Original edition:
Blues and Gospel Records 1902-1942, by Robert M.W. Dixon and John Godrich, Hatch End, Middlesex, England: Rust, 1964.
Latest edition:
Blues and Gospel Records 1890-1943, Fourth Edition, by Robert M.W. Dixon, John Godrich and Howard Rye, Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1997.
Blues and Gospel Records has been one of the standard blues reference books since its first publication in 1964. It also ranks as one of the most complete reference works of any kind, thoroughly documenting, within its guidelines, every pre-World War II recording session by an African-American blues or gospel performer by artist, title, personnel, date, location, matrix number, original record label, and release number. Much of the data comes from original record company files, filled out by contributions of collectors the world over and the recollections of blues musicians. Of course there are many blanks still to be filled in, many accompanists are listed simply as ‘unknown’, but the quest for completion continues to fuel discographers and collectors, so that there is always material for an revised edition to come. The first three editions were compiled by Robert M.W. Dixon, an Australian linguistics academic, and John Godrich, a British Merchant Marine seaman and clerk. The expanded fourth and most recent edition, published by Oxford University Press- Clarendon imprint in 1997, is credited to Dixon, Godrich, and British jazz and blues scholar Howard Rye. Updates to the book are published in Rye’s column in Blues & Rhythm magazine.
— Jim O’Neal