Big Road Blues

This is our second installment of my rummage thought the amazing trove of field recordings George Mitchell recorded over a twenty year period. For more background make sure to read part one. As I mentioned in the first installment a good chunk of these recordings have been collected in the 7-CD George Mitchell Collection box set from Fat Possum. In the first part I covered the first three volumes and now take a look at the remaining ones.

Disc 4 is dominated by two giants, Fred McDowell and R.L. Burnside, recorded two days apart in the summer of 1967. McDowell had recorded prolifically by this point ever since Alan Lomax found him in 1959. Burnside, however, was unknown outside of his community. As Mitchell recalled: “We heard about R.L. from Othar Turner. See, Fred McDowell hadn’t mentioned R.L. - competition. Big-time competition. …The very first song he did was “Goin’ Down South.” You can imagine…I was completely taken aback. …’Goddamn this motherfucker’s good. I have found somebody.’” Four of those songs are included here which have all been reissued by Fat Possum as First Recordings and they remain among Burnside’s finest. What makes the McDowell session so special is his reunion with harmonica player Johnny Woods who McDowell hadn’t seen in eight years. The resulting off-the-cuff jam session is a spellbinding, intense affair as the duo pour it on with jaw dropping intensity on McDowell’s trademark “Shake Em’ On Down” and “Mama Says I’m Crazy.” All of these sides have been collected on Fat Possum’s Mama Says I’m Crazy. Three additional tracks with Woods taking the vocal appear on disc 3.

“Too many people went to Mississippi”, lamented Mitchell. Unlike many, Mitchell, didn’t confine his activities to that state, instead recording extensively in Georgia and Alabama. Mitchell uncovered the details of a rural sound in the Lower Chattahoochee Valley which encompasses the Chattahoochee River as it runs the southern border between Georgia and Alabama to the state line of Florida. Those who play in the style include: Cliff Scott, J.W. Warren, Jimmy Lee Harris, Precious Bryant, Albert Macon and Eddie Harris. Fat Possum’s Lower Chattahoochee Valley collects fifteen sides by various exponents of the style. The standout is Cliff Scott a wonderful bottleneck player who had a gently rolling style and a mellow, expressive vocal exemplified on songs like “Long Wavy Hair.” “Woke Up This Morning” has a strong delta feel, close to the style of Muddy’s plantation recordings. Jimmy Lee Harris, who worked with his brother Eddie Harris, played uncanny harmonica without a harmonica, a skill he learned in jail and was an expressive vocalist with a rhythmic style. Both men were recorded in the early 1980’s in Alabama. Eddie’s two numbers reveal a a fine electric guitarist with a down-home Jimmy Reed style. Mitchell also recorded the duo Albert Macon & Robert Thomas around the same time. The two had been playing together for some twenty years and their empathy is on display on the rollicking “Flat Foot Boogie” (”Play the strings out of it! Beat the blood out of it, now!”) as the two interweave their percussive guitars with remarkable skill and vitality. Precious Bryant has achieved a measure of success in recent years with a pair of national releases but the Mitchell recordings from 1969 were her first, cut when she was just twenty-seven. Her three numbers are utterly charming propelled by her propulsive, gently rolling guitar and husky, quite vocals. J.W. Warren was the last artist Mitchell recorded in the field and certainly a major talent. Warren had a gently driving guitar style, occasionally employing slide, and was a wonderful interpretor of traditional material as well as laying down intriguing originals like “Hoboing Into Hollywood.” A dozen of Warren’s sides have been issued on Fat Possum’s Life Ain’t Worth Livin’.

There’s several name artists on these volumes including Robert Nighthawk, Maxwell Street Jimmy, Jesse Mae Hemphill, John Henry Barbee, Furry Lewis, Will Shade and Charlie Burse. Nighthawk, of course, needs no introduction and Mitchell’s recordings capture him just months before he passed away. Although the booklet doesn’t say so, “Down By The Woodshed” is a previously unissued instrumental and two more unissued sides are available as digital download: “Down By The Wayside” and “Travelin’ Man Blues.” Mitchell was involved in a concert series at Chicago’s Fickle Pickle club where excellent recordings were made by under recorded figures like John Henry Barbee and Maxwell Street Jimmy. Not available on the box set but available as digital download, possibly from the Fickle Pickle series, are a half-a-dozen sides by James Brewer who’s long been a favorite. As far as I can tell these have not been issued before. As for the Memphis contingent, Furry Lewis is in exceptional form stretching out at length on “Good Morning Judge” and “Furry Lewis’ Careless Love.” Fat Possum’s Good Morning Judge contains ten tracks Mitchell recorded in 1962 and 1967. Will Shade’s sides are a bit rough around the edges although quite entertaining, especially his filthy version of “Dirty Dozens” where, as Mitchell notes, “he says it all” and the lively “K.C. Blues” with Burse on vocals. Like Precious Bryant, Jesse Mae Hemphill made her first side with Mitchell. She was only twenty-two when delivered a pair of absolutely captivating gospel numbers with minimal guitar backing.

Another notable female artist was Rosa Lee Hill who lived near Jesse Mae and was the daughter of Sid Hemphill. Mitchell devoted a chapter to Hill in his 1971 book Blow My Blues Away. Hill played compelling, hypnotic blues in the North Mississippi style and is captivating on stark numbers like “Bullying Well” and “Pork & Beans” (”Mama’s in the kitchen cookin’ pork and beans/Daddy’s on the ocean runnin’ submarines”). Two other artists featured in Mitchell’s book were Robert Diggs and Robert Johnson. Diggs was a marvelously expressive harp player delivering a lovely version of “Someday Baby”and a virtuoso harmonica workout on the instrumental “Racehorse Charleston.” Robert Johnson had given up the blues in 1927 for the church. Johnson’s powerful, bluesy moaning vocal is heard on four riveting numbers accompanied by his daughters. There’s some marvelous gospel on the final disc, a bonus CD by artists Fat Possum didn’t know enough about to include in the original 7″ set, by the Pettis Sisters who lay down a pair of rousing numbers making one wish they had been more extensively recorded. There’s no shortage of talent on this disc including fine sides by Willie Rockomo, Bruce Upshaw and George Hollis all of whom had some sides issued on the Revival label back in the 1970’s.

The days when you could go down south with a portable recorder and capture some unheralded blues genius is gone. These recordings are a rich, vibrant look at a vanished era. Historically and musically this is and incredible cache of recordings and I’m glad Fat Possum made these available. However, as I said in part one, I wish they had presented these in a more consistent, less scattershot manner. These recordings deserve better. You only have to look at how Dust-to-Digital handled the Art Rosenbaum field recordings to see how it should have been done.

Cliff Scott - Long Wavey Hair (MP3)

Albert Macon & Robert Thomas - Flat Foot Boogie (MP3)

Rosa Lee Hill - Pork & Beans (MP3)

J.W. Warren - Rabbit On A Log (MP3)

Robert Diggs - Someday Baby (MP3)

The thought of “lost” blues recordings always gets me worked up even though I usually get disappointed with the final result. Such is the case with Chris Barber’s The Blues Legacy Series: Lost & Found, a three volume series touting unreleased live recordings of Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson, Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, Jimmy Witherspoon, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Champion Jack Dupree and Louis Jordan. According to the liner notes: “The formation of the ‘Lost & Found’ Series came into being; when the Jazz & Blues legend Chris Barber came across some old 1/4 inch magnetic tape. On these, he discovered the unique sounds of Sonny Boy Williamson in concert, recorded many decades ago, in England. Chris set about investigating his archives further, only to find more of these tapes…”

The bulk of the recordings were made between 1957-1964 at the very beginning of the blues boom that swept across Europe. I was always under the impression that interest in blues really took off in Europe with the inception of the American Folk Blues Festival in 1962. I’m not sure what kind of blues audience there was in England in the late 1950’s; I don’t think labels like Chess were easy to come by back then and it wasn’t until 1960 that Paul Oliver published his pioneering Blues Fell This Morning. Certainly the audiences on these recordings are enthusiastic but I would certainly be interested in more information regarding the British blues scene of the period.

