INDEPENDENT RAMSEUR RECORDS HONORS BLUES HERO JOSH WHITE WITH VINYL REISSUE OF HIS SEMINAL 1956 LP

Reclaiming a lost blues classic… INDEPENDENT RAMSEUR RECORDS HONORS BLUES HERO JOSH WHITE WITH VINYL REISSUE OF HIS SEMINAL 1956 LP JOSH AT MIDNIGHT ON AUGUST 19 Album celebrating 60th anniversary “The incredible Josh White, at the absolute peak of his powers! Universally acclaimed as Josh's very finest album (Elektra 102)” —Jac Holzman, Founder and President of Elektra Records 1950 - 1974 Josh White at Cafe Society, 1947 Courtesy of the Estate of Josh White, Sr. CONCORD, N.C.. — In a massively influential career that spanned several decades, South Carolina-bred singer-guitarist Josh White (1914-1969) established himself as a pioneering musical force, a uniquely charismatic performer and a popular entertainer whose appeal transcended the racial and social barriers of the time.  At a time when African-American blues artists were routinely marginalized, White performed successfully on Broadway and in nightclubs, film and radio. He also emerged as a respected civil rights crusader and a trusted confidant of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who in 1941 invited White to be the first African-American artist to give a White House Command Performance.  Despite the fame and success that he achieved during his lifetime, and his influence upon a diverse array of artists ranging from Nat “King” Cole to Bob Dylan, White has largely been forgotten by contemporary audiences. The roots-savvy North Carolina-based independent label Ramseur Records plans to return White and his music to spotlight with its vinyl reissue of the vintage LP Josh at Midnight, originally released in 1956 on the then-fledgling Elektra label. The album will be re-released in a deluxe vinyl edition on August 19, 2016. Recorded with a single microphone by Elektra founder Jac Holzman over two nights in a converted Manhattan church in late 1955, Josh at Midnight finds White delivering spare, impassioned performances of a dozen spirituals and blues numbers. The artist is accompanied throughout the sessions by noted jazz bassist Al Hall and baritone vocalist Sam Gary. By the time Josh at Midnight was recorded, White had been blacklisted for his social activism and his career was in decline. This situation prevented him from recording for larger record companies, but the idealistic Holzman (who was a staunch admirer of White’s music) was willing to take a chance. His faith was rewarded when White’s Elektra recordings became some of the struggling label's biggest sellers, helping to revive the artist’s career and propel Elektra’s evolution from tiny indie imprint to successful industry force. Josh at Midnight remained one of Elektra’s top-selling titles for years, and became a fixture in many an album collection at the time.    As Holzman writes in his liner notes, “Josh at Midnight is probably the finest Josh White recording ever made. Sixty years later it still dazzles with the radiance of a great artist, thoughtfully recorded, whose contribution is unchallenged and firmly set in the bedrock of American vernacular music.”  The Josh at Midnight reissue is a labor of love for Ramseur Records founder Dolphus Ramseur, who’s been a committed White fan since childhood, when he first heard Josh at Midnight's lead track “St. James Infirmary” on a local radio station's blues show. White’s music has remained a touchstone in Ramseur’s life ever since. After meeting Jac Holzman through their mutual association with the Carolina Chocolate Drops, Ramseur became determined to restore Josh at Midnight to the vinyl marketplace with the same attention to quality and detail for which Ramseur Records has become known. The Josh at Midnight reissue was mastered with the participation of original producer Holzman, as well as legendary engineer Bruce Botnick and fabled mastering engineer Bernie Grundman. “Josh was a special artist and this is a special record,” Ramseur comments.  “It wasn’t about making money — I just felt like this music should be available. Josh was such an important artist and a unique voice and he was a really big star at one point. I want more people to know about him, and this is a good place to start.”   All photos must credit: Courtesy of the Estate of Josh White, Sr.

Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out - Josh White

Joshua Daniel White (February 11, 1914 – September 5, 1969), better known as Josh White, was an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor, and civil rights activist. He also recorded under the names "Pinewood Tom" and "Tippy Barton" in the 1930s.

White grew up in the Jim Crow South. During the 1920s and 1930s, he became a prominent race records artist, with a prolific output of recordings in genres including Piedmont blues, country blues, gospel, and social protest songs. In 1931, White moved to New York, and within a decade his fame had spread widely; his repertoire expanded to include urban blues, jazz, traditional folk songs, and political protest songs. He soon was in demand as an actor on radio, Broadway, and film.

White also became the closest African-American friend and confidant to president Franklin D. Roosevelt. However, White's anti-segregationist and international human rights political stance presented in many of his recordings and in his speeches at rallies resulted in the right-wing McCarthyites assuming him a Communist. Accordingly, from 1947 through the mid 1960s, White became caught up in the anti-Communist Red Scare, and combined with the resulting attempt to clear his name, his career was damaged. White's playing style influenced many future generations of guitarists, including Blind Boy Fuller, Brownie McGhee, Pete Seeger, Lena Horne, Nat King Cole, Harry Belafonte, Lonnie Donegan, Eartha Kitt, Alexis Korner, Odetta, Elvis Presley, The Kingston Trio, the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, Merle Travis, Dave Van Ronk, Peter, Paul and Mary, Bob Dylan, Eric Weissberg, Judy Collins, Mike Bloomfield, Danny Kalb, Roger McGuinn, David Crosby, Richie Havens, Don McLean, Roy Harper, Ry Cooder, John Fogerty, Eva Cassidy and Jack White.
White had a hands-on influence on Ovation. White used to come to the factory. His fingernails were brittle and prone to cracking, a condition that got worse as he grew older. Ovation's subassembly foreman, Al Glemboski, made a cast of White's fingers, from which he made a set of fiberglass nails. White glued on these false nails with a special industrial glue called Eastman 910, which would later be marketed as Super Glue. He returned to the factory every other month for a new set of nails.
In 1961, White's health began a sharp decline as he experienced the first of the three heart attacks and the progressive heart disease that would plague him over his final eight years. As a lifelong smoker he also had progressive emphysema, in addition to ulcers, and severe psoriasis in his hands and calcium deficiency in his body that would cause the skin to peel off of his fingers and leave his fingernails broken and bleeding with every concert. During the last two years of his life, as his heart weakened dramatically, his wife Carol would put him in the hospital for four weeks after he completed each two-week concert tour. Finally, the doctors felt his only survival option was to attempt a new procedure to replace heart valves. The surgery failed.

He died on the operating table on September 6, 1969 at the North Shore Hospital in Manhasset, New York
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