Fred McDowell
Keep Your Lamp Trimmed And Burning

Listening notes

Fred McDowell’s Keep Your Lamp Trimmed And Burning is a 1973 vinyl release on Arhoolie Records, catalog number 1068. Filed under Blues, Country Blues, and Hill Country Blues, the album presents nine performances arranged across two sides, with titles that span traditional material and blues standards. The A side opens with the longest selection on the record, Introduction / I Heard Somebody Calling / Amazing Grace (9:28), followed by a sequence of compact tracks: Where Could I Go But To The Lord (2:55), the title track Keep Your Lamp Trimmed And Burning (2:30), Bye And Bye (2:55), and Dig My Grave With A Silver Spade (2:55). The B side comprises four pieces: Don’t Look For Me On A Sunday (6:50), Good Morning Little Schoolgirl (3:10), Little Girl, Little Girl (2:50), and Levee Camp Blues (6:00).

The program’s structure contrasts extended performances with concise readings. The A side centers around the opening medley’s extended running time before settling into a run of sub-three-minute tracks, including the album’s namesake in the A3 position. The B side balances two longer selections—Don’t Look For Me On A Sunday and Levee Camp Blues—with two shorter titles, maintaining a clear side-length pacing. Notably, familiar titles such as Amazing Grace and Good Morning Little Schoolgirl appear alongside pieces like Little Girl, Little Girl and Levee Camp Blues, providing a varied tracklist within the listed blues genres.

As issued, this entry documents the original vinyl format on Arhoolie Records under catalog number 1068. The album credit is to Fred McDowell, with no further details provided here regarding personnel, recording dates, or production specifics. The focus for collectors and discographers is the verified release information: artist, title, label, catalog number, year, format, genre tags, and the exact track sequence with durations as listed above.