Firstly, just to make clear, the 1958 Muddy Waters recordings from the Manchester Free Trade Hall have been previously issued. These are Muddy’s earliest live recordings and his first tour of England. Vocally Muddy is in magnificent form, his vocals miked right up front, unfortunately his guitar is submerged in the mix. It’s also too bad that Muddy’s band didn’t make it over with him although thankfully Otis Spann did and his piano playing, although low in the mix, is a thing of beauty. Most of the program features just Muddy, Spann and Barber’s drummer Graham Burbridge which is just fine. More problematic is “Walking Thru The Park” featuring Barber’s band wailing along behind Muddy with their brand of traditional jazz, a jarring contrast that simply doesn’t work. Unfortunately this is emblematic of many of the recordings.

Like Muddy, Sister Rosetta Tharpe is in terrific vocal form and like Muddy she suffers from a guitar that’s virtually inaudible which is a real shame. Again Barber’s band and Tharpe’s vocals make for an incongruous mix on numbers like “Every Time I Feel The Spirit”, “Up Above My Head I Hear Music In The Air”, “Old Time Religion” where they virtually drown poor Rosetta out. Where’s Lucky Millinder when you need him? The latter number plus “When The Saints Go Marching in feature white vocalist Ottilie Patterson who, to be fair, is not a bad vocalist but comes across as a bit staid. Fortunately most of the Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee sides from their 1958 date at the Manchester Free Trade Hall feature just the duo who are in reliably fine form. Several other sides from the same year are from a BBC broadcast which liberally feature Barber’s band as well as Ottilie Patterson. To be honest the duo’s sides have never excited me all that much although in small doses they’re quite enjoyable. Similar issues plague the Sonny Boy Williamson performance from 1964. The band is present on just about all the tracks much to the detriment of Sonny Boy’s subtle, nuanced blues. I believe some of these sides have been issued before but I’m not sure if it was a legitimate release. Much better are his AFBF performances of the same year backed by Sunnyland Slim, Hubert Sumlin and Willie Dixon.

The Jimmy Witherspoon and Howlin’ Wolf sides fare much better. Witherspoon is in superb voice, delivering an aching, world weary version of “Have You Ever Loved A Woman” and his classic “Times Are Getting Tougher Than Tough” from a 1964 date that get fairly sympathetic backing. A 1980 set for Dutch Radio finds him in still superb form just prior to the cancer that would ravage his voice in his later years. Howlin’ Wolf alongside trusty guitarist Hubert Sumlin are simply electrifying on a torrid “Dust My Broom” and a dramatic, powerhouse version of “May I Have A Talk With You.” I have to admit that the riffing horns on “Howling For My Baby” are quite effective as Wolf storms through this one.

From a historical standpoint these are fascinating recordings but a mixed bag musically. Overall there’s enough good performances to recommend these, at least the second and third volumes, although all the artists involved have better live recordings on the market. One must also give Barber his due for taking a chance on these artists at a time when the blues was anything but a sure bet.

Muddy Waters - Blow Wind Blow (MP3)

Howlin’ Wolf - May I Have A Talk With You (MP3)

Jimmy Witherspoon - Have You Ever Loved A Woman (MP3)

For the last few weeks I’ve been captivated by the recordings of George Mitchell who made some remarkable field recordings throughout the South over a twenty year period beginning in the early 1960’s. Many of these recordings have appeared on specialist labels like Southland, Revival, Flyright, Arhoolie and Rounder but are long out of print now. Several years ago the Fat Possum label acquired the Mitchell archive and has been reissuing the recordings through a variety of formats including CD, 7-inch record and digital download. While I admire Fat Possum for issuing these recordings, which will be of interest to a very narrow audience, their reissue of the material has been frustrating. They started the reissue program with single CD’s of artists like Fred McDowell, J.W. Warren, Joe Callicott but eventually settled on putting the records out as series of 7″ records (45 volumes in total) which seems a sure fire way of limiting their impact. Furthermore they have issued some more single artists CD’s of folks like Cecil Barfield, Leon Pinson and Buddy Moss but these now seem impossible to locate. It seems a good chunk of the Mitchell collection (including many sides not on the box set) is available through eMusic and Amazon as digital downloads. I finally decided to pick up the The George Mitchell Collection box set which contains all 150 songs on each of the 45 7-inches spread out over six CD’s plus a 24-track bonus CD by artists Fat Possum didn’t know enough about to include in the original set. Also included is a well written booklet. I have to admit I’ve been a bit obsessed with these remarkable recordings and also picked up a couple of the individual CD’s plus downloaded a number of songs that don’t appear on the box set. Here, then, is the first of a two part trawl through these recordings as we look through the first three CD’s.

Mitchell wasn’t the only one roaming the south in the 1960’s in search of blues; there was folklorists and researchers such as David Evans, Sam Charters, Gayle Dean Wardlow, Art Rosenbaum and others. Some were hunting for the famous names who made records in the 1920’s and 1930’s, others were seeking to fill in biographical blanks regarding some of the older musicians coveted by collectors and then there were those, like Mitchell, who were seeking to record whoever they could find. Mitchell did record some of the famous artists of the past like Buddy Moss, Furry Lewis, Will Shade, Sleepy Johns Estes and was the first to record artists who would achieve later fame such as R.L. Burnside, Jesse Mae Hemphill, Othar Turner and Precious Bryant. While the blues revival was picking up steam with newly discovered artists like Son House, Bukka White and Mississippi John Hurt hitting the circuit, Mitchell’s recordings were a sort of a parallel undercurrent to the more famous artists. What Mitchell recorded in the rural communities of Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi in the 1960’s was a still thriving, if largely undocumented, blues culture. Mitchell had the passion and drive to seek out these folks, and unlike some folklorists didn’t use the music to reinforce his own theories, he simply let the musicians speak for themselves and judging by the recordings they clearly responded to Mitchell’s sincerity (being a southerner probably didn’t hurt as well). Mitchell came along at the right time as he relates in the notes to the LP South Georgia Blues by William Robertson aka Cecil Barfield: “As late as 1969 a country bluesman who at least occasionally played could be located in most small towns of Georgia. In 1976, there are very few active blues musicians left in the state! In the short span of seven years, one of the world’s most vital and influential forms of music as it was originally performed has all but died out in Georgia, and probably in the rest of the South as well. …Most bluesmen have either died or fallen into ill health accompanying old age, and the younger generation of rural blacks long ago turned their backs on the blues.” It was also, he noted, the Church who claimed many bluesmen as well as the lack of financial incentive to play the blues that was the music’s death knell.

The most striking musician on the first disc is Cecil Barfield, and I agree with Mitchell’s assessment that he was some kind of genius. Mitchell called him “probably the greatest previously unrecorded bluesman I have had the pleasure of recording during my 15 years of field research.” Using the name William Robertson, in fear of endangering his welfare checks, he cut the LP South Georgia Blues for Southland in the mid-70’s with several other tracks appearing on Flyright’s Georgia Blues Today (reissued by Fat Possum with the same title and liner notes). I imagine Barfield is an acquired taste but to me he is simply mesmerizing; his music, with his droning, lightly distorted electric guitar coupled with his powerful mushed mouth, nasal singing, is hypnotic. Barfield has some originals but his genius is in the way he transforms well known songs by Frankie Lee Sims (”Lucy Mae Blues”), Lightnin’ Hopkins (”Mojo Hand”), J.B. Lenoir (”Talk To Your Daughter”) and others into something startlingly original. Only four songs by Barfield are on the box set although I was so taken with his music I downloaded all his songs on Amazon (George Mitchell Collection Vol. 2, Disc 3 & 4), 43 songs in all!

The sheer depth of singular talent is consistently surprising. Take John Lee Zielgler recorded in Georgia in 1978 and Lonzie Thomas recorded in Alabama in the early 1980’s. Zielgler achieves a a gorgeous, fluid slide technique from his unorthodox style (he was a left-handed guitarist who played a right-handed guitar upside-down). His three numbers not only feature his slide work but also his beautiful high pitched voice backed by the wonderful spoon player Rufus Jones. In true field recording tradition you can hear little children playing in the background. More of his sides can be found on George Mitchell Collection Vol. 5. Thomas plays some fine finger picking reminiscent of John Hurt but not as refined, and possesses a deep, rich voice as he delivers old time numbers like “Rabbit On A Log”, “Raise A Ruckus Tonight” and showcases some slide on the fine “My Three Woman.”

