Clearly this is a theme album with a difference, because it is made up of archive recordings from various scorches. John L. Handcox (1904 - 1992) was the 'main light'; he was organiser and songwriter for the Southern Tenant Farmers Union, particularly in its early days. As such he attracted the attention of legendary folk singer Woody Guthrie. Most of the songs, poems and stories here were originally recorded in or about 1937. In Handcox's songs and poems the protest themes highlighted the plight and grievances of the tenant farmers and the sharecroppers during the great depression and later. He became the voice of the poor cotton farmers; in reality, the voice of the harsh and hard rough truth of the injustice he saw around him at that time in rural Arkansas. The album is produced by Mark Allan Jackson who, I presume, collated the recordings. Indeed, the album is accompanied by a nice informative booklet that outlines the material in great detail.

There are 17 tracks listed on the play-list and the first 12 of these are archive recordings from the 1930's. As such, don't expect a polished performance or quality of modern day recordings -- more what I call field recordings and have the 'crackle' associated with equipment available at that time. All the songs are sung unaccompanied, and John's vocals have a roughness that you would expect from a man that worked on the land.

At track 13 the album changes slightly to a recording made in 1985 whilst Handcox was in Washington, DC, for the Labour Heritage Foundations Great Labour Song Exchange. It takes the form of an interview with Joe Glazer and Michael Honey. In the interviews Handcox highlights some of his songs and poems and reveals the story/history behind them, and relates some of the stories painting a picture of his life and what life was like in those days.

It is good that Mark Allan Jackson had the foresight to produce an album such as this, for it is truly part of American history, for which a true record needed preserving.