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American music has so many threads that you can pull on. Willie Nelson is kind of a genius at pulling up some of the older stuff; so was the late Leon Redbone.
At least we know those guys though. There are a lot of people who were brilliant, stunning musicians who for various reasons never became major stars. Some came before recording technology; some didn’t care for the business (and who can blame them) and didn’t pursue it.
Who knows why? It would be great if you could somehow go back and pick up the lost geniuses, document them and save them for posterity.
If we could do that, one of the people we’d start with would absolutely be would be Lynn Albritton.
She was in a handful of shorties, sort of an early version of music videos, but we don’t think she ever had a recording contract or anything. This is one of them.
She did play a lot around Harlem though, apparently during the late 30s and early 40s.
This woman is a phenomenal talent. It’s a great shame that we have so little of her.