Teddy Williams and William “Do Boy” Diamond were both recorded in Canton, Mississippi in 1967 on subsequent days. Diamond was a basic guitar player but possessed a great, relaxed voice. “Hard Time Blues” is a magnificent number, sharing the same haunting quality of some of Skip James’ numbers. More of his sides can be found on George Mitchell Collection Vol. 5. It’s suggested the older Williams may have taught Diamond, and he too is a powerful singer in a similar style. Mitchell’s trip to Mississippi in 1967 was an extremely fruitful one and in addition to the above artists he recorded stunning sides by Houston Stackhouse (in a trio with Robert Nighthawk and Peck Curtis plus Carey “Ditty” Mason on some sides). It was a fortuitous recordings as Nighthawk died a few months later followed by Mason in 1969 and Curtis in 1970. These highly regarded sides have been issued before on Arhoolie and Testament. In addition there is some unissued material by Nighthawk and Stackhouse that should be of major interest to collectors. Also recorded during this trip were some powerhouse sides by Fred McDowell and harpist Johnny Woods and the wonderful Joe Callicott who’s long been a favorite of mine. Only three songs apiece are included by each artist but each has full length CD’s available on Fat Possum, both of which come highly recommended.

Other older, established players Mitchell recorded were Buddy Moss in 1963 and Dewey Corley in 1967. Mitchell found Moss through Peg Leg Howell (who he also recorded although his sides have not been reissued). Moss was part of the the great Atlanta blue scene of the 1930’s working with Barbecue Bob, Curley Weaver, Blind Willie McTell as well as recording prolifically between 1933 and 1941. He was a forgotten man when Mitchell recorded him but the six sides included here find him in superb form. A moody and difficult character (a 1976 interview with Robert Springer was titled So I Said ‘The Hell with It: A Difficult Interview with Eugene ‘Buddy’ Moss) his comeback never took off like it should, although Atlanta Blues Legend recorded in 1966 and issued on Biograph is quite good. Jug band veteran Dewey Corley is also in good form playing vigorous kazoo and one-stringed bass backed by Walter Miller on guitar on three loose, fun numbers.

Disc three features a trio of fine players from Georgia recorded in 1969: Bud White, Jim Bunkley and George Henry Bussey. Like many of the artists Mitchell found, none were professional musicians but all are quite good. White was a percussive guitar player with a high, rich voice, Bussey had a light, gently propulsive style and good voice while Mitchell describes Bunkley’s style as a”frolicking” sound in contrast to the harder Mississippi style. Both Bussey and Bunkley were paired on the 1971 album George Henry Bussey and Jim Bunkley issued on Revival.

Mitchell also recorded a fair number of religious material including gospel singers and marvelous slide players, Leon Pinson and Green Paschal, both who play stirring gospel inflected blues. Pinson worked with the great singer/harmonica player Elder Roma Wilson early in his career and reunited with him when Wilson was rediscovered in the 80’s, with the duo having a fair bit of success on the festival circuit. Pinson is a major artist with fine understated baritone and a ringing slide style. The stunner is “What God Can Do” sung in a beautiful crooning style, dipping occasionally into falsetto. It only lasts a minute-and-a-half but the depth of feeling resonates long after the song concludes. Paschal was a rough expressive singer and exciting, percussive slide player who comes across as a less intense version of Son House.

Cecil Barfield - Lucy Mae Blues (MP3)

John Lee Ziegler - Who’s Gonna Be Your Man (MP3)

Lonzie Thomas - My Three Woman (MP3)

William ‘Do Boy’ Diamond - Hard Time Blues (MP3)

Leon Pinson - What God Can Do (MP3)

The world lost not only a great blues and gospel singer in May 2004, but a truly charismatic, larger than life figure when Arnold “Gatemouth” Moore passed in Yazoo City, Mississippi at the age of 90. Gatemouth summed up his talents as a blues singer this way: “I am one of the ultra-men blues singers. I am not accustomed and don’t know nothing about that gut-belly stuff in the joints…I put on tuxedos, dressed up, sang intelligent…Without a doubt, and I’m not being facetious, I’m the best blues singer in the business with that singing voice. Now I can’t wiggle and I can’t dance, but telling a story, I don’t think them other boys are in my class.” Often labeled a blues shouter,with his perfect diction and huge, mellow, enveloping voice he was more accurately a blues crooner of the highest order. His heyday as a blues career was short lived, cutting a couple of dozen sides between 1945 and 1947 that saw release on Gilmore’s Chez Paree, Savoy, National with his final records cut for King at the very end of 1947. His most famous number was the immortal “Did You Ever Love A Woman” although his output was consistently high cutting should-have been-classics like “I Ain’t Mad at You Pretty Baby”, “Walking My Blues Away”, “They Can’t Do This to You”, “Highway 61 Blues” backed by swinging big bands featuring top flight jazz musicians such as Budd Johnson, Jimmy Hamilton, Harry Carney, Tiny Grimes, and John Hardee. His blues career came to a close in 1949 when he had a religious conversion on stage at Chicago’s Club DeLisa. After walking off stage he eventually became a preacher, gospel disc jockey and gospel recording artist.

Inexplicably in 1977 he stepped back briefly into the world of blues cutting Great Rhythm & Blues Oldies Vol. 7, an exceptional album despite it’s generic title. The album was produced by Johnny Otis and issued on the Blues Spectrum label. According to the notes: “Three years ago in Los Angles, Moore startled his longtime buddy, Johnny Otis, by announcing his intention to record some of his old blues. ‘You can’t do that, Gate, you’re a minister,’ Johnny protested. ‘Yes, I can, ‘ Moore countered, ‘I’m not going to be a blues singer again but it is part of my heritage and I want you to produce it.’” On the surface this is an easy album to overlook; firstly it’s not available on CD, there’s that generic title and a program of remakes of older material. Yet Gatemouth was in dynamic, inspired form, backed by spirited support from Johnny Otis and his son Shuggie.

Good old fashioned blues singing, the ability to really sell a song, to tell a compelling story to your audience don’t seem to be the attributes favored by white fans who value instrumental prowess and equate sophistication with commercialism. Gatemouth puts on a clinic of good old fashioned blues singing on this album, refashioning his old material and delivering some fine new compositions. The album kicks off with the chugging”I Ain’t Mad At You, Pretty Baby” sung with gusto. The number was first cut in 1945 and based on a real life incident as Gatemouth recalled: “I was in Washington D.C. when I wrote that one. A woman had just taken her shoe off and busted her old man across the head with it. As the cop car came to take her away, the guy ran up behind it, blood still running from his forehead, yelling ‘I ain’t mad at you, baby’.” Gatemouth tells the following story regarding “Did You Ever Love A Woman” which he also remakes on this album: “Well, my wife wasn’t home when I came back to Memphis from a trip, so I went down on Beale Street to look for her. A fellow said, ‘Yeah, she’s upstairs.’ I’m mad now. The band leader saw me. ‘Sing something, Gate,’ he said. I was looking for my wife, and I told him to turn up all the lights. I shouted out singing: ‘My wife is here with another man/and I swear we’re going to fight.’ That song came from me looking for Willa Mae. She got outta there too.” Many have covered this song but no one sang it better than Gatemouth and here he delivers a vigorous, impassioned remake that has all the power of the original cut thirty tears previously. Those famous lines still resonate: “Did you ever love a woman/And love her with all your might/When all the time you knew she wasn’t treating you right.” Backed by Johnny Otis’ sparkling vibes, “My Mother Thinks I’m Something” is a marvelous update of “Something I’m Gonna Be” originally cut for King in 1947. It’s another great story song:

My mother thought I was something
You know folks something I gotta be
I tried so hard to make fame, so I could let my dear mother see
I tried so hard to make fame, so I could let dear Georgia see
See my mother thinks I’m something, and I declare something I gotta be

“Gate’s Christmas Blues” is a silky remake of of his 1946 number “Christmas Blues” again featuring terrific vibes from Otis. 1945’s “It Ain’t None of Me” is remade in glorious fashion as “Somebody Got To Go” as Gatemouth bellows out the blues with that great opening line : “Say Mr. Jones, turn up all them lights/My baby’s in the house with another man and I swear we gonna a fight.” Newer material includes the deeply soulful blues of “Everybody Has Their Turn” which has more updated sound, the rocking “Boogie Woogie Papa” (I wonder what the congregation thought about this one?!) and a gorgeous interpretation of “Goin’ Down Slow” sporting some sympathetic guitar work from Shuggie and piano from Johnny.

