Fight On! True BUES
Acoustic Blues Guitar Masters Corey Harris, Alvin Youngblood Hart and Guy Davis
Fight On! True Blues Vol 2
Format: CD – Digital
Label: Yellow Dog Records
Release: 2026
Release date: April 17, 2026
Even as they step back in time, Guy Davis, Corey Harris and Alvin Youngblood Hart—who won ardent acclaim for their first True Blues project in 2013—prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that African American blues remains as vital and vibrant as ever.
These three first met at the Chicago Blues Festival in 1996 and are now coming together nearly 30 years later for a powerful follow-up to their acclaimed first True Blues collaboration. The album features nine tracks blending traditional material (Charley Patton, Rev. Gary Davis, Virginia songsters) with original compositions.
“I have a photograph somewhere of Corey, Guy and myself at the Chicago Blues Festival, 1996,” remembers Alvin Youngblood Hart. “A time when we were being touted by the ‘Blues Establishment’ as ‘The New Saviors Of The Blues.’ So whatever man, it was destiny that we’d end up doing something like True Blues. This new album is a continuation, or reunion of the project we started over a decade ago.”
“The thematic tie of the record lies in the fact that we are three African-American bluesmen who are fighting to maintain our cultural legacy and heritage,” adds Corey Harris. “Each of these nine tracks represents a contemporary image of traditional Black lifeways.”
As for the album’s title, Guy Davis states: “The fight we are waging is to keep this precious music form alive. To us, there is not so much difference between our arrangements of blues classics and our newly created work. It’s all connected to the ancestral spirit.”
Recorded separately in Virginia, Mississippi and New York, these soul-stirring performances include a Jimmy Strother banjo song migrated to Piedmont-style guitar (Harris’s “Fight On”), an inspired reworking of Elizabeth Cotten’s “Shake Sugaree,” reimagined as if Blind Willie McTell were playing the guitar (Davis’s “Everything I Got Is Done In Pawn”), and the first Charley Patton song that Hart ever learned, “Screamin’ and Hollerin’.” Even the original compositions here are steeped in history, albeit personal history. Harris wrote “What’s That I Smell?” with his time spent in New Orleans in mind—specifically, his nights playing in a joint called The Funky Butt. Davis laments the necessity of a life on the road, away from family, in the disarmingly confessional “See Me When You Can.” And Hart drew inspiration from another great bluesman, his friend Henry Townsend (who died in 2006 at the age of 96), to write “If the Blues Was Money,” which he performs here on a Sears Silvertone-branded 1950s Kay flat-top guitar.
Raw, heartfelt and sounding absolutely nothing like a dusty museum piece, Fight On!: True Blues Vol. 2 is a loving celebration of shared music and friendship, a long-dreamed-about project that now, countless tours and conversations later, finally arrives.
Websites:
https://coreyharrisonline.com
https://ayhmusic.com/
http://guydavis.com
Tracks:
01. We Are Almost Down to the Shore (Fight On) – Traditional/Jimmy Strother
02. Screamin’ & Hollerin’ the Blues – Charley Patton
03. See me When You Can – Guy Davis
04. What’s That I Smell – Corey Harris
05.. If The Blues Was Money – Alvin Youngblood Hart
06. Deep Sea Diver – Guy Davis
07. I Belong To The Band – Reverend Guy Davis
08. Highway 61 – Traditional/Fred McDowell
09. Everything I Got Is Done In Pawn – Guy Davis/Elizabeth Cotten
Corey Harris: “Fight On” is a song by the legendary Virginia songster Jimmy Strother. I chose it because I like the lyrics of the song and the composer lived not far from my home in Virginia. It was written on the banjo, but I adapted it to the guitar, giving it a Piedmont blues vibe. “What’s That I Smell” is an original song I wrote about my time in New Orleans, playing at a local bar called the ‘Funky Butt.’ “I Belong To the Band” is a song I learned from recordings of Rev. Gary Davis, one of my influences in gospel and spiritual music.
“Screamin’ and Hollerin’ the Blues”, “If The Blues Was Money” and “Highway 61”
Performed by Alvin Youngblood Hart; 1950s Kay flat-top guitar (Sears Silvertone-branded), purchased in Tulsa circa 2007; Tuned a whole step down, using standard tuning, Open G, and Open E.
Recorded by Justin Showah, The Voyager’s Rest, Water Valley, Mississippi.
Alvin Youngblood Hart: “Screamin’ & Hollerin’ is the first Charley Patton song I attempted to learn in my late teens, so I’ve been carryin’ it around awhile. “If The Blues Was Money” is a song I wrote in the 20th century. It was inspired by my friend Henry J. Townsend, who made his first records at age 19 in 1929. So much for the ‘old bluesman’ stereotype. Henry was a teenager and rockin’! “Highway 61” I learned from my friend David ‘Honeyboy’ Edwards. It was a great joy to be out with him. We worked together on many festivals, both domestically and abroad. I have lived in Memphis, Natchez, New Orleans… US Highway 61 figures prominently.”
“See Me When You Can”, “Deep Sea Diver” and “Everything I Got is Done in Pawn”
Performed by Guy Davis; Harmony Stella 12-String (1960s) on ‘Everything I Got is Done in Pawn’
Harmony Sovereign (1960s) on ‘Deep Sea Diver’ and ‘See Me When You Can’. Recorded by Longma龙马, Home Field Studios, Bronx, New York. Mixed and Mastered by Jason “JJ Boogie” Reichert, Atlanta, Georgia.
Guy Davis: “See Me When You Can” is a song I wrote for my grandmother many years ago, reflecting the difficulty of being on the road and being where I can help out my family. “Deep Sea Diver” is a song I wrote which extols the virtues of a medicine show huckster named Handsome Jack Lodi. “Everything I Got Is Done in Pawn” is a reworking of Elizabeth Cotten’s song, ‘Shake Sugaree.’ I added more verses and tried to imagine the guitar as if played by Blind Willie McTell.”