Various Artists – Can’t Keep From Crying – Topical Blues On The Death Of President Kennedy – Testament Records TCD 5007

Originally released in 1964, this 1994 re-release includes an additional two selections, and is a fascinating commentary on the assassination of U.S. President Kennedy in November, 1963.

Pete Welding is to be applauded for documenting the lamentation over Kennedy’s passing within the Black community via the expressions of grief presented here via the blues.  All the selections were obviously recorded in the near-immediate wake of Kennedy’s death, and all are acoustic in format.

While some reviewers have derided this collection for being difficult to digest inasmuch as the subject matter in uniformly solemn, respectfully, they’re wrong and not getting the point.  Kennedy was seen as a man dedicated for hope and change in the Black community, and his leaving was a major shock, and obviously very shattering.

Still other reviewers have indicated that the songs are not exemplary inventive works.  To that I reply, “Shame!”  The emotional devastation that Kennedy’s slaying imparted upon the Black population, and the U.S. in general, was profound, and the emotional reactions found here perhaps lift these blues to the summit of the blues art form.

Blues fans will know a slice of the names here, from Johnny Young to Big Joe Williams to John Lee Granderson to Otis Spann, among other known blues artists.  Less celebrated blues performers such as Bill Jackson, Avery Brady, and Fannie Brewer, amidst others, also offer their heartfelt commentaries on the tragic event.

This reviewer could easily argue that this compilation does exactly what the blues has always done, and that is expresses the reactions to real world pressures and heartbreaks in an attempt to heal from them.  Within that view, this could be considered an essential collection.

As it is, this is a highly-recommended assemblage, and a very interesting study of the responses to an awful event upon the Black community, the U.S., in general, and also the world over.  It is a weighty statement upon the notion of what “could’ve been.”