The album’s masterpiece is “Beale Street Ain’t Beale Street No More” an impassioned six minute lament on the destruction of Gatemouth’s old stomping grounds. According to the liner notes this was done off-the-cuff which would make it all the more remarkable. Like many, Gatemouth cut his teeth singing the blues at the Beale Street clubs and for almost a hundred years it was the center of black urban life in Memphis. According to the Tennessee Encyclopedia of History: “In 1969 the city undertook urban renewal projects, including Beale Street I and Beale Street II, which erased the area’s housing, demolished 474 buildings, and placed a block-wide barrier of empty lots and parking spaces between African Americans and Beale Street. This project left a thin commercial (blue light) district between Second and Fourth Avenues, where African American businesses were forced out through condemnation of buildings and high property resale prices. The Memphis Press-Scimitar (June 10, 1979) declared “Urban renewal destroyed Beale Street.” This is the backdrop of Gatemouth’s passionate, bitter insider’s recounting of the old street as he recalls the street in better days: “My mind run back/When it was a fast track/The old Street was jumping.”He nostalgically recalls now shuttered joints like the One Minute, Pee Wee’s and the Palace (”where I learned to sing the blues”) and to the street’s characters like Robert Henry, Little Mickey, Brother Moss, Lieutenant Lee and Memphis Ma Rainey. The song slowly builds up steam to rousing finish as he sadly concludes: “Beale Street ain’t Beale Street no more/My street is gone, gone to come back no more.”

My Mother Thinks I’m Something (MP3)

Beale Street Ain’t Beale Street No More (MP3)

Somebody Got To Go (MP3)

Goin’ Down Slow (MP3)

By the time he succumbed to a heart attack in 1971 Curtis Jones was a sad, embittered man who - rightly I would say - viewed himself as the forgotten man of the blues, watching from the sidelines while others from his era were greeted with far more enthusiasm and fame. His passing was greeted with little fanfare and in a final indignity his grave was unceremoniously sold eight years later because no one had paid for its upkeep.

The intervening years have done nothing to raise to Jones’ profile; his records have not been well represented on the reissue market and mention of his music to fellow blues fans is often greeted with indifference. To put it frankly his records are considered “boring” by most blues fans. The very qualities which made him popular among the black record buying public of the 1930’s and 1940’s were not exactly the qualities white enthusiasts prized. His talents were perhaps too subtle for the new white audience: his deep, unfussy piano playing was very much in the service of the song and decidedly unshowy, he was an expressive singer with a high, tight tenor with a way of putting across a song that really connected with the audience and he was an exceptional, imaginative lyricist. As Tony Russell wrote, somewhat uncharitably, in the Penguin Guide To Blues: “…Over the next four years [1937-1941] Jones turned out dozens of blues-and-trouble compositions, sung in the bleak Texas manner of men like Black Boy Shine to tidy, unexciting piano accompaniments.”Closer to the mark was Paul Oliver who in the notes to In London wrote: “He is the bluesman’s blues singer. All that he plays and sings is blues, but it cannot be lightly asserted that he represents the blues of Texas, where he was born, or of the West where he worked for some years. His is not merely ‘Chicago blues’, though he lived there for a quarter of a century. And how does one type a blues singer who has made Paris, France, his home?”

Courtesy American Folk Music Occasional, 1970

Our story picks up in Europe where Jones settled in the early 1960’s after almost twenty years without stepping into a studio, outside of a couple of 1953 sides for Parrot. Before packing his bags for Europe he waxed a pair of fine stateside comeback records; Trouble Blues (Bluesville, 1960) and Lonesome Bedroom Blues (Delmark, 1962) which found his talents undimmed by the passage of time. Over in Europe he would record two more superb albums; In London (Decca, 1963) and Now Resident In Europe (Blue Horizon, 1968) reissued, remastered and rounded out with unissued sides as Curtis Jones: The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions. It was Mike Vernon who we have to thank for both sessions as he writes in the excellent liner notes: “To be totally honest, Curtis Jones represented a bygone era and his particular style and sound was not at one with the current trends and developments in the blues world at the time. …It should be remembered that I, in particular, had been the only producer who had the courage to record him - not once, but twice. Most others might well have not taken the risk, if the truth were to be told.”

I, for one, am glad he took the chance as it paid off handsomely. The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions consists of the original ten songs plus brief interview, a batch of alternate takes and the previously unissued “Blues On The Scene.” Backed by a strong rhythm section of Brian Brocklehurst on upright bass and Dougie Wright on drums, Jones is in superb form stretching out with some gorgeous piano solos and singing marvelously on this well recorded date that features songs he hadn’t recorded before. Jones sounds particularly extroverted on a number of selections including the shuffling “You Don’t Have To Go” stretching out with some sparkling piano work, the insistent drive of “Cherie”, positively cooks on the bouncy, declamatory “Gee, Pretty Baby” and delivers the spirited, inventive instrumental “Dryburgh Drive” (named after the street the studio resided on). Jones is at his plaintive best on the lovely ballad “I Want To Be Your Slave” and displays his skills as a guitarist on several sparse numbers. Guitar was his first instrument and he first revealed his talent on the instrument on his Decca album. His picking is basic but effective on on solo numbers such as “Morocco Blues”, “Jane”, “Blues On The Scene” and the heartfelt, beautifully sung “Soul Brother Blues.” As on all of the Blue Horizon reissues, packaging is excellent with lengthy notes, nice photos and pristine sound.

Listening to The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions prompted me to reacquaint myself with In London which I hadn’t listened to in ages. I’ve been informed that this has made it on to CD on the Deram label which may itself be out of print although copies look to be still available. Despite extremely lean times, Jones sailed into his 1960’s comeback as an artist at the height of his powers as he ably demonstrates on In London backed by sympathetic band featuring bassist Jack Fallon, drummer Eddie Taylor and Alexis Korner on guitar on a few numbers. The program is a mix of old classics like “Lonesome Bedroom Blues”, Alleybound Blues”, “You Got Good Business” plus items he had been playing for his European audiences, numbers like Percy Mayfield’s “Please Send Me Someone To Love”, the rollicking instrumental, “Young Generation Boogie”, based on the Ray Charles instrumental “Rockhouse” and the charming “Syl-Vous Play Blues.” Jones revives classic piano pieces including an elegant version of “The Honeydripper”, “Curtis Jones Boogie”, his version of the timeless “Pinetop’s Boogie Woogie” and the rocking “Shake It Baby.” Of the guitar pieces, “Skid Row” is the standout, the kind of seedy life blues tale Jones so excelled at conjuring up. Paul Oliver provides a fine set of notes for the original LP which have been reprinted in Blues Off The Record.

Both of these records come recommended and one hopes that the reissue of The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions will spark some renewed interest in Curtis Jones although that may be, admittedly, wishful thinking. I’ll be spotlighting the music of Jones in an upcoming radio program so keep an eye out. For a well written piece on Jones I make available, with the author’s permission, an article written in Jefferson magazine no. 124, 2000: Curtis Jones: The Lonesome Bedroom Blues (PDF)

You Don’t Have To Go [Blue Horizon Sessions] (MP3)

Soul Brother Blues [Blue Horizon Sessions] (MP3)

Shake It Baby [In London] (MP3)

Syl-Vous Play Blues [In London] (MP3)

Reverend Gary Davis recorded prolifically in the post-war years starting with a few scattered sides in the 1940’s, more in the 1950’s and really picking up steam in the 1960’s. A pleasant surprise in recent years are the number of unreleased Davis sides that have surfaced. Among the notable ones include: If I Had My Way: Early Home Recordings, Demons and Angels: The Ultimate Collection a 3-CD set featuring many unreleased treasures, Sun of Our Life - Solos, Songs, A Sermon, 1955-1957 and Document’s Reverend Gary Davis: Manchester Free Trade Hall 1964.

