Devil Got My Woman by Skip James

In this clip from the Newport Folk Festival of 1966, delta blues legend Skip James performs his haunting "Devil Got My Woman" for an audience that includes Son House and Howlin' Wolf. From the DVD "Devil Got My Woman: Blues at Newport 1966." More info at stefan-grossma...

[@philipdubuque9596]

As a kid playing guitar I got to be at the Newport Folk Festival for 1964, '65 and '66. The high point was seeing Skip James perform this song. It's something you never forget.

[@lappleman]

Wow. How big a crowd was listening?

[@Tubascope]

"The blues is the roots; everything else is the fruits" - Willie Dixon

[@raulsevero8512]

Rock n roll

[@sirsancti5504]

Heavy-metal (the origins)

[@nelsonnoname001]

If a piece of my soul existed somewhere in time and a place, it would be in that room... Wolf, Slip, and Son, in the same room!

[@countblue]

Incredible music. This is not a simple video clip its a document of americas tradition.

[@shannon6708]

the heart and soul of America and rock music.

[@GixxerRider1991]

The most unique voice in all of blues music.

[@itsallaroundyou7085]

I'd say Tommy Johnson is close but yeah probably gotta give it to skip

[@drunkdrywaller7840]

@@itsallaroundyou7085 Howlin and Lightnin as well.

[@daviaraujo5631]

Fantástico

[@jdrobinson3468]

​@@drunkdrywaller7840 Mr. Smokestack Lighting definitely has a unique voice but not like Skip James.

[@mjl.9-19]

I agree most unique. Skip James! The Canned Heat band use that vocal style

[@michealmartinez9194]

you got son house in the back and howlin wolf standing in the front all these blues musicians its beautiful how music draws people together

[@sterfishsoupster2572]

I beleive Bukka White was also there

[@davisworth5114]

@James Schultz *Est.1982 badass is getting like really trite.

[@michaelvance1118]

Skip James!! Rick who¿?😑🤨love me some skippy James!!!💚💙🙄☠

[@hyphield6471]

Mississippi John hurt too

[@spoookytooth]

Also they all got paid for being there 😂

[@treypeters1087]

This is incredible, makes me lucky to be alive

[@CarlosPEnis]

I love Skip James man. Finally a blues guy that has a higher nasally voice like me lol. Just wish I could play like that. One of the best

[@859mothertruckers5]

Fact: They had just pulled skip from the hospital and had no idea whether he could even sing. Then he did this.... beauty of the blues. Death cant stop it till he takes us himself.

[@Pabloignacioalvarez]

Best condition possible to play the blues to be honest

[@cooloutac]

@@Pabloignacioalvarez the Album called She Lyin one of his first if you can find it is really good. He was fresh out the hospital and in extreme pain throughout and it really comes out in his voice in playing.

[@cooloutac]

@@Pabloignacioalvarez Specifically that version of devil got my woman is my fav. You have to hear it man. i can't find it on the internet but I have it downloaded. the verison is on the album called "She Lyin'" Track 9. dude was in so much pain.

[@areguapiri]

My goodness!!!! That is pure magic! And surrounded by greatness in the room. A treasure that black America has lost in place of lazy garbage music of today.

[@davisworth5114]

sad but so.

[@evilinkarnate]

oh. My. God. that picking. that falsetto. I could die happy in that room.

[@keving9233]

great comment, inkarnate thanks

[@redskindan78]

Watch Skip James keep time with both feet. Takes me back to the first time I saw him. DC's Ontario Place, about 1964.

[@lesleyhalkett5675]

I'd give anything to have seen this legend. ❤

[@jimhurlbut3649]

Too cool! That must have been something!!

[@JTThomas82]

It's like a house full of Super Saiyan musicians.

[@keving9233]

No. These were flesh n blood humans. Not silly cartoon fantasy.

[@spliffsforbreakfast]

@@keving9233 Appreciate the fact that people of this generation can appreciate this piece of art and history while being able to connect it to the contemporary art of today that they know and love.

[@Gilbert_Dice_Gottfried]

More like ss4

[@madgepins1967]

​@@spliffsforbreakfastPlaying pretty fast-and-loose with the term "art," aren't you?

[@Noejjkkkj]

Super Saiyan musicians they were. Same as flesh n blood humans. There’s truth in it; cannot be without it, and it was and still is.

[@gaspanda]

To me his voice elevates the blues to a different astral plain...

[@BSIII]

All those men in that room have all seen some pretty deep hardships, and Skip puts it in words over hypnotic, haunting acoustic melodies.

[@musicpersonale1231]

This is not only music this is History.

[@tunesmith.blue.]

What a haunting voice, one of the best.

