Need a Shot: The Essential Recordings of Urban Blues (1997)

About this title: Featuring two-dozen tracks drawn from commercially released 78s of the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, Need a Shot is primarily a piano-based selection, although there is a fair amount of guitar and harmonica tossed in, and on occasion even drums, saxes, and clarinets. Labeled urban blues, these sides are only a little removed from their country blues roots, and pieces like Peetie Wheatstraw's "Working Man (Doing the Best I Can)" (the melody line, a common one in the early blues, was used by Bob Dylan for his "Pledging My Time"), Roosevelt Sykes' "Night Time Is the Right Time," and Washboard Sam's ... read more

Tracks:

1. Sail on, Little Girl, Sail On [Easton]
2. Policy Wheel Blues [Arnold]
3. Trouble in Mind [1936 05 12-Chicago] [Jones]
4. Bad Luck Man [1936 10 22-Chicago] [McCoy/Morand]
5. Louise Louise Blues [1936 11 12-Chicago] [Temple]
6. Working Man (Doing the Best I Can) [Bunch]
7. Think You Need a Shot [1936 04 03-Chicago] [Davis]
8. New Little Pretty Mama [Hill]
9. Night Time Is the Right Time [1937 04 29-Chicago] [Carr/Sykes]
10. Lonesome Bedroom Blues [1937 09 28-Chicago] [Jones]
11. Back Door [1938 12 16-Aurora IL] [Gillum]
12. Way Down in Louisiana [1939 12 07-Chicago] [Unknown]
13. Want to Woogie Some More [1938 10 04-Chicago] [Broonzy]
14. What Is That She Got? [Broonzy]
15. Lonesome Shack Blues [1940 06 27-Chicago] [McCoy]
16. Baby, Take a Chance with Me [1940 05 10-Chicago] [Whittaker]
17. Key to the Highway [Broonzy/Segar]
18. Beer Drinking Woman [1940 10 30-Chicago] [Chatman]
19. County Jail Blues [1941 06 24-Chicago] [Merriweather]
20. Goin' Down Slow [1941 11 11-Chicago] [Olden]
21. He's a Jelly Roll Baker [Johnson]
22. Ain't No Business We Can Do [1942 03 27-Chicago] [Doctor Clayton]
23. Big Time Mama [Dupree]
24. New Early in the Morning [Williamson]

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