Now comes Lifting The Veil: The First Bluesmen - Rev. Gary Davis & Peers an eclectic collection from World Arbiter that gathers up six unreleased home recordings by Davis circa 1956-1957. In addition the liner notes include a fascinating excerpt from an unknown, unpublished oral history of Davis compiled in 1951 by Elizabeth Lyttleton Harold, the wife of Alan Lomax. Another treat are four previously unknown Leadbelly tracks from a 1941 radio broadcast, when he hosted a weekly radio show. Rounding the set out are 78’s from the Harry Smith Collection including sides by Gus Cannon, Buddy Boy Hawkins, Edward Thompson, Leola Wilson, Big Bill Broonzy, Ramblin’ Thomas, Rube Lacey, William Moore and Charlie Patton.

The Davis sides are generally well recorded and are a nice, if minor, addition to his recorded legacy. Five of the six songs are instrumentals as Davis displays his remarkable guitar style on the propulsive “Lost John”, the stately “Soldier’s Drill”, “Mountain Jack”, the lovely “Slow Blues In E” and a driving version of his “I Didn’t Want To Join The Band.” “Come Down To See Me Sometime” is a gorgeously sung folk number underpinned by Davis’ complex, melodic finger picking. The four Leadbelly sides are well recorded and while short, are a nice addition to his voluminous recording legacy. The most interesting is “Sermon On Pancakes”, and to be honest I don’t even know what to say about this surreal, wonderful number that uses pancakes as a religious metaphor (”Now this is a sermon. Big stream of molasses up in heaven and a big stream of honey, a lot of flapjack”) . Leadbelly also serves up terrific versions of the traditional “The Blood’s Done Signed Your Name” and “Gallows Pole” and the powerful “Leaving Blues.”

The remaining tracks are blues classics that have all been reissued many times before and in generally better sound than those presented here. Also I should note that the song listed on the back as “Goin’Crazy” by Ramblin’ Thomas is actually his “Sawmill Moan.” One nice touch is that lyric transcriptions are provided for all the songs. The oral history included is a fascinating document and stems from a 300+ page manuscript. Davis was a true philosopher who expounds on his early life, religion, racism and human nature. World Arbiter has made the entire booklet available on their website.

All in all an interesting an eclectic collection handsomedly packaged. This is obviously a set geared towards collectors and I would imagine that the combination of unreleased tracks and the oral history will provide a compelling reason to pick up this attractive collection.

Leadbelly - Sermon On Pancakes (MP3)

Rev. Gary Davis - I Didn’t Want To Join The Band (MP3)

In previous posts I’ve spotlighted some of JSP’s pre-war blues box sets but for the past couple of weeks I’ve been captivated by a pair of recent post-war ones; Juke Joint Blues: Good Time Rhythm & Blues 1946-1953 and Lightning Special: Volume 2 of the Collected Works. The music spans a fascinating period, roughly the first decade of post-war blues, when the blues was evolving into what would be called R&B and a short hop later to rock and roll. The music on these sets however is a throwback; this is rough and tumble down-home blues geared towards an audience that was still eager to hear earthy rural blues. Many of these listeners were still in the south while many other were transplanted southerners still eager to hear the older styles. These were exciting times with numerous small labels throwing their hat in the ring to try to cash in on the market. Some labels became famous like Sun, Modern, Excello, King and had a fair bit of success while others like Rockin’, Miltone, Delta remain all but forgotten outside of hardcore collectors. And of course there were plenty of artists eager to give it a go with down-home artists like Lightning Hopkins, Li’l Son Jackson, John Lee Hooker and Smokey Hogg achieving a good amount of success while the vast majority toiled with little or no luck, cutting a handful of sides and drifting back into obscurity. Both these sets collect some exciting, rawboned music by the famous and forgotten making for a varied and immensely entertaining survey of the blues in the immediate post-war era circa 1946 to 1956. Neil Slaven’s notes are typically informative with the Hopkins being particularly interesting. It should be noted that most of these sides have appeared elsewhere and potential buyers may have to way the sets’ merits against what they already own. In a way JSP seems to be stepping on the toes of the Boulevard Vintage label which for the past few years has been issuing excellent, well annotated multi-CD sets of down-home blues divided into different geographic regions and there’s much overlapping between the two labels (I’m far too lazy to actually count duplications but there’s quite a number).

Juke Joint Blues: Good Time Rhythm & Blues 1946-1953, there’s a mouthful of a title, is perhaps a bit loose thematically but gathers together 212 tracks of vintage down-home blues from performers based all over the map, predominantly from the south. JSP has done a marvelous job compiling this box which boasts nary a dud in the bunch and generally quite good sound-wise. There’s plenty of well known performers like down-home stalwart Lightning Slim who’s somber blues are heard to fine effect on half a dozen tracks including downtrodden gems like “I Can’t Live Happy” and “I Can’t Be Successful” but rocks to good effect on “Bugger Bugger Boy” modeled on Muddy’s “Hootchie Cootchie Man.” Slim employed a number of fine harmonica partners, many of whom are featured here; there’s Lazy Lester belying his name on the pounding “Lester’s Stomp”, there’s the marvelous country tinged “Pebble In My Shoe”, the only record by Wild Bill Phillips and terrific sides by the still active Schoolboy Cleve who blows some wild, wide toned harp on the torrid “She’s Gone” and puts it way in the alley on “Strange Letter Blues” laying down some stunningly raw, over amped harmonica. Of course when it comes to raw, over amped harmonica nobody beats Papa Lightfoot who’s vicious “Wine, Women, Whiskey” sounds like he’s singing and playing from the bottom of a garbage can and who can resist a line like “come on baby talk some trash to me.” His “Jump the Boogie” and the chugging “Mean Old Train” are almost as ferocious. There’s quite a number of talented harp players including classic sides by the still active Jerry McCain including his blistering “Courtin’ In a Cadillac” and the menacing “That’s What They Want” (”They don’t want no man ain’t got no cash/They’ll tell you right quick they don’t mess with trash/That’s what they want/Money honey”). Lesser-known but first rate are the four sides Little Sam Davis cut for the Miami based Rockin’ label in 1953 backed by a young Earl Hooker. Davis was an expressive singer who reminds me a bit of Baby Face Leroy and fine upper register harp player who shines on “Goin’ Home To Mother” and the throbbing “1958 Blues. Hooker cut some sides under his own name at the same session which are collected here including wild instrumentals “Alley Corn” and “On the Hook”, the bopping “Ride Hooker Ride” with a fine, unknown smoothed voiced singer while Hooker takes the vocals on the magnificent cover of “Sweet Black Angel” showing his mastery of Robert Nighthawk’s style. Getting back to great harp men there’s some marvelous tracks by the sparsely recorded Coy Hot Shot Love and Ole Sonny Boy who’s style is reminiscent of Papa Lightfoot, even sparking conjecture that he might indeed be Lightfoot although my ears say no. In addition to Hooker there’s also a passel of terrific guitarists like Johnny Lewis aka Joe Hill Louis who cooks on the Elmore James styled “Jealous Man”, Lafayette Thomas who’s moody instrumental “Deep South Guitar Blues” I believe is seeing the light of day for the first time, Wright Holmes who’s “Good Road Blues” showcases a unorthodox guitarist who sounds like nobody I know and bottleneck ace John Lee who’s 1951 Federal session has been justly celebrated, sounding like a date that could have been recorded fifteen years earlier. Speaking of which there’s a few pre-war recording artists that make the cut including the last sides by the under appreciated Clifford Gibson, three numbers by Texas piano man Alex Moore including a pair of rippling boogies and Skoole-Dum-Doo & Sheffield which masks the identity of Seth Richard who first recorded back in 1929.

