Reviews (1)

Great Blues
Josh White can rip your heart out with his blues, especially on songs like "One Meat Ball" (my personal favorite) and "Strange Fruit" (an even stronger version than Billie Holliday's).He has an intensity and style all his own, and I found this album to be a good cross-section of his work.His clear, pure voice adds to the pathos in an ironic way, and the accompanying guitar work is excellent.When you listen to his music, you get a real feel for what it's like to be down with no hope of ever getting up.His artistic mastery is unsurpassed. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Blues    2. Blues Revival    3. Blues Traditional    4. Folk Revival    5. Folk-Blues    6. Piedmont Blues    7. Political Folk    8. Pop    9. Prewar Gospel Blues    10. Songster   

Editorial Review

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Reviews (11)

Artistry and innovation, what Johnnie Lee was
Like too many blues artists, Hooker tends to be reduced to a primitivist stereotype. Rather than being a creative artist whose depth of spirit, intellect, music and poetry create a new power and product with his music, he is misinterpreted as some kind of relict of an older or truer blues tradition. Rather than a real artist, he is dehumanized as the real thing! Nothing could be further from the truth. Nothing could minimize his artistry more.
Some Fine Blues...
This is Hooker's latest original recording and the last one before he died in 2001.I have to say it's quite different from most Hooker recordings I've heard.It is very important to note that this CD is one big collaboration with Van Morrison, and the blues you'll hear here (with the exception of the first track) are mellow, laid back, and smooth.It's an excellent recording, although more mainstream than the real raw Hooker that can be heard on earlier recordings.He's aged like fine wine, and at about 80 years old, I'd say he's holding his own with amazing class :) GET IT DON'T REGRET IT
As a late convert to JLH's music, I like this a lot.More than the Healer actually.Read more

Subjects:  1. Blues    2. Blues Music    3. Blues Traditional    4. Electric Blues    5. Modern Delta Blues    6. Pop   

Reviews (3)

TEXAS COUNTRY BLUES COME ALIVE
There have always been many trends in blues, reflecting the different localities from which musicians have come. Let us face it, blues thrives best under such local nurturing. There are two Texas blues sounds- one, reflected in the Lightening Hopkins, electric citified blues sound and the other as presented here with Mance Lipscomb's country blues sound. That country sound is different from the Delta and North Carolina country sound is that the picking is flatter and the melodies more laid back. If you want the best example of the Texas country blues sound in its pristine presentation then Mance Lipscomb and this cd are for you. Stick-outs include Corrine, Corrina, Mance's Blues and Wonder Where My Easy Rider Gone.
Master Bluesman & Songster
Mance Lipscomb is one of my Heroes.A Master bluesman; whose repertoire included over 250 songs. One of Greatest Accoustic Bluesmanwho ever lived. This album showcases his broad repertoire of Blues,Rags,Spirituals,even Spanish music.This album is definitive Turn-of-the-Century Texas Country Blues ;Don't get much better than this!!!

The one to come back to
This CD and its companion vol. 1 comprise one of the very best introductions to country blues.Mance's texas style country guitar is clear as a bell and a perfect complement to his voice.Mance described himself as a songster rather than a bluesman, because he played a variety of music.I bought and wore out the LPs of these two CD collections--after you listen to it to define country blues, then you study it to learn the subtlties of the deceptively simple work."Bumble bee" is an interesting contrast to the Memphis Minnies cover of the "same" song.His "Titanic" stands head-and-shoulders above similar "folkie" attempts at the subject.Mance's monotonic bass line adds a kind of texture to his songs that can't be matched with the more familiar alternating bass.The CDs add several songs to the original.There were 5 LPs covering basicly the same material.This one you will come back to again and again and again.BUY IT(THEM). ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Acoustic Texas Blues    2. Blues    3. Blues Music    4. Blues Revival    5. Country Blues    6. Pop    7. Songster    8. Texas Blues   

Editorial Review

Country blues just doesn't get much better, or any sweeter, than Hurt's performance here. When this concert recording was issued as a two-record set 35 years ago, it bore the misleading title Read more

Features

• Live
• Original recording remastered

Subjects:  1. Acoustic Blues    2. Blues    3. Blues Revival    4. Blues Traditional    5. Country Blues    6. Delta Blues    7. Field Recordings    8. Pop    9. Prewar Blues    10. Songwriter   

Editorial Review

One-fourth to one-third of the cowboys in the Old West were African American, a fact virtually erased from history. But one listen to this entry from the Read more

Reviews (2)

"I ain't gonna tell you no lies"
I have noticed that this website doesn't bring up every disc in this series with just a "Deep River Of Song" search. In the interest of helping people find these discs here, I'll name every other disc in the series.

