Album Notes

SIDEWALK SAINTS (noun) Guitarists, who played gospel music on the street corners of the South during the 1920s and '30s. Their repertoire reached back to sacred songs popular before the Civil War, as well as tunes from a new-fangled invention -- the radio.

At least that's what a definition would be for Side Walk Saints, in a dictionary of Americana music. However, words only hint at this colorful footnote in the annals of roots music. The raucous spirit-filled sound of the Saint's cannot be summarized with a sentence or two when you consider the story behind the music.

The Saints' instrument of choice was the resonator or National Steel Guitar. When played with a slide, the resonator became the ideal foil for a Sidewalk Saint because it could mimic the human voice becoming a combination choir and "amen corner" for the Saints' commentary.

Generally, the Saints' sound was a snapshot of America's Pre-World War II gospel music in which elements of everything from blues and Black gospel rubbed shoulder with Appalachian ballads and ragtime jazz.

Sometimes the "saints" worked the street corners solo. Other times they were backed by whatever musicians and instruments - rub boards, pop bottles, suit cases and bass drums -- that were at hand.

You cold also hear this music at worship services and church picnics. Back-up instruments would then range from clapping hand to serving spoons grabbed from the potato salad and quickly wiped clean.

"Sidewalk Saints" re-creates this unique music with resonator guitar and a battery of percussion instruments and "Baptist moans."
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Ben Bowen King has recorded three albums for Smithsonian Folkways in addition to recording an album for Vanguard, produced by noted Blues author and producer Sam Charters.

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What they're saying about Ben Bowen King:

"King is great guitarist! His weave of styles is seamless." John Schaefer, WNYC's "New Sounds"

"I just listened to 'Sidewalk Saints.' LOVE IT. I'm crazy about "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot." This is so refreshing and fun and also it's got the old gospel thing going for it, but with a new attitude," Gordon Atkinson, www.reallivepreacher.com