Son House is regarded as one of the greats of early blues, along with early recording stars like Charley Patton and Robert Johnson. He made 78rpm records in the 1930s but a spell in penitentiary halted his career and by the 1940s he had abandoned recording. It wasn't until 1964 that Nick Perls, Dick Waterman and Phil Spiro "rediscovered" him working at a gas station. He was completely unaware of the interest in folk blues at the time (Skip James and Bukka White were already playing crossover folk clubs).
Waterman became his manager and in 1965 he released Father Of The Delta Blues on Colombia (see the 2-CD reissue under same title), which cemented his fame and led to key performances at folk festivals.
In November 1964, Waterman set up a small gig at Wabash College, a male college in Indiana. Unlike his usual performances, House did not include any comments, jokes or asides, which he usually did. He just played, stretching out the sound and taking his time, as all great blues musicians do.
