pre-war blues on cd

[Jim]

So -
Just finished reading through the great and long chapter 9 in Gray's Song
and Dance Man III ...
I'm looking for some suggestions on expanding my pre-war blues collection
... I have Rbt Johnson and Charlie Patton covered ... where should I go
next? Specific artists or any good collections out there?
best,
jim

[Peter Stone Brown]

"Jim" <ja...@vt.edu> wrote in message
news:H_9T7.26$2n...@atlpnn01.usenetserver.com...

Son House

--
"The game is the same, it's just up on another level." --Bob Dylan
Peter Stone Brown
e-mail: ps...@earthlink.net
http://store.yahoo.com/tangible-music/petstonbrowi.html

[C Wolff]

While Son House is a great next bet, I would instead suggest a compiliation
instead of individual artists. I highly recommend the recent two-disc set
"Blues Odyssey", compiled by Bill Wyman (of Rolling Stones fame), on
Document Records. It is a companion to his book and (I believe) a video
documentary and is first rate. It covers a lot of the essentials, including
Bessie Smith, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Mississippi John Hurt, Blind Willie
McTell, Memphis Minnie, and of course Robert Johnson and Charlie Patton.
Each artist is represented by a single track, so the 46 songs make a great
cross section of pre-war blues. While there are many first-rate albums by
individual artists, until you get your arms around the genre, you may be
better served by compilations, especially since these artists didn't record
"albums" anyway.

CM Wolff

"Peter Stone Brown" <ps...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:l%bT7.10369$mF.10...@newsread1.prod.itd.earthlink.net...

[Ray Baldwin]

>>>>Jim wrote:

There's just too many. You could start by trying to get a copy of the
excellent book, The Story Of The Blues by Paul Oliver. It was published by
Penguin back in 1972 but it seems to have bee re-issued by Northeastern
University Press in 1998. It's a personal favourite but there are many more
here:

http://www.bealestreetbluesphotos.com/bluesbookstore.html

. . . and there's more blues sites than you'll ever need here:

http://www.bealestreetbluesphotos.com/stevesblueslinks.html

As for a list of individual "must haves":

Leadbelly (Huddie Leadbetter)
Ma Rainey
Blind Lemon Jefferson
Bessie Smith
Scrapper Blackwell and Leroy Carr
Memphis Minnie
Sonny Boy Williamson (both of 'em)
Son House
Blind Blake
Big Mama Thornton
The Memphis Jug Band (and virtually anything from Memphis)
Ida Cox
Skip James (and any Delta blues compilation)
Victoria Spivey
Mississippi John Hurt
Peetie Wheatstraw
Walter "Furry" Lewis

Record labels: Arhoolie; Yazoo; Storyville; Blues Classics; Library Of
Congress; Folkways . . .

When you've been through all those, there's hundreds more. I'll get back
with questions then ;-) Cheers.

Ray.

[Mike Reid]

Jim (ja...@vt.edu) wrote:
: So -

It's not just blues, but there's always Harry Smith's Anthology of
American Folk Music, which I wonder why I didn't buy sooner [perhaps
because it's not cheap :-(] There's a heap of blues and folk songs there
that will seem oddly familiar to you...

Here's just a few (there are many more) that I sorted out when I made a
couple of CDs for a friend with the old songs, then the Dylan version.
Many of the songs appear on boots, such as Gaslight Tapes, or Bootleg
Series, etc.

Bently Boys Pennys Farm -> Hard Times in NY Town
Clarence Ashley The Coo Coo Bird
Clarence Ashley House Carpenter
Richard Rabbit Brown James Alley Blues
Appears on some early boots, and one verse appears in Kindhearted
Woman Blues on the Gaslight Tapes (which as far as I can see is
a combination of two Robert Johnson songs and this Richard Brown
one)
Dock Boggs Sugar Baby
Doesn't actually *use* this, apart from the title :-)
Blind Lemon Jefferson See That My Grave Is Kept Clean
...

I mention the Anthology because I find that down here in New Zealand it's
really quite easy to find dozens of blues collections in bargin bins (I
have fairly complete collections of Robert Johnson, Blind Willie Johnson,
and so on from those sources) but almost impossible to find the pre-war
non-blues or not-exactly-blues. All of this music is wonderful, so it's
really a shame that "12 Bar Blues" is a marketable commodity, but "the
rest" really isn't.

--
Mike Reid, M.R...@phys.canterbury.ac.nz.pacific [Delete the ocean]
Christchurch, New Zealand.