Most of the music on Lightning Special: Volume 2 of the Collected Works was recorded in Texas cities like Dallas and Houston with a batch also cut in the recording centers of New York and Los Angles. This set is a perfect compliment to the above set gathering up 106 sides of dusty, down-home Texas blues recorded between 1951 and 1956. This set is a sequel to JSP’s Lightning Hopkins: All The Classics 1946-1951, which was issued a few years back. The title is something of a misnomer as it not only features Hopkins but also some of his associates and like minded peers such as Thunder Smith, Lil’ Son Jackson, Soldier Boy Houston, Frankie Lee Sims, Manny Nichols, Ernest Lewis, L.C. Williams and J.D. Edwards. Hopkins is of the course the star and during the first decade of his career, 1946 to 1956, he laid down his greatest music for a myriad of small labels like Sittin’ In With, Herald, Aladdin, TNT, Gold Star and several others. The tricky thing about Lightning is that he makes it sounds so easy as he pulls down a seemingly endless storehouse of tales and antidotes from his life and community and casually tosses off some amazing guitar licks. Much of it was improvisatory and rooted in the way he worked the local clubs as Chris Strachwitz noted on his first trip to Houston to see Lightning’: ” He would just improvise constantly, that whole evening. …He was simply the community poet who would tell people what they like(d) to hear. And he would argue with the woman in front of him, “Whoa, woman, you in the black dress!” And then he would just go into this musical tirade about her, and she would yell back at him! It was real two-way communication. It was like a church service in a totally non church atmosphere.” Lightning’s genius was the way he translated this to his studio recordings. Sure he would tell his interviewers: “It’s people that move me. I don’t like playing to the wall. …I need the amen. Like a preacher preaching, if he don’t get the amen he can’t do it. …They get me in that big room and they go watch me through the glass wall and I don’t feel like nothing. Oh, course those records are good, ’cause everything I do is good - but they ain’t the best. The best only happens when I’m feeling easy.” Lightning must have been feeling pretty easy during this period maintaining an exceptionally high standard particularly on some remarkable sides for Herald such as ruminative numbers like “Shine On Moon”, “Remember Me”, “Lonesome in Your Home”, “Life I Used to Live” plus stomping boogies like “Had a Gal Called Sal”, “Moving On Out Boogie” and the wild “Hopkins Sky Hop.” Also quite good are a pair of 1956 numbers he waxed for Chart before a three year absence from the studio and an interesting duet from 1954; “Walkin’ the Streets” and “Mussy Haired Woman” are a perfect marriage of vocals and over-amped guitar while “That’s Alright Baby” features the down-home vocals of Ruth (Blues) Ames is the only female duet that I think I’ve ever heard him perform.

There were a number of artists “who hung out in Lightning’s orbit” like drummer/singer/tap dancer L.C. Williams. Williams was a strong singer, often back by Lightning on guitar and piano, who cut a number of excellent sides between 1947 and 1951. Eight sides are collected here including moody down-home numbers like “Strike Blues”, “The Lazy J” and boogies like “You Can’t Take It with You Baby” and the bouncy “Boogie All the Time.” When Lola Ann Cullum decided to take Lightning and pianist Thunder Smith to Los Angeles to record for Aladdin she had Smith in mind to be the star. Smith was a solid pianist and appealing singer, if not star material, as he displays on the half dozen sides here including the rollicking “Little Mama Boogie” and fine mid-tempo fare like “Big Stars are Falling” and “West Coast Blues” one of several numbers with Lightning on guitar. Frankie Lee Sims claimed to be a cousin of Lightning but the association helped him little on the charts. Sims possessed a wonderful gravelly voice and a powerful boogie guitar style. His four session 1948 debut for Blue Bonnet is included, and while solid, doesn’t match the terrific sides he waxed for Specialty and Ace. Nothing is known of J.D. Edwards but Lightning backs him on pair of numbers including the stomping “Hobo” with Lightning unleashing some torrid over-amped guitar. One artist that’s sadly overlooked is singer Luke “Long Gone” Miles a Lightning protégé who cut some fine sides for Smash and World Pacific in the early 1960’s. Unfortunately Miles made his recordings a tad late to make it on to this set which, like all JSP sets, takes advantage of the European 50 year copyright law.

Lightning’s personal connection to the other artists are tenuous outside of a similar style; Lil’ Son Jackson recorded for Gold Star and was right up there in sales with Lightning’, Manny Nichols was a powerful, rough voiced singer who brings to mind Tommy McLennan, Ernest Lewis worked in a similar vein although “In My Girlish Days” finds him backing a marvelous, mysterious singer who went by the handle singer Miss Country Slim. I found myself quite captivated by Soldier Boy Houston’s (Lawyer Houston was his real name) eight sides. I first heard him on an Atlantic LP years ago and he’s a very appealing singer with a light tenor voice backing himself with some springy guitar work. His songs are captivating tales packed with loads of descriptive detail, much seemingly based on his real life experiences: “In the Army Since 1941″, “Lawyer Houston Blues” (”My name is Lawyer Houston and I’m a private first class/It seem like everywhere I go I got to have a special privilege pass’), “Lawton, Oklahoma Blues” (When I re-enlisted in the Army/They send down to Fort Sill/We’ll I learned that the women in Lawton will get a good soldier killed”).

Schoolboy Cleve - Strange Letter Blues [From Juke Joint Blues] (MP3)

Earl Hooker - Ride, Hooker, Ride [From Juke Joint Blues] (MP3)

Lightning Hokins - Walking The Streets [From Lightnin’ Special] (MP3)

J.D. Edward - Hobo [From Lightnin’ Special] (MP3)

I would imagine all but the most seasoned collector has ever heard of blues singer Willie Headen. I for one certainly had not but I have blind faith in the good folks at Ace Records plus a collector’s curiosity, so I picked up the Willie Headen collection Blame It On The Blues with no idea what to expect. Ace, as most folks know, issues terrific post-war blues reissues circa the 40’s through the 60’s, very collector oriented, loaded with previously unreleased tracks and in depth notes. Blame It On The Blues spotlights an exceptional blues singer who recorded a handful of excellent 45’s in his five year on-off-on stint with Dootsie Williams’ Dootone, Dooto labels and the offshoot Authentic imprint. Headen cut singles between 1954-1959 achieving marginal success with 45’s continuing to be issued through 1960 when a bunch of them were compiled for the now collectible Blame It On The Blues LP. Headen had just enough success to keep stringing along before quitting the music business in 1959 when he married. He reemerged briefly in 1969 cutting some soul sides for Kent. None of this led to any success; when Dootise Williams first found Willie he was working as a shoe-shine man at a barbershop on 103rd Street, and when liner note writer Jim Dawson found him he was still shining shoes, this time in the lobby of a Wilshire Boulevard office building in West Los Angeles. It also probably didn’t help that Headen’s records were listed variously as by Willie Headed, Hayden, Clifford Chambers (?) or that the same record showed up on different Dootone imprints. All that should pretty much dispel any romance associated with the recording industry.

It’s a cliché to say that Headen deserved a better fate but well he did, although it’s always a gamble what the public will latch onto. I’m sure Dootsie Williams would say the same. Bandleader, record man and entrepreneur, Williams is best known for the string of doo-wop records that he made in the mid-50’s with groups like the Medallions, Calvanes with 1954’s “Earth Angel” by the Penguins being by far the most successful. He also cut his share of blues (Ace’s Blues for Dootsie and Dootone Rock ‘N’ Rhythm And Blues are worth investigating) by the likes of Helen Humes, Roy Milton, Big Joe Turner, Mickey Champion, and Filmore Slim among others.

Headen possessed a light, supple, soaring vocal style ably tackling proto-soul, doo-wop, vocal group, rockers and blues ballads. He had an easy, expressive delivery, adding some convincing grit on the blues numbers. If I had to make comparisons, Clyde McPhatter would come to mind. It was smoldering blues ballads where Headen excelled; numbers like the gritty, low-down title track (two versions are included), the languid “Everybody Has A Fool”, two versions of “Piece Of Mind” sporting some fine piano work from Memphis Slim, “You Can’t Fool The People” and the witty “You Can Be Replaced.” Headen was versatile as he proves on the hip shuffle of “Cool Cat”, the bluesy shuffle of “Sunset & Vine” underpinned by some rollicking piano, really cuts loose on the torrid gospel tinged, doo-wopper “I Wanna Know” backed by the 5 Birds plus convincing rockers like “Fun On Saturday Night” and “Turn The Hi-Fi Down.” Ace has done their usual thorough discographical detective work uncovering a number of alternates and unissued items although even their efforts failed to dig up a copy of the intriguingly “I’m Still Getting My Licks.” The only knock against Ace is their stubborn refusal to list session details for each track. In this case they can be forgiven as a quick perusal in Blues Discography 1943-1970 shows no information listed on the backing bands. It’s a shame as Headen was backed by some terrific West Coast combos featuring lots of slinky T-Bone Walkeresque guitar, wailing sax and rippling piano work.

