Live in New York

Live in New York is the final album recording by the American country blues musician Mississippi Fred McDowell. New York-based American independent Oblivion Records released the first edition in the Spring of 1972, months before McDowell's death in July 1972. A subsequent Oblivion issue with a one song substitution, and new and redesigned liner notes came out one year later. Recording Producer/engineer Fred Seibert (assisted by Roy "Slim" Langbord) recorded Fred McDowell's November 1971 performance at The Gaslight Cafe in Greenwich Village for radio broadcast over Columbia University's WKCR-FM, in New York City. He hosted the station's Saturday blues show and was hometown friends with McDowell's second on the performance, bassist Tom Pomposello. Recording was done with Shure Electronics microphones and mixers and a one-track monaural Nagra tape recorder. Editing was accomplished in one 14-hour session at WKCR using Ampex tape decks. Release The album has remained available continuously from 1972 until the present. Currently, there are streaming versions of all editions that can be accessed at the official Oblivion Records archive blog. Digital downloads are available worldwide from Bandcamp, iTunes, Amazon.com, and other major digital retailers. Buyers should be aware of inferior bootlegs available as of 2010 on Amazon.com from Labor Records and Tomato Records.