State of Tennessee Blues (1995)

About this title: State of Tennessee Blues offers 18 tracks from the miraculous Memphis Jug Band, all recorded between 1927 and 1929, during the first three years of the group's collective career. Though the band recorded a number of exuberant, jazz-oriented breakdowns, particularly during its post-Depression resurgence, State of Tennessee Blues tends typically toward its more plaintive, slow-dragging moments -- dirge-like, whiskey-drenched, and gravelly, invested with the steady rocking rhythms of work and of sex, of the good-times dancing construed as a defense from the blues. The group's versatility remains ... read more

Tracks:

1. Sun Brimmers Blues [Weldon/Shade]
2. Stingy Woman Blues [Weldon/Shade]
3. I Packed My Suitcase, Started to the Train [Shade/Clayton]
4. State of Tennessee Blues [Clayton/Shade]
5. Bob Lee Junior Blues [Shade/Clayton]
6. Kansas City Blues [Shade]
7. I'll See You in the Spring, When the Birds Begin to Sing [Shade/Stevens]
8. Snitchin' Gambler Blues [Shade]
9. Evergreen Money Blues [Shade]
10. Coal Oil Blues [Stevens]
11. Papa Long Blues [Stevens]
12. Peaches in the Springtime [Shade]
13. Sugar Pudding [Shade]
14. A Black Woman Is Like a Black Snake [Shade]
15. Feed Your Friend With a Long Handled Spoon [Shade]
16. I Can Beat You Plenty (That Hand You Tried to Deal Me) [Shade]
17. Tired of You Driving Me [Nelson]
18. I Whipped My Woman With a Single-Tree [Shade]

Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is further described below.