He was most notable for his appearance with his sister, Texas Gladden, on a series of Library of Congress recordings in the 1940s and his later appearances at various festivals during the folk music revival of the 1960s. Smith is often remembered for his virtuosic performances on the banjo, and had also mastered various other instruments, including the fiddle, guitar, piano, harmonica, accordion, and organ….more @ Wikipedia)

Note: The Rosinators recently received an email from a relative of Hobart Smith, David Ralstin. He wrote:

"I love your music and I want to let you know that your recording of "One Kind Favor" has personal importance for me.  In the long list of artists that have recorded the song, I see my great uncle Hobart Smith. His sister (my grandmother) was Texas Anna Gladden. She was also of historical importance musically.  In 1956 my mother took my brother and I back to Roanoke Virginia to connect with our extended family. Though being born there myself, I was raised on the west coast and had never met them.  My mother made it a point for my brother and I to sit and listen to Hobart play the guitar and sing. To this day I actually remember two verses to one of his songs. I have never seen or heard that song since so it may long lost. Thanks for taking the time to list those names. It was a wonderful suprise."

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Videos

Mavis Staples singing 'See That My Grave Is Kept Clean
"Lightning In a Bottle: A One Night History of the Blues" DVD - 2004)

Amazon.co.uk / Amazon.com

Blind Lemon Jefferson: His Life, His Death, and His Legacy
(Paperback) by Robert L. Uzzel
Amazon.co.uk / Amazon.com

Book Description
Between 1926 and his untimely death in 1929, Blind Lemon Jefferson was the largest-selling black blues singer in the United States. Blind from birth, Lemon wandered the streets of Wortham, Groesbeck, Marlin, and Kosse in Central Texas, playing his guitar and soliciting contributions with his tin cup. In 1912 he caught a train for Dallas, where he performed in the famous Deep Ellum district. He was discovered by a talent scout for Paramount Records and taken to Chicago in 1925.

Between 1926 and 1929, Lemon recorded more than a hundred titles and
traveled extensively. His musical influence was widespread, affecting white and black musicians alike and extending to musical forms other than the blues.

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