Shake Sugaree
album by Taj Mahal

Shake Sugaree - Taj Mahal Sings and Plays for Children is a 1988 album by American blues artist Taj Mahal. The title comes from one of the tracks, and was itself the title track of a 1967 album by Elizabeth Cotten, recorded in February 1965. Authorship of the song is attributed to Cotten.
“Shake Sugaree” enters the record as album by Taj Mahal. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Shake, Sugaree and album can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Shake Sugaree” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Shake, Sugaree and album provides the most credible route into that argument.
Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 12, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q7462637. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1988, 1967 and 1965.
Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Shake Sugaree”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Shake Sugaree primary sources, Shake Sugaree archive and Shake research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Shake Sugaree”?
- Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
- How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Shake Sugaree” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.