Subjects:  1. Blues Traditional Collections    2. Field Recordings    3. Folk & Traditional    4. Pop    5. Traditional Folk    6. World Music   

Editorial Review

One of blues music's greatest composers, Willie Dixon was also a strong performer. This Columbia Legacy reissue is a profile of the artist in his post-Chess Records years and is chock full of classics, many of which have been covered by rock bands as well as blues musicians: "Back Door Man," "I Can't Quit You Baby," "Spoonful," "I Ain't Superstitious," "I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man" ... the list goes on. For all of his achievements as a composer and performer, relatively little of Dixon's recorded work is available, particularly from his later years. Read more

Reviews (2)

Words and Music.
This CD is a compilation of Willie Dixon songs.It is not coherent, but it has a certain comprehensiveness.Containing seven of the nine songs originally issued as "I Am the Blues" in 1970 it more than representative of what Willie Dixon is about.The 1970 recording featured an all-star band of Chicago bluesmen-Shaky Jake on harmonica, Sunnyland Slim on piano, Johhny Shines playing guitar and Clifton James on drums.Dixon played base, of course, on a recording designed to showcase him playing and singing his songs.The first seven songs on this CD not only represent the best of what we call Chicago blues-they are also songs that define the genre in modern times.These are among the songs that Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf, Little Walter, Bo Diddley, Otis Rush, and (dare I say) Mick Jagger and a bunch of Brits made famous.The songs that in turn made those performers famous.Here Dixon plays with his peers to define his own songs.The balance of the CD (and it is a sort of Frankenstein monster collage) comprises tracks by the Big Three Trio.These were recorded between 1947 and 1951, and they are evidence of Dixon's lyrical ability.(Hence, the title "Poet of the Blues")These trio tracks are clearly jazz-Dixon on string base with Leonard Caston on piano, Ollie Crawford on guitar, and Hillard Brown playing drums.The nine tracks on this compilation are among the 21 tracks on Columbia Blues/Roots CD called "Willie Dixon:The Big Three."Regardless of the packaging, this is a fine recording.The 1970 renditions prove Dixon's inventiveness and genius in the context of the people that really matter.Buy this collection.Or find the two CDs that are its source.If you really love Willie Dixon, look for the Chess collections, too.

the man who planted the roots
Often imitated and never duplicated, Willie Dixon's influence on the blues and rock and roll defies the imagination. Long before he died in 1992, his lyrics became the well-worn phrases of the genre and his songs the standards of both bluesmen and white boy rockers who weren't even born when Dixon first started his recording career in the early `40s. From the Allman Brothers, Led Zeppelin (who Dixon had to sue to get compensation for their shameless and uncredited pillaging of his catalogue) and Eric Clapton to Steppenwolf, The Doors and Motorhead, his name appears on more song credits than any Chicago bluesman before or after. But no one has been able to better Dixon's originals. The dark-humoured poetry of his lyrics, the strolling rhythms highlighted with boozy piano licks, his unbeatably muscular bass and the aural finesse of his gargantuan vocals are lightning in a bottle. This 16 track collection is a treasure chest, one of the more expansive of its kind, with songs from across the Dixon universe: early material from the Chess vaults (Big 3 Stomp, Signifying Monkey) right through rousing sessions from his career revival in 1970 (Little Red Rooster, Back Door Man, I Can't Quit You Baby, Spoonful).Poet Of the Blues is the story of the man who helped plant the roots. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Acoustic Chicago Blues    2. Blues    3. Blues Music    4. Blues Traditional    5. Chicago Blues    6. Electric Chicago Blues    7. Pop   

Subjects:  1. 20's    2. 30's    3. 40's    4. Blues    5. Blues Collections    6. Blues Music    7. Country Blues    8. Harmonica Blues    9. Jug Band    10. Piedmont Blues    11. Pop    12. Prewar Blues    13. Prewar Country Blues    14. Vaudeville Blues   

