Blind Willie Johnson, Lonnie McIntorsh, Rev A Johnson showcased on new box set.

A FOUR-CD box set homing in on virtuoso guitarists from African American gospel has been released by JSP Records. 'Blind Willie Johnson And The Guitar Evangelists 1927-1953' features many of the recordings made by legendary street musician Blind Willie Johnson as well as numerous sides by Lonnie McIntorsh, Rev IB Ware, Dennis Crumpton & Robert Summers and Willie Mae Williams. The album was given a rapturous review in the blues news sheet published by Red Lick, stating that "no one on this collection is as well known or revered as Blind Willie, there are a whole truckload of masterful performances here."

Red Lick is even more enthusiastic about the 1953 recordings by Rev A Johnson, "Rev A Johnson strapped on his electric guitar, cranked up his amplifier to past-distortion and let that thing scream and screech on the wild, barely controlled versions of 'God Don't Like It' and 'Lord Will Make A Way'. His playing and vocal delivery is so way out and so compulsive that if he turned to rock and roll instead of the Lord, he'd have been a guitar legend today!" CR

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