Death Have Mercy (Vera Hall) (1959)

John Avery Lomax, ethnomusicologist, met Adell "Vera" Hall Ward in the 1930s and recorded her for the Library of Congress. Lomax wrote of her that she had the most beautiful voice he had ever recorded, stating: "Her singing is like a shepherd's flute with a deep, sweet, and pure tone, (but always with hints of lips and the flesh that delights in pleasure...) The sound comes from deep within her when she sings, from a source of gold and light, otherwise hidden, and falls directly on your ear like sunlight. It is a liquid contralto, full, rich in low nuances; but it can leap directly into falsetto and sound there effortlessly like a bird in the wind."