Editorial Review

This trove of 23 recordings matches its superb companion cut for cut. Each selection illustrates the jug genre's richness and diversity of style as well as racial and regional character, with bands' origins ranging from New York and Ohio through Kentucky and Tennessee on down to Alabama. Included are such flapper-age funk classics as Cannon's Jug Stompers' "Bring It with You When You Come"; the Memphis Jug Band's "Stealin' Stealin,'" "You May Leave but This Will Bring You Back," and "The Old Folks Started It" (with stirring vocals by Minnie Wallace); and Noah Lewis' Jug Band's "Selling the Jelly." Lurking in the collection's multicolored depths are discoveries such as "Brown Jug Blues" by Ezra Buzzington's Rustic Revelers and "What Makes My Baby Cry" by the Five Harmaniacs, a white vaudeville act from Brooklyn. Also notable is Mississippi Sarah blowing jug behind Daddy Stovepipe on "Greenville Strut," guaranteed to move the human butt. Read more

Reviews (2)

Excellent sampler of jug band music
I'm not exactly sure what drew me to this wonderful album, but am I glad I found it!Harvey Pekar had mentioned his interest in old jug band recordings from the 1920s and 30s a few times, and so when I saw this compilation, I immediately picked it up.I suppose the bizarre cover photo was also an attraction.If you're familiar with the music of R. Crumb & His Cheap Suit Seranaders or if you own the soundtracks to any of Terry Zweigoff's movies, you have some idea what to expect.This is as joyful and soulful as music gets.I wish this kind of music were in style today! Call me Jughead
This album is ridiculously cool and great. Generically, the songs are all over the map: equal parts jazz and hillbilly music. Jug bands were the missing link between urban pop and rural folk forms. Who knew? You're missing out if you don't have this CD. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 20's    2. 30's    3. Acoustic Memphis Blues    4. Blues Music    5. Folk & Traditional    6. Jazz Collections    7. Jug Band    8. Pop    9. Prewar Country Blues   

Features

• Import

Reviews (2)

Really exceptional yodel collection
Note that the "editorial description" for this album doesn't match the album itself--it's not a polka album but a collection of mostly country yodel songs, with a few by blues artists thrown in. The variety is what's really cool--the yodel was a vaudeville device (the earliest recording here is a 1911 version of "Sleep, Baby, Sleep," later recorded by Jimmie Rodgers) that found its way into string band music, Rodgers-type country-blues hybrids, cowboy songs, and blues. All are inventively represented. There are many unusual numbers here that have been very hard to find--sample Riley Puckett's "Sauerkraut," which is a sort of mix of German dialect comedy and mountain string band music--very weird and wonderful. I just heard this album and am buying two. Notes are in German and English.

American Yodeling,1911-1946
I can't review this, because I still haven't received it yet.
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Subjects:  1. Bluegrass    2. Bluegrass-Gospel    3. Country Blues    4. Cowboy    5. Folk Collections    6. Honky Tonk    7. Old-Timey    8. Pop    9. Prewar Country Blues    10. Traditional Bluegrass    11. Traditional Country    12. Western Swing   

Reviews (1)

Excellent overview
If you are not a fanatic, and don't want to invest in the (admittedly expensive) three-disc "The Classic Early Recordings 1951-56", this is certainly the best way to get all of Elmore James' finest recordings for the Bihari brothers' Flair and Meteor labels.Read more

Subjects:  1. Blues    2. Blues Music    3. Blues Traditional    4. Electric Blues    5. Electric Chicago Blues    6. Pop    7. Slide Guitar Blues   

Editorial Review

The classic blues belter had been singing for two decades before she ever put her voice on record, and it shows on these recordings from the mid- to late '20s. The archetypal blues shouter, Rainey had a voice whose depth and strength is startling and sometimes alarming, even on these scratchy old recordings--one can only imagine what she must have sounded like in real life. Her backup musicians include such notables as pianist Fletcher Henderson, trombonist Charlie Green, guitarist Tampa Red, and trombonist Kid Ory, all performing fairly straightforward 12-bar blues. It's not the material here that's notable, so much as Rainey's voice, a voice that has informed the work of female blues singers ever since. Read more

Reviews (6)

The cream of Ma Rainey's crop
Gertrude 'Ma' Rainey was billed by her record company as the "Mother of the Blues" (something which pleased her greatly), and although there was blues and blues singers even before her, she was certainly one of the genres most important trailblazers. Ma Rainey Should Sing Forever
Here is a hot CD!Ma Rainey is recaptured in all her richness.What a great listening experience, especially for those who love to hear the African American sound the way it was!No wonder August Wilson found such a wonderful tapestry on which to draw his play -- the music on this CD wants to be heard again and again.

