Bukka White’s singular Sky Songs, the result of a series of intimate and unfettered recording sessions for Chris Strachwitz’s Arhoolie label in the early ‘60s, contains some of the strangest and most wonderful recordings in White’s distinguished catalogue. White had established his reputation with a series of fearsomely unhinged and effortlessly virtuosic blues sides in the ‘30s and early ‘40s, but these sides, despite their power, restricted White to the three and a half minute run time of the 78rpm record and prevented him from recording in the dazzling improvisatory style that he debuts here. On Sky Songs White stretches out seven unique adaptations of traditional blues and spirituals into epic improvisational meditations that belong as much to the world of jazz as country blues. The only constant here are White’s punishing percussive rhythms, which hold steady as he hollers wildly and throttles his guitar with abandon. Sky Songs is an odd and uncompromising work of experimental genius, and one of the most eccentric, though ultimately transcendent, blues recordings ever made.

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