Bessie Jones

This album, complete with a gatefold cover including detailed liner notes and complete song lyrics, was one of the best sets of recordings by this legend of the Georgia Sea Islands. The founder of the Georgia Sea Island Singers and a solo artist and author in her own right, Jones has a one of a kind voice, and better yet a spirit that makes this album something special. She is heard in small vocal groups including members of the Singers as well as a chorus of children, and the latter represents some of the most succesful recordings ever done with young people. The album is sub-titled "Songs and Games from the Georgia Sea Islands" and it is the rhyming and other musical games with the children that give the record a particular flair. Effective percussion is created with intricate, African-influenced hand clapping patterns and on "Shoo Turkey" by the sound of the children clomping around in oversize, adult shoes. At first impression it seems like the second side might be hampered by too-familiar material, but this group of singers manages to make it all sound new again. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, All Music Guide