Juneteenth Manzarene

To mark Juneteenth, Dust-to-Digital is offering a free download of the 76-page book that accompanied its 2016 release Washington Phillips and His Manzarene Dreams. Washington Phillips (1880–1954) recorded eighteen sides between 1927 and 1929, singing and accompanying himself on an instrument he called the Manzarene. Its sound is haunting and disarmingly beautiful. I’d call it the sound of peace.

Dust-to-Digital notes that Phillips’s neighbor Doris Nealy recalled Juneteenth as a day of great importance to Phillips: “The son of freed slaves, Phillips would often lead the preaching and singing at the annual Juneteenth celebration in his hometown of Simsboro, Texas.”

Here is just one sample of Phillips in the recording studio: “I Had a Good Father and Mother.”

A related post
My review of Washington Phillips and His Manazrene Dreams

[Note: the free download is for the book. You’ll have to navigate the order form and apply the code JUNETEENTH. Phillips's sixteen surviving recordings stream widely, and a limited number of CD-and-book sets are still available for purchase.]