Blame It On The Blues may well describe Willie Headen’s footnote of a recording career, but while fame and fortune eluded him this varied collection brings into focus an exceptionally talented blues singer. Ace promises to make Headen’s Kent singles available and I for one can’t wait.

Blame It On The Blues (MP3)

I Wanna Know (MP3)

In my ongoing attempt to to clear some space in my house I’ve been systematically working my way through several piles of unlistened to records including several JSP box sets. For the uninitiated JSP specializes in issuing budget priced roots box sets of public domain material. On the blues front they’ve issued single artists sets such as the complete recordings of Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Blake, Charlie Patton, Ma Rainey as well as several themed sets like Atlanta Blues, Memphis Masters, East Coast Blues among many others. This time out we look at two four CD sets; The Road To Robert Johnson & Beyond and When The Levee Breaks collectively encompassing just over two hundred tracks of prime country blues with the Johnson set spending half of it’s time in the post-war era.

Like many country blues fans it was Robert Johnson who was the first pre-war blues artist I seriously listened to (King of the Delta Blues Singers LP) and of course I was enthralled with the music. It was the music but also of course the mythology surrounding this mysterious figure that grabbed my imagination. Unfortunately by the time the “Complete Recordings” was issued in 1990 (going gold and selling over a million copies by 1994) the “mythology had consumed reality,” as Barry Lee Pearson wrote, and Johnson’s musical accomplishments were clouded in a haze of mythology and romanticism. Unfortunately this obsession on every minutiae of Johnson’s life has taken away the focus on his very real talents and perhaps more importantly this lopsided focus on Johnson has obscured the fact that he was very much part of a tradition; his music firmly built on the artists who came before like Lonnie Johnson and Tampa Red who don’t get a shred of the acclaim that Johnson does. The Road To Robert Johnson & Beyond attempts to place Johnson in historical context; disc one traces the roots of Robert Johnson, those artists who came before Johnson and who directly or indirectly shaped his style, disc two contains Johnson’s own records while the remaining discs contain music from those influenced by Johnson. If this sounds like deja vu, well it’s been done before in more streamlined fashion by Yazoo Records who in 2004 released Back to the Crossroads: The Roots of Robert Johnson which was an expanded and revised version of their The Roots of Robert Johnson which came out in 1990.

It’s strange then that the blurb on the box set indulges in the usual hyperbole that surrounds Johnson, first equating him to Shakespeare and someone “who took the raw, deep blues of an older generation and created a new style and a body of recorded work of the deepest genius which would be the template for blues (and much of rock music) for the next 60 years or so. He forged one of the four pillars upon which twentieth century music stands (Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five, Elvis Presley and the Beatles being the other three).” Geez!

Johnson’s brilliance was in how he borrowed, adapted, synthesized and added his own flourish to the music of those who came before and this is well illustrated in the first disc, the so called “raw materials.” Much of the same songs are compiled as in the Yazoo, in quite good sound, but if you haven’t heard them it’s certainly interesting to see where Johnson may have gotten his inspiration. The 25 tracks are a who’s who of country blues greats including extraordinary slide guitarist Kokomo Arnold an inspiration for Johnson’s “Sweet Home Chicago” and “I’ll Believe I’ll Dust My Broom”, Leroy Carr whose urbane “When The Sun Goes Down” was the source of “Love In Vain”, the popular Peetie Wheatstraw whose “Police Station Blues” was reworked by Johnson into “Terraplane Blues” and “Hellhound On My Trail” and Lonnie Johnson, one of the era’s most influential guitarists, whose “Life Saver Blues” guitar arrangement was lifted nearly note for note in Johnson’s “Malted Milk” and “Drunken Hearted Man.” Other artists include Son House who Johnson learned directly from, Skip James, Charlie Patton, the Mississippi sheiks and others.

The second disc contains all of Johnson’s records sans the alternate takes and really there’s nothing I can say that hasn’t been said - several forests have been felled producing the paper that’s been written about these sides. The final two discs contain those artists who have been influenced by Johnson either directly like Johnny Shines, Robert Lockwood, Calvin Frazier, Honeyboy Edwards or indirectly like Muddy Waters and Elmore James. Thematically this is where the box strains at the seams; Muddy for instance was more influenced by Son House and may have seen Johnson once or not at all, Robert Lee McCoy (Robert Nighthawk) probably met Johnson but bears no stylistic influence, the same can be said for Big Joe Williams (although a couple of Johnson’s Terraplane Blues lines showed up in I’m A Highway Man) and Baby Boy Warren does a faithful cover of Stop Breaking Down although it’s unknown where he learned the song and artists like Homesick James, Little Walter and Baby Face Leroy have only a tenuous connection to Johnson at best. Then there’s eleven tracks from 1975 by the mysterious Blind Will Dukes who claimed to learn from Johnson himself but sound suspiciously like he learned from the records. Still, the material itself is hard to fault, sound generally very good and typically informative notes by JSP’s chief writer Neil Slaven who surely must have writer’s cramp at the rate these box sets are issued. Buying this set I suppose depends on how much of the music you already have and certainly the budget price is attractive. For those newer to the music who’s main introduction to country blues is through Johnson, this box is worthwhile for putting Johnson’s music in historical context.

Thematically When the Levee Breaks Mississippi Blues Rare Cuts 1926-41, there’s a mouthful of a title, is a bit loose as well gathering recordings made by Mississippi artists in a fruitful fifteen year span. The one hundred recordings contain many outright masterpieces with the slant on lesser know artists such as Freddie Spruell, Arthur Petties, William Harris, Mississippi Bracey, Otto Virgial, Walter Rhodes, Willie ‘61′ Blackwell. Most of these names are well known among collectors and certainly artists like Geeshie Wiley, King Solomon Hill, Blind Joe Reynolds and Garfield Akers have long ago entered the blues cannon despite exceedingly slim discographies. Mississippi blues is usually associated with Delta, usually with the prevalence on slide or bottleneck playing but this collection goes some ways to dispel that notion providing a wide range of styles from men and woman all over the state.

Sound quality is generally good, considering the extreme rarity of the records, generally on par with Document but not the equivalent of Yazoo, which have an exceptional feel for remastering pre-war blues that’s virtually unmatched outside other specialist outfits like Revenant and Old Hat. Indeed for several of these records there’s only one known copy; newly discovered sides by Son House, Blind Joe Reynolds and King Solomon Hill are included, all of which have been released previously by Yazoo so it’s easy to deduce where JSP sourced their copies. “Clarksdale Moan” b/w “Mississippi County Farm Blues” is from House’s legendary 1930 Paramount session with Willie Brown and Charlie Patton. “Clarksdale Moan” is a strange tune but “Mississippi County Farm Blues” is a surging, slide driven powerhouse version of a number he would cut a dozen years later for the Library of Congress. Another long lost Paramount from the same year is Blind Joe Reynolds’ “Ninety Nine Blues” b/w “Cold Woman Blues” found at a flea market a few years back and purchased for one dollar! A quick comparison between JSP’s transfer and that found on Revenant’s Screamin’ & Hollerin’ The Blues finds Revenant’s transfer much more lively, with JSP damping down some of the noise to negative effect. I’ll simply agree with Yazoo’s Richard Nevins who called “Cold Woman Blues” a masterpiece although I prefer “Ninety Nine Blues” with it’s explosive drive and unrelenting swing. Lyrically it shares a number of verses with the magnificent “Third Street Woman Blues” (”My woman’s got something called a stingaree/Four o’clock in the morning she turns it loose on me”), also included, which unlike his other slide numbers, features some very effective strumming. King Solomon Hill is another shadowy figure who signed to the Paramount label in 1932, soon traveling to Grafton, Wisconsin to record six tracks - two of them alternate takes - which comprise his known discography; songs like the eerie “Gone Dead Train” and “Down on Bended Knee” are masterly performances featuring Hill’s eerie falsetto and raw, unorthodox guitar work. In 2002 record collector John Tefteller went to Grafton and discovered the long lost Hill 78 “My Buddy Blind Papa Lemon” b/w “Times Has Done Got Hard” in mint condition, both included here. “My Buddy Blind Papa Lemon” is a stunner and one of the rare tributes from one bluesman to another (Leroy Carr garnered a few and Lemon was also mention in a sermon by Rev. Emmett Dickinson).

