Bukka White – Sky Songs

Is it the best country blues album ever? Nope. Is it the best Bukka White album ever? Nope. Is it a good album? Probably not, honestly, by any conventional standard.

Is it incredible?

It is.

This is incredible. This is what happens when you just let the tape run. This is Haiku. This is Abstract Expressionism. This is Free Jazz. This is Beat.

This is straight up Zen Blues. This is the ordinary magic of extraordinary genius. This is the extraordinary genius of ordinary magic.

People ask me all the time—what kind of music don’t you like? I don’t like transparently commercial music. Do I like craft? You bet I do. Do I like music made by artists with career aspirations? Who are professionals? Yep. I respect professionals. Do I like totally out there shit, just fuckin’ nordic math-noise atonality bullshit prog-angular electronica soundscape shit? No. I don’t. I like verses and choruses and 4/4 time. But I DON’T like explicitly commercial music.

And THAT … is why I like this. Because here is a very talented artist. A very talented artist with the chops and the vision to make 4 minutes magic when he wants to. But here he is, unloosed. This is a Zen-look into a present brain. Maybe it made its money back. Probably it did. Maybe not. Who knows. But it certainly isn’t either commercial, or non-commercial. That’s why it’s Zen. Because it transcends the duality of commercial and non-commercial.

This is an incredible listening experience.

Recommended track to begin with: the whole thing. Just put the headphones on, and listen.