Anthology of American Folk Music
Volume 2: Social Music, Track 49

SINCE I LAID MY BURDEN DOWN
The Elders McIntorsh and Edwards' Sanctified Singers

Recorded Chicago: December 4, 1928
Elders McIntorsh and Edwards, vocals and guitar; Bessie Johnson and Melinda Taylor, vocals and tambourine
Originally released on Okeh 8698
 

McIntorsh and Edwards were Elders in the Church of God in Christ. They lived in the Mid-South, spending part of their professional and spiritual career (in the middle to late 1920s) in or near Memphis. Despite his Irish sounding name, McIntorsh was an African-American, who was probably born in Mississippi around 1890. In addition to "Since I Laid My Burden Down," McIntorsh recorded a powerful song about the 1927 Mississippi Flood with the help of Sister Bessie Johnson. He was last known to be living in the "Bootheel" of Missouri (about 100 miles north of Memphis) in the early 1970s. A more recent group from the Church of God in Christ was the Edwin Hawkins Singers, which had a hit song in the 1960s with "Oh Happy Day" (Bernard Klatzko, notes from Herwin 202).

FOR ADDITIONAL RECORDINGS of Elder Lonnie McIntorsh see the collections: Country Gospel Song (FW RBF19c) Memphis Gospel, 1927-1939 (DOC 5072c); Bessie Johnson 1928-1929 (HER 202a); In the Spirit (OJL 12a); and Kings of Memphis Town, 1927-1930 (Roots 333a).

OTHER RECORDED VERSIONS include:

Folksong revival: as When I Lay My Burden Down: Hedy West (BF 15003c).

Blues: as Since I Laid My Burden Down: Mississippi John Hurt (VG 19/20c, VG 79248c); as When I Lay My Burden Down: Cat-Iron (Folkways 2389 c); Blind Roosevelt Graves (Wolf 110c); Mississippi Fred McDowell (AH 1021a, AH 304c, TST 5019c); Robert Pete Williams (Southland 4a).

Gospel: as Since I Laid My Burden Down: Bernice Reagon (FF 411c); The Soul Searchers (Nashboro 7171a); as Glory Glory Hallelujah Since I Laid My Burden Down: Blue Spring Mississippi Baptist Delegation (SF 40073c); Joseph Spence (SF 40066c); as When I Lay My Burden Down: The Detroiters (Speciality 7034c); Barbara Hendricks (Angel 47026c); Turner Junior Johnson (LC AAFS L10a).

Country/String Band: as When I Lay My Burden Down: Roy Acuff (COL 39998c); Maddox Brothers and Rose (AH 391c).

Jazz: as When I Lay My Burden Down: The Lapsey Brass Band (FW 2650c).

Rock: as When I Lay My Burden Down: Don Nix (Enterprise 1032a)).