[@andrewwabik5125]

This is only possible because of the horrific conditions he endured in the 30s. Beautiful

[@kaecake9575]

Skip James has the progression of a crazed man. Amazing ✨

[@stacyblue1980]

Wolf standing and listening. Praise be. I have not seen Skip James' bit before. This was a great little film by Alan Lomax. Very important. Thank you so much for sharing.

[@matthewsalvado4035]

His guitar playing is chilling, his voice is haunting, ladies and gentlemen I present you Skip James.

[@sirsancti5504]

That voice, man.. May he being singing in peace. Thank you, Skip!

[@markkubiak8296]

The master at his trade. No one like him. Playing it like a blues piano!!

[@joarimuspapim8807]

The best footprints, of Skip James, better than the moon walk ! So lucky we can listening to that !

[@eliaszeminoi6389]

+Joarimus Papim Friend , I agree with you!

[@franzkafka77]

Oh hell yes my brother!

[@Alanoffer]

Joarimus Papim Skip James was real ,the moon landings werent

[@MaineGeezer]

I think Skip James left this world and went to a different plane of consciousness when he sang.

[@Human_Evolution-]

The greatest song ever? Maybe. Perfection.

[@Gexxon]

Wow his take on the minor and diminished chords while playing blues riffs, is way different than any other blues artist out there, then and now. I LOVE IT! Never heard of him until now. Greatness right there, with all the GREATS in one room. OMG this is a national treasure in itself for sure. Howlin Wolf standing right there too.. I'll be damned. What a treat! Thanks for the upload. I truly enjoyed this gem.

[@kikeheebchinkjigaboo6631]

People play 40s or 50s blues like wolf and that mojo workin black dude. I really want to get down with some true delta blues

[@wiscgaloot]

Yeah, this is a looong ways away from the typical blues you hear. That man was just incredibly talented. And hidden away for 30 years, such a shame...

[@mavjimbo]

Speaking of Howling Wolf they filmed and recorded him also during this same session. I recognized the room immediately. Check it out.

[@giovanna8187]

Yes, I love those distinctive diminished or minor 6th chords. So ghostly! I read that he got into piano first, before guitar, and I think he learned them there.

[@daviaraujo5631]

Extraordinário

[@dwarless]

haunting is the correct word, masterpiece is another

[@johnking7008]

Imagine being in the room with those guys with Skip and the Wolf.

[@ddbr5790]

The 28 who have disliked this video need a word with themselves in my opinion, jeez ‘I prefer my music with a little less soul’

[@completecarnage]

Just stupid.

[@Jim-oe9pt]

So beautiful! So haunting! Thank you for posting this absolutely essential part of American Civilization!

[@Karol-ds1qs]

Guitar playing, the whole delivery Unforgettable

[@Lostmychops]

I can’t believe this footage exists. Kudos to the cameraman. This is some evil and idiosyncratic blues. The best kind.

[@jungleninja8415]

The blues ain't evil

[@NewYorkMuslim809]

The guitar playing is chilling!

[@AintItGreat]

Skip James was the absolute best

[@mlwsf]

I love Howlin Wolf bobbing his head here.

[@mcampbell5158]

Awesome!! So glad that there are video's like this on KZbin!!!

[@klausrain111]

Every time I hear Skip on one of these videos, his vocals just blow me away.

[@johnking7008]

Skip had a tragic life. Racism and poverty stalked him.

[@MrTeamsolutions]

Bluesman, thank you kindly for helping me out of a sad situation. RIP

[@mnpli]

The voice of an angel

[@maeviac30]

Every time I hear Skip singing this tune , I get the chills ! Something about this song !

[@evilinkarnate]

play it in summer to cool down. Seriously. It's like a cool wind blowing in from far away, cutting through humidity and hot night air.

[@grahamstephenson7572]

TV

[@irisheyes0058]

Just love the vocal style and steeped In history with the audience

[@coyotecreekblues6935]

Skips music was intense and so hypnotic.

[@jamesebola1250]

Simply amazing...my hairs are all standing on ends...

[@joshuarosenblatt]

Skip James is my favorite. that voice. mmmmm incredible.

[@brettskie0752]

Just a Pure GEM !!! like WOW...Blown away and wish we had older footage of the Legends/ Blues God's!! O HELL YEAH !!

[@nickihill1863]

most beautiful blues song

[@lucileartaud1762]

Pur genius.break my heart

[@jaimemcewen1403]

some of the best vocals ive ever heard. regardless of genre

[@jdrobinson3468]

I concur his voice is so different from everyone else to me. It's like Billie Holiday, well not like her but just stands out like her.

