War Blues
1975 · Trix TRIX 3309 · Waverly, Virginia
- Artist
- Pernell Charity
- Title
- War Blues
- Release
- The Virginian
- Year
- 1975
- Label
- Trix # TRIX 3309
- Format
- LP · Album
- Language
- English
- Country
- Waverly, Virginia, USA
- Songwriter
- Pernell Charity
- Genre
- Blues · Country Blues
- Primary theme
- Home Front Perspective / Soldier's Perspective
Annotation — Blues songs
Obscure blues artist, Pernell Charity, born 20 November 1920 in Waverley, Virginia, USA. He died on 12 April 1979. He recorded this album, featuring the song "War Blues" (Trix Records # 3309) in October & November 1972 in Waverly, Virginia.12 It later appeared on the 1982 various artist compilation Virginia Traditions: Tidewater Blues (Blue Ridge Institute # BRI 006). The narrator describes receiving the draft card, or as often referred to song in the blues genre: "I got my questionnaire... I got to go to war". In this case the protagonist "don't mind being drafted", however he is worried to "leave these girls behind". Also of note, the narrator says he will put a "black cat bone way down in my shoe" - which is a hoodoo lucky charm.3Sources1Wirz discographies↩2BRI00006↩3Wikipedia: Black cat bone↩
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Notes
Track A2. Pernell Charity vocals and guitar. Recorded in Waverly, Virginia, 25 Oct 1972 (A2, per Discogs). Producers Pernell Charity, Kip Lornell, Pete Lowry; recorded and mixed by Pete Lowry; mastered by Ray Hagerty; liner notes Kip Lornell. Matrix TRIX 3309 A / TRIX 3309 B (etched). Lornell notes say Charity wrote War Blues himself and it evokes Sonny Boy Williamson's WWII-era recordings. 1995 CD reissue also on Discogs (6704633).
About the artist
Pernell Charity (20 November 1920 - 12 April 1979) was a blues guitarist and singer who spent nearly all his life around Waverly, Virginia, where he died; he was recorded there by Kip Lornell and Pete Lowry in 1972 and 1975 for Trix. [Source: peterblowry.com (Pete Lowry, Trix 3309 notes)]