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I quite enjoyed the fine piece on musical iconoclast John Fahey (“In Memory of Blind Thomas of Old Takoma,” 3/9), which I read on the Bluesworld Web site. I would like to point out that in Paragraph 13 (“Down by the river…”), when Fahey is discussing his record canvassing, it surely must be Mamie Smith on OKeh, not Amy Smith. Mamie Smith was the pioneer black cabaret singer whose first two releases in 1920 (“That Thing Called Love” and “Crazy Blues”) demonstrated to the record industry that there was a market for records made by black artists. There was no Amy Smith on American vernacular recordings.
Bethpage, N.Y.