[@spudcustardx1]

This and Freight Train of all I love this Skip track, I know nothing, but this is DNA

[@elijahrea]

Hard times create wonderful music

[@monicavargas4877]

What lyrics! And the voice!! Just so perfect! I love the story of this song

[@gibsonheggitt5485]

Hello dear,how are you doing

[@franzkafka77]

John Hurt behind James, Hubert Sumlin next to him. Looks like Carey Bell next to Wolf. Hubert and Bell would have been playing the Festival with Wolf. Skip James was a National Treasure. He was married to John Hurt's daughter Lorenzo, and is buried with her in Malvern on the Main Line outside of Philadelphia.

[@Nyama74]

Pretty sure that's Rev. Pearly Brown standing behind James. I don't think John Hurt was at Newport in '66.

[@djblackjackshellac]

Buried in Bala Cynwyd, PA. I'm in Malvern right now and he isn't here.

[@theloneliestmonk]

@@djblackjackshellac They are buried next to each other in Merion Memorial Park, PA. For those who are feeling pedantic www.findagrave.com/memorial/7936559/skip-james

[@eduardocarrochio6326]

i've read lorenzo was hurt's daughter, sister and niece. niece is from a biography of hurt so i am going with that.

[@MrOhjok]

Son House is next to Wolf.

[@j.m.harrincourt2208]

Howlin Wolf is clearly suffering. However, James is a real unicum and an unquestionable talent. ...although the Wolf thought otherwise.

[@georgefromgreece4119]

Where is stated by Wolf otherwise?

[@michaelvance1118]

The baddest of the bad!! Best of all the best BLUES/ ROCK N ROLL CREATORS!!!! EVER!!!

[@andrewz4537]

A masterpiece! Is that Mississippi John Hurt standing behind Skip?

[@gabrieledodero4654]

Real music for real people!! Great Skip!!!!

[@NataliaDiazJackson]

Thank you so much for posting! ❤️🙏🏽

[@charliedontsurf70]

anybody remember the movie ghost world?when steve bushemi sells thera birch an old blues album and she falls in love with this song?she asks steve for more songs that sound like this?and he tells her "their are no other songs like that"?priceless!

[@GAMEBOYn00b]

charliedontsurf70 Oh wow, I saw that movie years ago and I'd completely forgotten that link! Rewatched again today - Daniel Clowes knows where it's at!

[@callmecap10]

charliedontsurf70 I have never seen it but what a moving description

[@bugglemagnum6213]

This is so much better than the original recording, his maturity shows through his skill here

[@GarimellaProduction]

Wow this is amazing music!

[@cathyw4564]

Alan Wilson. Now I get it.

[@yehudafine1015]

You are right on the dime. Skip James was deeply influenced by Skip James

[@willemjonker9730]

@@yehudafine1015 *Alan wilson

[@gibsonheggitt5485]

Hello dear,how are you

[@snr.puente5109]

MASTERpiece!

[@luciddreams2524]

Wow... Truly speechless.

[@monsignormurphy]

Not Newport Folk Festival, but rather private filmed performance. Film of entire array of performances is available under title "Devil Got My Woman: Blues At Newport 1966". On that compilation, there is a superb performance by Howlin' Wolf.

[@cerryzamboni2246]

This music is never heard in Italy. It seems fucking modern to me. Feel the strings vibrating in your belly.

[@ariellehunter]

that is so cool ! his music lives on forever with this video.

[@justfionacat9173]

Best song ever written.

[@Osvaldo-Castro]

How! Great! If Blues is tear, then this is the true Blues.

[@megisynynef2224]

That's what I'm talkin' 'bout. The one and only Skip James. YEAH.

[@jamesbethea3100]

Love everything I see and hear

[@gibsonheggitt5485]

Hello dear ,how are you doing today

[@Tootufftocry]

we never doubted you skip

[@emmanuelmercer2595]

Oh man!!!, that voice, it's the voice of a man with a lot of pain, this guy, skip "master" james, is overrated, and one of the greatest blues musicians of all time 👏👏

[@GAMEBOYn00b]

That moment when you remember Thora Birch listening to this in Ghost World. Beautiful music.

[@WillyKidd]

Skip's recordings took place in 1931 - a point when our ol' pal Robert Johnson was likely still in Mississippi with Ike Zimmerman, learning to play the guitar. Therefore, Skip was the influence here, not Robert.

[@cngrinder9423]

I think Charley Patton was the first after the non-recorded blues, think that even son house had patton as a mentor and Son House is the influence of all the bluesmen here

[@nibbadelicious3918]

@@cngrinder9423 hello pentatonic scale :)

[@thebrazilianatlantis165]

@@cngrinder9423 Most of what you wrote wasn't close. House began playing blues in about 1926, long after Skip was. House was influenced early on by locals Willie Wilson, James McCoy, and Rube Lacey and Lemon Jefferson's records. He also knew Patton was one of the three or so most famous bluesmen in his area by then, knew him, and respected his work in some ways and not others. Patton was far from the earliest to record blues (or earliest from Mississippi to record blues, or earliest to play blues, or oldest to be recorded playing blues, or...).