Ma Rainey is rare!
Ma Rainey was a classic blues singer, whose many songs are over 70 years old, but still highly beautiful and entertaining. This collection shows it all. If you are just starting to listen to the blues, I recommend you to get this! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Acoustic Blues    2. Blues    3. Blues Music    4. Blues Traditional    5. Classic Female Blues    6. Classic Jazz    7. Jug Band    8. Pop   

Subjects:  1. Blues    2. Blues Music    3. Memphis Blues    4. Modern Electric Blues    5. Pop    6. R&B    7. Soul-Blues   

Reviews (1)

Essential rockin' blues guitarist, and singer!
You have to wonder of there would ever have been a Wanda Jackson, if there hadn't been a Mamphis minnie.Memephis Minnie was the 1st female guitarist to play with a fierce and technically swinging and rocking style, with a pure blues attiti=ute and jazz feeling.Memphis minnie also sinsg with a growl, a "don't mess with Minnie" sound, and she plays like she means BUSINESS!!! Nobody other then Robert Johnson could play on an artistic and rockin' level as Minnie does on these classic 1930's sessions.the songs range from rockin' blues(30 years before the term ever exhisted), to straight blues, and dirty songs!Minnie has fun and sounds like she enjosy playing this fun yet serious music. Minnie always sounds ready to party and the comination of her wailing voice and the syncopated rockin' guitar is so APPEALING!One might even dare to call this the beginning of rock'n'roll!!!So I'm sure that Wanda Jackson the 1st female rock'n'roll star singer/guitarist probably has heard of memphis Minnie the 1st female blues star singer/guitarist, and it would be easy to say that Minnie might have influenced Wanda and many other male and female rockabilly performers.Get this cd, even if your not a "blues" fan, because Minnie was 30 years ahaed of her time and the woman really ROCKS, and I mean hard.I'm a rockabilly fan, strictly speaking, but I love anything by Memphsi minnie, the woman's got soul and her music still communicates to todays audiences.So DONT skip thsi one! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Acoustic Blues    2. Acoustic Memphis Blues    3. Blues    4. Blues Music    5. Blues Traditional    6. Classic Female Blues    7. Country Blues    8. Pop    9. Prewar Country Blues   

Reviews (1)

Excellent single-disc compilation
This well-compiled 1999 Wolf collection is one of the best-sounding Charley Patton-albums on the market. Wolf Records achieves a balance here, cutting down as much surface noise as possible without sapping the dynamics of the performance, and these 69 minutes of music include almost all of Patton's best songs. Read more

Subjects:  1. Acoustic Blues    2. Blues    3. Blues Music    4. Blues Traditional    5. Country Blues    6. Delta Blues    7. Leader    8. Pop    9. Prewar Blues    10. Prewar Country Blues    11. Prewar Gospel Blues    12. Slide Guitar Blues   

Editorial Review

Hooker was already making hits (for Modern) when he started to record for Chicago's legendary Chess Records in 1952. So he's at the peak of his powers on these solo sides from 1952 to '54, and with Eddie "Guitar" Burns, pianist Lafayette Leak, and drummer Fred Below in 1966. The '50s numbers stomp and grind through Hooker's typically down-'n'-dirty songwriting. "Ground Hog Blues" is especially gritty, as he describes how he'll poison his woman's lover. Those cuts also show the influence of prewar blues personalities Sleepy John Estes (on "Worried Life Blues"), Tampa Red ("Sugar Mama"), Sonny Boy Williamson ("Louise"), Johnny Temple ("Please Don't Go"), and Big Joe Williams ("Bluebird"). The '66 band recordings include his classics "The Waterfront" and "One Bourbon, One Scotch and One Beer." Read more

Reviews (1)

Hooker at his Best
This is it! If you don't have any John Lee Hooker in the House , this is the place to start. This isn't a water down compilation like several CDs out there. This is John Lee at his best and working with some of the bestsidemen that Chess records had to offer. Do yourself a favor and Hook upwith John Lee Hooker ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Blues    2. Blues Music    3. Blues Traditional    4. Country Blues    5. Delta Blues    6. Detroit Blues    7. Electric Blues    8. Electric Delta Blues    9. Juke Joint Blues    10. Pop   

Reviews (1)

just great
frankie lee didn't get the recognition he deserves he is one of the texas' greatest, he sound a little bit harsh and distorted,but sound down home is what the blues it's all about.take a good listen and you can find the rootsof rock and roll.Don't miss it,absolutly worthed ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Blues    2. Blues Music    3. Electric Texas Blues    4. Juke Joint Blues    5. Pop    6. Texas Blues   

Features

• Live

Reviews (3)

One of the last live recordings by three greats.
I won't try to convert non-Canned Heat fans, but for those who care, this the last recording by Bob Hite, the last live recording by Ronnie Barron, and one of the few live recordings by Hooker.

