ARTIST SONG ALBUM
IKokomo Arnold Old Original Kokomo Blues Road To Robert Johnson & Beyond
Johnnie Temple Lead Pencil Blues Road To Robert Johnson & Beyond
Son House Walkin' Blues Road To Robert Johnson & Beyond
Blind Lemon Jefferson Change My Luck Blues Road To Robert Johnson & Beyond
Blind Blake Georgia Bound Road To Robert Johnson & Beyond
Leroy Carr Mean Mistreater Mama Road To Robert Johnson & Beyond
Johnny Shines Fishtail Road To Robert Johnson & Beyond
Lightnin’ Hopkins Highway Blues Lightnin' Special Vol. 2
Frankie Lee Sims Single Man Blues Lightnin' Special Vol. 2
J.D. Edwards Hobo Lightnin' Special Vol. 2
Lightnin’ Hopkins Walkin’ The Streets Lightnin' Special Vol. 2
L.C. Williams Hole in the Wall Lightnin' Special Vol. 2
Thunder Smith Big Stars Are Falling Lightnin' Special Vol. 2
Soldier Boy Houston Lawton, Oklahoma Blues Lightnin' Special Vol. 2
Ma Rainey Booze And Blues Ma Rainey - Mother of the Blues
Ma Rainey Yonder Come The Blues Ma Rainey - Mother of the Blues
Ma Rainey Ma Rainey's Black Bottom Ma Rainey - Mother of the Blues
Ma Rainey Black Eye Blues Ma Rainey - Mother of the Blues
Archibald House Party Blues Crescent City Bounce
Billy Tate Single Life Crescent City Bounce
Smilin' Joe A.B.C.'s (part 1) Crescent City Bounce
Roosevelt Sykes You Can't Be Lucky All the Time Crescent City Bounce
Ernest Kador So Glad You're Mine Crescent City Bounce
Tommy Ridgley Tra La La Crescent City Bounce
Earl King Eating And Sleeping Crescent City Bounce
King Solomon Hill My Buddy, Blind Papa Lemon When the Levee Breaks
Jim Thompkins Bedside Blues When the Levee Breaks
Son House Mississippi County Farm Blues When the Levee Breaks
Blind Joe Reynolds Ninety Nine Blues When the Levee Breaks
Joe Callicott Fare Thee Well Blues When the Levee Breaks
Boll Weavil Jackson Devil And My Brown Blues When the Levee Breaks
Joe McCoy When the Levee Breaks When the Levee Breaks
Joe Stone It’s Hard Time When the Levee Breaks

Show Notes:

Crescent City Bounce Lightnin' Special Vol. 2

JSP Records is a record label founded in 1978 by John Stedman (John Stedman Productions). These days they mostly issue box sets of public domain jazz and blues records. Among the box sets issued include single artist sets on Blind Willie McTell, Blind Blake, Memphis Minnie, Big Bill Broonzy, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Sonny Boy Williamson and regional compilations like Atlanta Blues, Memphis Masters, East Coast Blues, Texas Blues and many others. These 4 and 5 CD sets are very cheap and you do get lots of great music for your buck pus they’re nicely packaged with usually good, if sometimes brief, notes. The remastering, particularly on the pre-war collections, vary greatly from set to set but are often a sonic upgrade to Document but usually can’t compare to labels like Yazoo and Revenant. Also one thing that bothers me is that are consistent errors such as mislabled tracks or artists which probably means JSP is throwing these on the market too quickly.

I’ve been thinking about remastering quite a bit lately. Overall Yazoo does an excellent job bringing the music to the surface but you still get a fair amount of hiss and crackle. To be honest I have no problem with this as some of the technologies major labels have used like No-Noise, while removing all surface noise, leave the records sounding sterile, lifeless and artificial. Also Yazoo used the original 78’s as the source where JSP does not. I wish JSP would be more transparent regarding remastering and told us a bit about their remastering actually entails.

Anyway on to today’s show which spotlights the following recent JSP box sets: The Road To Robert Johnson & Beyond, Lightnin’ Special Vol. 2, Ma Rainey: Mother of the Blues, Crescent City Bounce: From Blues to R&B In New Orleans, When The Levee Breaks: Mississippi Blues - Rare Cuts 1926-1941.

I’ve reviewed some of the sets so just follow the links for more about each one. You’ll notice that this part one and I’ll be certainly doing a follow-up. The JSP sets keep rolling in and a couple of interesting new ones include A Richer Tradition - Country Blues and String Band Music 1923-1942 and That’s What They Want: Juke Joint Blues - Good Time Rhythm & Blues 1943 - 1956.