Walker Family Singers - Interview & Panola Country Singers Release News

From Daptone comes the third album in their series of acapella gospel music releases.

Walker Family Singers - Panola Country Singers - Daptone

While the cd was uut last month on cd, there is now a limited vinyl lp release available from such outlets as Juno Records etc

It seems an interesting ongoing project, there is a recent feature on Tidal that goes in deep on both the project and the artists via an interview by Ryan Pinkard. In it he interviews Michael Reilly concerned with the Walker Family, his time in Como and the greater legacy of field recording.

A preview clip follows below, you can read the full detailed interview via

http://read.tidal.com/article/the-voices-of-panola-county-a-southern-journey-revisited

In April of 2010, Robert, Bobby, Alberta, Delouse and Patricia gathered at the home of their parents, Raymond and Joella Walker to make a recording with field recordist Michael Reilly.

It would be Reilly’s third venture to capture the a capella gospel tradition of Como, Mississippi for Daptone Records, first inspired by the folk, blues and gospel recordings Alan Lomax collected for the Library of Congress in the middle 20th century.

It was during Reilly’s first recording – Como Now: The Voices of Panola County (2008) – that he encountered the Walker family and learned of their great musical tradition – introduced by the Como Mamas, the focus of his second project, Get an Understanding (2013).....

Video

WALKER FAMILY SINGERS - PANOLA COUNTY SPIRIT- DAPTONE

Daptone Album info and link

In April of 2010, Robert, Bobby, Alberta, Delouse, and Patricia gathered at the home of their parents, Raymond and Joella Walker to make a recording with Michael Reilly. It would be Reilly’s third venture to record the a capella gospel tradition of Como, Mississippi for Daptone Records. It was during his first recording (The Voices of Panola County: Como Now) that he encountered the Walker family and learned of their great musical tradition. Raymond Walker was courted by both Fred McDowell and Sam Cooke - each asked him to sing behind them on tour. Respectfully, Raymond declined, on account that the singers wanted him to sing blues rather than gospel. However, it was the Walkers’ voices and not their rich history that captured the attention of Daptone and inspired Reilly’s return to Como to make a full-length record of the Walker family songs. Recorded in their living room, these performances are as deep and stirring as they are unembellished. Take a moment to take in Panola County Spirit, with The Walker Family Singers.

http://shop.daptonerecords.com/collections/frontpage/products/panola-county-spirit