A double-disc box set containing everything Robert Johnson ever recorded, The Complete Recordings is essential listening, but it is also slightly problematic. The problems aren't in the music itself, of course, which is stunning and the fidelity of the recordings is the best it ever has been or ever will be. Instead, it's in the track sequencing. ...
The title for this volume is a bit of a misnomer. While there is easily half a compilation's worth of authentic acoustic material here (including classics by Tommy Johnson, Charley Patton, Willie Brown, and Robert Johnson), the inclusion of tracks by B.B. and Albert King and recorded in Chicago sides by Howlin' Wolf, Elmore James and Robert ...
This 16-track single-disc compilation gathers up the best-known tracks from the two original volumes of King of the Delta Blues Singers for a nice entry-level collection of Robert's best. Utilizing the latest in remastering technology, these recordings have never sounded quite this clear and full-bodied before, and the difference between this and ...
This is something of a best-of for Broonzy's Folkways recordings, done in 1956-57 near the end of his life, all featuring just his voice and his acoustic guitar (although Pete Seeger adds banjo to a live version of "This Train (Bound for Glory)"). Although Broonzy, who died in 1958 of throat cancer, was likely not in peak physical shape by this ...
King of the Delta Blues Singers,is a wonderful follow-up to the first compilation of Robert Johnson's small library of recorded work. This album boasts the first album appearance of "Love in Vain," as well as a number of other blues classics penned by the artist. "Sweet Home Chicago," "I Believe I'll Dust My Broom," "They're Red Hot," and "Malted ...
Contrary to what its title would make one believe, this record is not a collection of previously available recordings by Mississippi John Hurt -- rather, it is a complete concert from Oberlin College on April 15, 1965. Regardless, the title is justified, as the concert features Hurt in excellent form doing most of his best known classic songs from ...
An essential Tommy Johnson collection, Document's Complete Recorded Works (1928-1929) features 17 songs from the Delta blues pioneer, including two alternative takes and a pair of previously unissued songs known respectively as "Morning Prayer Blues" and "Boogaloosa Blues." Culled from the great Delta musician's recording sessions in Memphis and ...
Complete Recorded Works of Son House & The Great Delta Blues Singers isn't entirely devoted to Son House -- there are cuts by several other musicians, including Willie Brown, Garfield Akers, Rube Lacey and Joe Calicott -- but this disc, which contains a complete 1930 session, is the best place to get his earliest songs ("My Black Mama," "Preachin' ...
In a day and time (post-2000) when tribute albums spring up before a singer has a chance to die, much less become an immortal, it's a relief to get an album that switches the formula. Back to the Crossroads traces the roots -- not the influence -- of Robert Johnson, perhaps the most eulogized singer in blues history. These roots are especially ...
Were Charley Patton alive today, he'd most likely be pleasantly surprised by the durability of his records. Who could've imagined that the musings of a Delta guitarist, recorded for Paramount in the late 1920s and early 1930s, would be treated as relics of art 60 and 70 years later? The Best of Charley Patton includes 23 cuts, 70 minutes of music, ...
After being rediscovered by the folk-blues community in the early '60s, Son House rose to the occasion and recorded this magnificent set of performances. Allowed to stretch out past the shorter running time of the original 78s, House turns in wonderful, steaming performances of some of his best-known material. On some tracks, House is supplemented ...
Lonnie Johnson was best known for his tonally beautiful guitar playing, but he was also a fine singer and songwriter, and pretty adept on violin, piano, banjo, mandolin, harmonium, and bass as well. Equally at home in the blues or the jazz world (he worked with artists as raw as Texas Alexander and as polished as Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington ...
A fantastic compilation that really does span the length of Mississippi Delta blues, from the early days of the Mississippi Sheiks and Charley Patton (with the classic "High Water Everywhere Part One") through to the modern but equally rooted sounds of Asie Payton, R.L. Burnside, and the late Junior Kimbrough. And it's every bit as thorough in ...
Required listening, I Can't Be Satisfied, Vol. 1 is the "Country" volume in a two-part series of early American blueswomen (Volume 2 is the "Town" volume). It is an absolutely essential compilation of early country blueswomen, many of whom appear on virtually no other recordings. This definitive archival collection of underdocumented, classic ...
JSP's Legends of Country Blues compiles five CDs of performances by Son House, Skip James, Bukka White, Tommy Johnson, and Ishman Bracey. These historic prewar recordings have been remastered, and according to the packaging, feature "unprecedented listening quality." While that claim is a bit of a stretch, the majority of this material does sound ...
Blackwell, it's not always remembered, was rediscovered in the late 1950s, though he didn't have much chance to make a new career out of the blues revival before his death a few years later. He performs well, but not wonderfully, on this July 1961 session in Indianapolis, accompanied only by his guitar (although he uses piano on one song, "Little ...
I Ain't Gonna Be Worried No More compiles 23 songs Sleepy John Estes recorded between 1929 and 1941, capturing the bluesman at the height of his creative powers. Unlike many Delta bluesmen of his era, Estes worked with a full jug band, which gave his music a greater variety of textures. His music swings, with a loose, relaxed feel that isn't heard ...
Black, Brown and White includes live tracks recorded in Belgium in March 1952 (three featuring pianist Blind John Davis) and December 1955 during Europe's discovery of Big Bill Broonzy. The highlight of the disc is the laid-back atmosphere in the living room setting recorded at Broonzy biographer Yannick Bruyoghes' house in Brussels. Several ...
This is a well-organized, smartly chosen 20-track compilation of some of the lesser-known early Mississippi blues artists. Garfield Akers is about the most famous, which tells you right there how obscure most of these names -- King Solomon Hill, Otto Virgial, Mattie Delaney, Joe Calicott, Blind Joe Reynolds, John D. Fox and others -- are to the ...
At the end of just the first disc on this five-CD set, the listener may feel like he/she was in the audio equivalent of a visual "white-out," so powerful are the sounds on that disc. From the opening bars of"Pony Blues," Charley Patton becomes a gigantic musical presence, who gets even bigger as his work goes on; with a guttural, stentorian voice ...
Exactly what it says -- a veritable greatest-hits collection that showcases just why Big Bill Broonzy is one of the most important blues figures ever. To be fair, the very early material either hasn't cleaned up well, or not a lot of money has been invested in technical work, and some of the sides are barely listenable because of scratches. But, ...
The 40 tracks compiled on this two-disc set represent the entire span of pianist and singer Leroy Carr's recording career that spanned a brief seven years, from 1928-1935. The material represented here -- all but one of these tracks were recorded for the Vocalion label -- features accompaniment by guitarist Scrapper Blackwell on all but one ...
Of all the pre-war Delta bluesman, no one achieved the popular status of Big Bill Broonzy. Indeed, as Neil Slaven states in his liner notes to Volume One of this collection, Broonzy had been issuing recordings for over 20 years before his last name was attached to the labels; only "Big Bill" appeared under the track listing. This five-CD ...
During the latter half of 1939, blues guitarist/singer Big Bill Broonzy was near the height of his fame and was recording quite prolifically. For the ninth of 11 Document CDs in the comprehensive Broonzy series, he is joined throughout by pianist Joshua Altheimer and either bassist Ransom Knowling (the first nine numbers) or drummer Fred Williams. ...
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