[@cngrinder9423]

@@thebrazilianatlantis165 thank you for your comment, i used to take that statement because patton had Henry Sloan as mentor and at that time blues was hardly recorded. For example, there are no recordings of Sloan. In any case, i only mentioned about recorded blues and not actually compositions.

[@thebrazilianatlantis165]

@@cngrinder9423 We know virtually nothing about Henry Sloan (contrary to some imaginative writings about him that have cropped up on the internet). E.g. Gayle Dean Wardlow points out that we don't know if he ever played a blues tune. You mentioned who mentored and influenced whom. Given that they were all playing blues as of about 1926 -- and given that in e.g. about 1916 Patton, Skip, Tommy Johnson, etc. all were -- who first recorded in 1929 vs. 1930 vs. 1931 doesn't tell us much about that at all. The record companies showed up to try to make even more money than Blind Lemon, Peg Leg Howell, etc. were making them and who they hit first was basically random.

[@robgillan2245]

So the great HW couldn't even wait till the end of the song . What was it with those guys . Skippy brilliant HW great

[@carthag]

such talent

[@kennyguitarallen5662]

great footage of film,just love it

[@MrNeonkind]

magic

[@montero11550]

Christ it’s like I’m hearing a whole band playing ....play skip play the next drinks on me

[@rcsiegler]

Thank you so much for posting this.

[@JTThomas82]

That was SICK!!!!!

[@tmrezzek5728]

Goddamn, Skip James' voice is just SOARING in this! Not bad for a man in his 60's..And you can tell he really wants to throw down the gauntlet at Howlin' Wolf (in glasses) and everyone else there--it's like James is saying "THIS is how it's done!"

[@peterrichardson5503]

this is true music nothing like the absolute noise people listen to these days. blues is the most important music of the last 150 years (in my opinion)

[@ajricherson1099]

Anybody who knows anything about music would agree, even if they don't like the blues.

[@renedessessandre42]

Pour moi le meilleur, la quintessence du blues, l'âme de toute une culture noire américaine.

[@veroniquehecquet1347]

Leçon de vie à vie..❤️❤️❤️ Masters c'est Classé Master Classe.. Sans condition...Atout Majeur

[@Alanoffer]

Howling wolf prowling at the bar ,

[@irisheyes0058]

Only left cause he needed a piss... I would piss myself not to miss a sec 😁

[@jeffmccomas2784]

I wonder what Howlin Wolf thought of Skip James type of Benitonia blues I know he idolized Son House but Mr James had a whole different style of blues

[@michaelglucksman147]

Love his guitar playing

[@cyclamenpersicum]

Si youtube se quedara con sólo este video sería suficiente

[@josevivar5157]

That voice great Skip

[@MarkSmith-ly2fi]

Why isn't Skip James recognised as genius?

[@chipstern]

Kind of fell off the face of the Earth after his early 1930s Paramount recordings, and was out of music. Was rediscovered in the folk revival of the '60s, and Cream's cover of "I'm So Glad" really put him on the map. Alas, he died, cancer I think, as the '60s came to a close...but at least he got a taste of recognition and love. And yes, he is recognized as a singularity.

[@w13rdguy]

He's politically incorrect, that's why. He's also reputed to be the devil, as referred to in the Robert Johnson "Crossroads" tale.

[@seanfitzgerald5858]

ah he is.

[@nathangolliher2776]

correct!

[@paulgalligan1916]

w13rdguy explain dude ?

[@kaecake9575]

"The blues is not about playing to feel better instead it's about making them feel bad just as much as you."

[@daviaraujo5631]

Extraordinário! Excepcional e original

[@karyvarvenne3025]

yes so good !!!

[@gibsonheggitt5485]

Hello dear ,how are you doing today

[@sciexp]

Thanks for sharing. Nice...

[@jimphilidor9031]

What a legend!

[@vikVictory96]

I'd rather be the devil than to be that woman' man I'd rather be the devil than to be that woman' man Aw, nothin' but the devil, changed my baby's mind Was nothin' but the devil, changed my baby's mind I laid down last night, laid down last night I laid down last night, tried to take my rest My mind got to ramblin', like a wild geese From the west, from the west The woman I love, woman that I loved Woman I loved, took her from my best friend But he got lucky, stoled her back again And he got lucky, stoled her back again

[@keving9233]

Thank you

[@adammwalch]

Fantastic.

[@withgoddess7164]

Howling Wolf is inching his way out of the room.

[@trashiscool1]

Smile it's Skip.

[@DanielPOURSACCONFOLENS]

un autre tout bon a la voix spécial, qui chante le BLUES

[@DanielPOURSACCONFOLENS]

merci a tous