One of the benefits of having all these tracks in one place is that it lets you reassess some of the lesser known names such as Freddie Spruell, ‘Bogus’ Ben Covington, Arthur Petties, J.D. Short, Mississippi Bracey, William Harris, Joe Calicott, Sam Butler (Bo Weavil Jackson), Willie ‘61′ Blackwell among others. Spruell was one of the first self-accompanied guitarists to record and lived in Chicago when he made his debut for OKeh Records in 1926. He seems to have some connection to the Delta but his background is hazy. Eight of his ten records are on board showcasing a fine singer/guitarist particularly on “Muddy Water Blues” from his first session and “Mr. Freddie’s Kokomo Blues” and “Let’s Go Riding” from his last with Carl Martin on guitar. Arthur Petties was another appealing singer who we know little about. He possessed a fine rich voice with “Revenue Man Blues” and “That Won’t Do” being standouts with Jed Davenport on harmonica on the former. It should be noted that his song “Good Boy Blues” is actually Webster Taylor’s “Sunny Southern Blues.” Unfortunately these kind of mistakes appear on many of the JSP sets. The excellent Jaydee Short or J.D. Short who recorded as ‘Jelly Jaw’ Short and Joe Stone was born in Mississippi but is really associated with St. Louis where he spent his entire life. “Let’s get stomped out and get drunk and run” he announces at the beginning of “Barefoot Blues” propelled by his quick chorded runs and powerful vocal. Equally strong is the wonderful “Snake Doctor Blues” and the tough depression era blues of “It’s Hard Time.” ‘Bogus’ Ben Covington sounds like a throwback from an older era as he plays banjo and harmonica energetically on “Boodle-de-Bum Blues” and the hilarious “Adam & Eve in the Garden” which is just the type of song church folk probably labeled the devil’s music: “When Adam and Eve was in the Garden of Eden, they must have shook that thing/Well the leaves started falling, the snakes started crawling/He must have give her a diamond ring.” Joe Calicott has been a long time favorite of mine and is marvelous whether backing Garfield Akers on the throbbing two part “Cottonfield Blues” (Aker’s other two numbers are also included) or his lone 78 “Fare Thee Well Blues” b/w “Traveling Mama Blues.” When he was rediscovered some forty years down the line his talents remained virtually unchanged and those late period records come highly recommended. Then there’s the marvelous Bo Weavil Jackson who actually hailed from Birmingham, Alabama but is called in the notes an “honorary Mississipian” for some reason. The sides included come from his 1926 Vocalion session (some of the Paramounts were issued on JSP’s Paramount Masters - in fact quite a number of artists on this set also have cuts on the Paramount box); Jackson possessed a high piercing voice and played remarkable, complex slide heard to fine effect on “You Can’t Keep No Brown” although I prefer the earlier version he cut for Paramount, “Devil and My Brown Blues” and the fine “Jefferson County Blues.”

When the Levee Breaks is a treasure trove of terrific country blues and I suppose collectors will have to sort out how much of this material they have where as newer fans may be a bit overwhelmed by it all. Neal Slaven offers up a particularly fine set of notes for this collection. JSP’s remastering is very uneven; on certain sets like the recently reviewed Ma Rainey they’ve generally done a fine job but on a set like this many tracks sound quite good while several others fall well short of similar tracks reissued by Yazoo and Revenant. I’ve also read a comment on a pre-war blues forum where the writer suggested that JSP’s remastering isn’t done for the sake of the music but to hide the fact that they are re-releasing tracks from other labels. I suppose you’ll have to make up your own mind but certainly the music can’t be faulted and the price is right.

Son House - Walkin’ Blues [The Road To Robert Johnson](MP3)

Blind Blake - Georgia Bound [The Road To Robert Johnson] (MP3)

Blind Joe Reynolds - Ninety Nine Blues [When The Levee Breaks] (MP3)

By now everyone knows that Ike Turner has passed. Just about every notable publication had an obituary or opinion on Ike and not surprisingly many focused on his well publicized troubles instead of his musical legacy. Serious blues and rock fans know that well before Tina, Ike was a major player on the R&B and blues scene of the 1950’s. Less well known is that even during the Ike & Tina years Ike would occasionally go in the studio with a version of his Kings of Rhythm or members of the Ike & Tina band and cut some roots based records. In 1962 he cut an instrumental album for Sue called Dance With Ike & Tina Turner’s Kings of Rhythm, in 1969 when he was out on tour with the Ike & Tina Turner Revue, he found time to cut the instrumental album A Black Man’s Soul (reissued by Funky Delicacies in 2003), Strange Fruit was another instrumental outing cut in 1972 for United Artists and then there was the aptly titled Blues Roots also cut for United Artists in 1972. it seems Ike was looking back a bit to his early days as Ike and Tina cut a couple of solid blues based albums for Blue Thumb in 1969; Outta Season and The Hunter, the latter featuring an uncredited Albert Collins on guitar. In 1969 he also produced Earl Hooker’s Sweet Black Angel for Blue Thumb; supposedly he plays piano but it may in fact be Ike’s buddy Ernest Lane but Ike does play guitar on the blistering instrumental “The Mood” that closes the album.

It’s a shame Blues Roots hasn’t been issued on CD as it features Ike on a dozen blues tracks playing some stinging guitar and singing exceptionally well. Ike reminds me of Earl Hooker in the sense that both were outstanding guitar players who weren’t confident vocally, although both were good singers, who relied on a host of others to do the singing. From what I’ve been able to dig up Turner cut the album in his home studio (the album was cut at Bolic Sound which was a studio Ike himself built) and played all the instruments himself although there’s no mention of this on the album itself.

Blues Roots is an earthy, well produced album with some occasionally odd but effective overdubbing and it’s clear that Ike was having some fun turning the knobs and experimenting in the studio. At it’s heart the album sticks close to the title as Ike puts his unique stamp on covers like Chuck Willis’ “You’re Still My Baby” and “Broken Hearted” both beautifully sung numbers with Ike crooning quite a bit like Charles Brown with the latter featuring Ike tearing it up on both piano and guitar. Ike proves to be a fine singer and his frequent spoken asides are priceless. “Goin’ Home” is another wonderfully sung number with bleating trumpet while “Lawdy Miss Clawdy” and “Think” are fairly faithful covers with the latter boasting some of Ike’s dazzling string bending. Ike’s impressive fretwork is also showcased on the low-down “Rockin’ Blues”, a sizzling cover of “That’s Alright” backed by some vamping horns, “My Babe” and the slightly chaotic, yet infectious “If You Love Me Like You Say” sporting a wild, rock tinged guitar sound. Finally I have to mention the bizarre “Right On” with a strangely overdubbed vocal as Ike raps out a litany of observations; pearls of wisdom include “I love snow but I hate cold weather, things always go better with Coke” and “Like the rich man he, go out look for the pretty girl, the pretty girl go out looking for the rich man. The two get together - sad news” and “There’s one thing about the dark, you can’t tell black from white - everything feel alright.” Whatever you say Ike!?

I’ll be doing an extensive tribute to Ike on the January 13th show. Featured will be a good number of Ike’s 1950’s sides with the Kings of Rhythm, some of his session work, sides with Tina plus a few other assorted odds and ends including some tracks from Blues Roots.

You’re Still My Baby (MP3)

Rockin’ The Blues (MP3)

That’s Alright (MP3)