Blind Alfred Reed

Trackimage Playbut Trackname Playbut Trackname
How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live 00:00 Tools
Fate of Chris Lively And Wife 00:00 Tools
I Mean To Live For Jesus 00:00 Tools
Explosion in the Fairmount Mine 00:00 Tools
Why Do You Bob Your Hair, Girls 00:00 Tools
How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live? 00:00 Tools
The Wreck Of The Virginian 00:00 Tools
How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times 00:00 Tools
How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Hard Times and Live? 00:00 Tools
Beware 00:00 Tools
You Must Unload 00:00 Tools
Walking In The Way With Jesus 00:00 Tools
There'll Be No Distinction There 00:00 Tools
How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Hard Times And Live 00:00 Tools
Always Lift Him Up And Never Knock Him Down 00:00 Tools
Explosion in the Fairmont Mines 00:00 Tools
Explosion In The Fairmount Mines 00:00 Tools
Black And Blue Blues 00:00 Tools
You'll Miss Me 00:00 Tools
The Prayer Of The Drunkard's Little Girl 00:00 Tools
Why Don't You Bob Your Hair Girls - No. 2 00:00 Tools
We've Got To Have 'Em, That's All 00:00 Tools
The Old-Fashioned Cottage 00:00 Tools
The Telephone Girl 00:00 Tools
Woman's Been After Man Ever Since 00:00 Tools
Woman's Been After You Ever Since 00:00 Tools
Money Cravin' Blues 00:00 Tools
Explosion 00:00 Tools
The Wreck of the Old Virginian 00:00 Tools
Money Cravin' Folks 00:00 Tools
Tiger Rag 00:00 Tools
Walking In The Way With Jesus (Take 2) 00:00 Tools
The Wreck Of The Virginian (Take 2) 00:00 Tools
The Old Fashioned Cottage 00:00 Tools
The Wreck Of The Virginian (Take 1) 00:00 Tools
Why Do You Bob Your Hair Girls 00:00 Tools
Walking In The Way With Jesus (Take 1) 00:00 Tools
How Can a Poor Man Stand Such 00:00 Tools
We'Ve Got To Have 'Em That'S All 00:00 Tools
The Fate Of Chris Lively And Wife 00:00 Tools
How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Li 00:00 Tools
The Prayer Of The Drunkard’s Little Girl 00:00 Tools
I Mean To Live For Jesus (1927) 00:00 Tools
I Mean to Live for Jesus - 27 00:00 Tools
Woman’s Been After Man Ever Since 00:00 Tools
Why Do You Bob Your Hair Girls — No. 2 00:00 Tools
Why Don't You Bob Your Hair Girls-No. 2 00:00 Tools
We’ve Got to Have ’Em, That’s All 00:00 Tools
Why Don't You Bob Your Hair, Girls - No. 2 00:00 Tools
Money Cravin' Fool 00:00 Tools
Money Cravin’ Folks 00:00 Tools
The Prayer of the Drunkards Little Child 00:00 Tools
The Wreck of the Virginia 00:00 Tools
The Telephone Girl - Blind Alfred Reed with Arville Reed 00:00 Tools
How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Hard Times & Live 00:00 Tools
Eware 00:00 Tools
Wreck Of The Virginian 00:00 Tools
How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Hard Times And Live- 00:00 Tools
I Meant To Live For Jesus 00:00 Tools
The Telephone Firl 00:00 Tools
There'll Be No Diostinction There 00:00 Tools
Money Cravin Folks 00:00 Tools
Old Fashioned Cottage 00:00 Tools
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Blind Alfred Reed (Floyd, Virginia, June 15, 1880 - Elgood, West Virginia, January 17, 1956) was an American folk and country musician. He was one of the artists who recorded at the Bristol Sessions in 1927, alongside more famous names such as Jimmie Rodgers and The Carter Family. He played the fiddle and his son, Arville, played the guitar. Reed was born blind. He was raised in a very conservative family and acquired a violin at a young age. He began performing at county fairs, in country schoolhouses, for political rallies, and in churches. He even played on street corners for tips. He used to sell out printed copies of his compositions for ten cents. While playing during a convention in 1927, Ralph Peer, who was the director of Bristol Sessions, heard Reed playing "The Wreck of the Virginian", and asked him if he wanted to make some recordings. Reed recorded four songs: one solo, "The Wreck of the Virginian" and three with Arville's guitar accompaniment: "I Mean to Live for Jesus", "You Must Unload", and "Walking in the Way with Jesus". After the Bristol Sessions, Reed kept recording until 1929, which was the year of his most famous song's release "How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live?". After 1929, he stopped recording and lived out the rest of his life, mostly in the Princeton area of Mercer County, West Virginia. Reed continued to perform locally until 1937 when a statute was passed prohibiting blind street musicians. In addition to being recording artist and a musician, he also served as a lay Methodist minister. In 1956, Reed died, reportedly of starvation. He is buried in Elgood, West Virginia. Reed's lyrics, all of which he composed himself, were conservative but always were presented with a sense of humor. For example "Why Do You Bob Your Hair, Girls?" was an over-the-top commentary against women's hair style fashion of the 1920s, in which women who wore a shingle-bob were instructed to ask Jesus to forgive their hair style. More than half of the songs he recorded were either religious, political or spoke out against society's ills. Because of his social commentary, which was somewhat uncommon then, some people today consider Reed an early protest singer. In 2007, Blind Alfred Reed was inducted into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame. Also in 2007, a tribute album to Blind Alfred, named for one of his songs, was released. This album, "Always Lift Him Up: A Tribute to Blind Alfred Reed" features nineteen of Reed's most famous songs, recorded by artists from West Virginia, such as Little Jimmy Dickens, Tim O'Brien and Ann Magnuson. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.