The Bahamadian (from the island of Andros) answer to Mississippi John Hurt; though, Joseph Spence's playing is both cruder and richer in syncopation and general bounce, if not in overall subtlety. Apparently he made a living both as a manual laborer and as an entertainer for laborers while they labored. Also apparently, he had a variant of the usual blues conflict between spirituality and secular music (his wife wouldn't let him play anything but hymns, though that only restrained him some of the time). This is not (audibly) the tormented lust/angst that you often hear in Delta blues though, it's closer to jaunty ragtime. Only, it's jaunty ragtime islandized. Which makes it something pretty fascinating. If you haven't heard it before, now's a good time.
Spence's singing voice isn't featured here (from evidence I've heard on other recordings, it's just as well), but you do hear a lot of him making gruffling sounds through his pipe.