Don'tForget toBoogie
This was one of my best live cassettes, almost worn out to transparent. Happily enough I got the Cd. Only the JLH songs are special
This CD is a fair representation of a live concert in the mid-seventies when JLH sat in for a few songs at the end of the night.The crowd is enthusiastic and the energy from the band is high, but the only really standout tracks are the last three, featuring John Lee Hooker.Canned Heat plays a decent back-up role to a true legend and they swing and groove and growl well enough.Nothing earth-shattering, but there are some very enjoyable moments.The best aspect of this disc is the very palpable sense of atmosphere conveyed through a pretty well recorded gig.Simple, party type blues/rock, but JLH adds some magic. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Acoustic Blues    2. Blues Music    3. Blues Revival    4. Blues Traditional    5. Country Blues    6. Delta Blues    7. Detroit Blues    8. Electric Blues    9. Electric Delta Blues    10. Leader    11. Modern Electric Blues    12. Pop    13. Rock    14. Songwriter    15. V/a Compilations   

Editorial Review

Using the simplest melodies as his canvas, Delta bluesman Bukka White painted vivid pictures of his own life in the rural South, punctuating his words with a highly percussive steel-guitar attack. Among his subjects: trains, booze, sex, prison, and death. After shooting an old Mississippi rival during a roadside showdown, White had allegedly jumped bail to record his first two songs in 1937. The bawdy "Shake 'EmOn Down" was a hit, but White spent two years in prison for his indiscretion. When White returned to Chicago in 1940 to record again, producer Lester Melrose rejected his roster of cover tunes, giving him two days to come up with his own material. Under the gun, White created the 10 autobiographical gems that round out this collection. Read more

Reviews (16)

An underrated bluesman
It's too bad that this 14-track collection omits Booker White's earliest sides, including the two religious songs that he recorded for Victor in May, 1930. Catfish's 20-track compilation "Shake 'Em On Down" and Document's similar "Aberdeen Mississippi Blues" are better choices, really, since they include the six non-Vocalion sides that this collection does not.
A Consumate Blues Man
The first song I heard by Bukka White was 'Fixin' To Die Blues' on a blues anthology disc.With his rhythmic playing and voice that expresses a wide range of emotion, he was one of the consumate blues men.He had quite a story to tell, and there isn't a single song on this disc that doesn't lure you in to his telling of the human condition.A must for anyone that can appreciate what this Black American art form truly is...emotions and strife set to music.Recommended!

Songs from a Blues Master
I first heard Booker "Bukka" White on a compilation and finally got around to picking up this CD awhile back. What the listener is treated to is good, old-fashioned, country blues, highlighted by White's strong, straight-ahead rhythms and vocal intensity. His raspy/quavery vocals are a perfect accompaniment to his chugging guitar style, and White is backed up on most of these songs, recorded mainly in 1940, by Washboard Sam, who provides strong rhythmic counterpoint to the sound White gets from his National steel guitar. Although I like all the tracks on this CD, "Parchman Farm Blues", the first Bukka White song I ever heard, is still my favorite. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Acoustic Blues    2. Blues    3. Blues Music    4. Country Blues    5. Delta Blues    6. Pop    7. Prewar Blues    8. Prewar Country Blues    9. Prewar Gospel Blues    10. Slide Guitar Blues    11. St. Louis Blues   

Reviews (1)

What started it all...the great grandparents of modern music
If you've seen the great PBS/Martin Scorsese Blues series, or read any of the books about the great bluesmen (Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, etc) then this disc gives you the opportunity to hear the old songs that started the blues music revolution recorded by the musicians who were at the start of the movement.Read more

Subjects:  1. Acoustic Blues    2. Blues    3. Blues Collections    4. Blues Music    5. Blues Revival    6. Country Blues    7. East Coast Blues    8. Electric Blues    9. Field Recordings    10. Folk-Blues    11. Piano Blues    12. Piedmont Blues    13. Pop    14. Prewar Country Blues    15. V/A Compilations   

Features

• Box set

Reviews (6)

Best to be found
Start here first.This is the best I have found.Excellent Box set.Goes far beyond my imagination!!!

These lessons are about technique
There are different styles of learning, and different interests in playing the harmonica.I got this set after all the raves I had heard, but was disappointed.
Could be for beginniers or advanced, but not both. . .
I really had high hopes for this set.I had listened and learned from two other book/CD sets that I purchased and figured this might really help me take things up a notch.
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Subjects:  1. Blues    2. Blues Traditional    3. Harmonica Blues    4. Pop