"Lord I Just Can't Keep From Crying" is a traditional

gospel blues Gospel blues (or holy blues) is a form of blues-based gospel music that has been around since the inception of blues music. It combines evangelistic lyrics with blues instrumentation, often blues guitar accompaniment. According to musician and ...

song recorded in 1928 by

Blind Willie Johnson Blind Willie Johnson (January 25, 1897 – September 18, 1945) was an American gospel blues singer, guitarist and evangelist. His landmark recordings completed between 1927 and 1930—thirty songs in total—display a combination of powerful "ch ...

(vocals and guitar) and Willie B. Harris (vocals), who is thought to have been his first wife. Some versions of the song recorded by other artists have slightly different titles: for example, a comma after "Lord"; or, "Cryin'" instead of "Crying"; or, an appended "Sometime" or "Sometimes".

Recordings

* 192627Rev. H. R. Tomlin * 1966The Blues Project, on the album ''Projections,'' titled "I Can't Keep from Crying" * 1967Brother Joe May, on the album ''Thank You Lord for One More Day'' * 1994 or beforeLaura Henton * 1997 or before

Golden Gate Quartet The Golden Gate Quartet (a.k.a. The Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet) is an American vocal group. It was formed in 1934 and, with changes in membership, remains active. Origins and early career The group was founded as the Golden Gate Jubilee Singe ...

* 1998

Phoebe Snow Phoebe Snow (born Phoebe Ann Laub; July 17, 1950 – April 26, 2011) was an American roots music singer-songwriter and guitarist, known for her hit 1974 and 1975 songs "San Francisco Bay Blues", "Poetry Man", "Harpo's Blues", and her credited g ...

, on the album ''I Can't Complain'' * 2004 or beforeBessie Johnson Sanctified Singers, on the compilation album ''Goodbye, Babylon'' * 2011

The Barr Brothers The Barr Brothers is an indie folk band founded in Montreal, Quebec in 2006, consisting of two American brothers Andrew (drums, percussion, vocals, keyboards) and Brad Barr (guitar, vocals), as well as bassist Morgan Moore, pedal steel guitaris ...

, on the album ''The Barr Brothers'' * 2011

Colin Stetson Colin Stetson (born March 3, 1975) is a Canadian-American saxophonist, multireedist, and composer based in Montreal. He is best known as a regular collaborator of the indie rock acts Arcade Fire, Bon Iver, Bell Orchestre, and Ex Eye. In additio ...

, on the album ''New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges'' * 2011Dave "Snaker" Ray, on the album ''My Blue Heaven''

References

Blind Willie Johnson songs Year of song unknown Blues songs Gospel songs Songwriter unknown {{blues-song-stub