1916 Henry Sloan recordings discovered...

[Loose Cannon]

Washington, DC -- April 4th, 2005
While culling through records in a
half-forgotten storeroom adjacent to
the Library of Congress last week, a
group of students from the University
of Mumfrabourgh, Tennessee discovered
more than they bargained for, local
sources report. Wax cylinders found within a
banged up fruitcake tin yielded one of
the most important findings in the history
of Blues recordings... The complete known
recorded works of Henry Sloan. Sloan, a
resident of Indianola, Mississippi around
the turn of the last century, was
thought to have never been recorded.
All that changed when hints of a possible
recording session surface last July,
sources near the Library report. Sloan's
name and a few recording matrix numbers
were discovered in a previously lost
session ledger dating from 1916.
Then last week, UM students, ironically
in search of further information on another
Blues recording legend 'Blind' Willie McTell,
stumbled across what appeared by all accounts
to be a rusted, worthless cake tin. In fact,
it contained four wax and lacquer resin recording
cylinders, as well as a small leather satchel
containing Sloan's name and a few shredded
details of the session from which they seem
to have originated.
Henry Sloan was the one man most thought
to have been responsible for tutoring
Charley Patton, a singer who many Blues
historians regard as the founder of the
Mississippi style of the musical genre of
what is today know as "the Delta Blues."
Patton recorded in the late 1920s and 1930s,
but no such records had ever been found
to substantiate a recording career for Sloan.
Sloan is thought to be one of the earliest
examples of the musical genre. He was
employed by the Dockery plantation around
the turn of the century where he met and
mentored the young Patton, but until now,
his voice and musical style has remained
a mystery. Almost nothing has been previously
know about his life, other than his
association with Patton and that he may
have moved to Chicago around the end of
World War I. Now, findings in the cake
tin are reportedly shedding new light on
what has previously been a handful of
unsubstantiated rumors at best.
Sloan's recording session appears to have
been brief. To make matters worse, only three
songs could be salvaged from the ravages of
nearly a century of neglect. Who made these
recordings for Sloan and why still remains
a mystery. Engineers for the LC are restoring
these priceless treasures and it is hoped
that they could be ready for some type of
formal release as early as next April Fool's Day.
Think about that.

[Bluesandstuff]

this is a prank notice that the university does not exist and the recording
would be released on april fools day