[Tricia J]

The Roots of Robert Johnson (Yazoo)
The Ealry Blues Roots of Bob Dylan (Catfish)
are two good compilations
also I've enjoyed a compilation called
St Louis Town but I can't remember what label that is on

[Shiphour]

>Subject: Re: pre-war blues on cd
>From: tric...@aardvark.net.au (Tricia J)
>Date: 12/17/2001 12:24 AM Eastern Standard Time
>Message-id: <3c1d80c9...@news.aardvark.net.au>

>also I've enjoyed a compilation called
>St Louis Town but I can't remember what label that is on

If the tracklist below is familiar, then it was on Yazoo. Unfortunately, this
one never made it to CD, so anyone wanting it will have to hunt down the
original vinyl. Well worth it to do so.

ST. LOUIS TOWN 1929-1933
------------------------------------------------
Henry Spaulding. Cairo Blues
Henry Townsend. Long Ago
Hi Henry Brown. Skin Man
Charley Jordan. Hunkie Tunkie
Charley Jordan. Spoonful Blues
Teddy Darby. Built Right On The Ground
Teddy Darby. Lawdy Lawdy Worried Blues

Jim Jackson. St. Louis Blues
Hi Henry Brown. Nut Factory
Charley Jordan. Keep It Clean - No. 2
Charley Jordan. Run And Tell Your Daddy
Joe Stone. It's Hard Time
Jelly Jaw Short. Barefoot Blues
Jelly Jaw Short. Snake Doctor Blues

[Tricia J]

On 17 Dec 2001 05:56:19 GMT, ship...@aol.com (Shiphour) wrote:

>>Subject: Re: pre-war blues on cd
>>From: tric...@aardvark.net.au (Tricia J)
>>Date: 12/17/2001 12:24 AM Eastern Standard Time
>>Message-id: <3c1d80c9...@news.aardvark.net.au>
>
>>also I've enjoyed a compilation called
>>St Louis Town but I can't remember what label that is on
>
>If the tracklist below is familiar, then it was on Yazoo. Unfortunately, this
>one never made it to CD, so anyone wanting it will have to hunt down the
>original vinyl. Well worth it to do so.

That's it! I thought it was Yazoo, but couldn't put my hand on it at
the time. Now I have it here - on CD! Yazoo 1003 and copyrighted 1991
- I picked it up for $9.99 sometime this year. One of my best bargain
bin buys of 2001 - I love it!

[Ze 39steps]

You definitely need to get the compilation "Mississippi Masters" on Yazoo. Get
the "Friends of Charlie Patton" compilation too, and "Son House and the Great
Delta Blues Singers."

Check out my goddamn website:
www.mp3.com/montgomerycleft

[Lloyd Fonvielle]

Peter Stone Brown wrote:

> "Jim" <ja...@vt.edu> wrote in message
> news:H_9T7.26$2n...@atlpnn01.usenetserver.com...
> > So -
> > Just finished reading through the great and long chapter 9 in Gray's Song
> > and Dance Man III ...
> > I'm looking for some suggestions on expanding my pre-war blues collection
> > ... I have Rbt Johnson and Charlie Patton covered ... where should I go
> > next? Specific artists or any good collections out there?
> > best,
> > jim
>
> Son House

Tommie Johnson -- any CD with "Canned Heat" on it . . .

[Alexander Lynn]

A couple of things that jump to mind - mostly outside the strict Missippi Delta
definition of pre-war Blues. But that's one of the joys of pre-war stuff - how
variable it is... Yazoo has two CD's entitled "My Rough and Rowdy Ways," which
are full of badman songs, paeans to various sense-altering chemicals, and
celebrations of hard living and such. Many of them precursors to "John Wesley
Harding," "Tweeter and the Monkey Man," "Joey," and the like. Vol. 1 includes
Clarence Ashley's "Little Sadie," Dock Boggs' "Country Blues," "Viola Lee
Blues" by Cannon's Jug Stompers, "Stack-o-Lee" by the Fruit Jar Guzzlers, and
many other celebrations of gun-toting, liquor-swilling, coke snorting
nastiness. Other excellent stuff on Yazoo
includes: I Can't Be Satisfied: Early American Blues Singers. Two volumes of
this focus entirely on female blues performers. Vol. 1 is more "country" and
guitar-oriented, whereas vol. 2 features more horn and piano driven bands from
the same period (1920's). Either volume is exceptional, and they're pretty long
CD's also. The Columbia Legacy 2 CD set from awhile ago entitled "White Country
Blues" is something of a revelation musically, although it suffers from the
somewhat heavy-handed noise-reduction techniques common to those early-90's
Roots n'Blues albums. The Lonnie Johnson title from the same series, "Steppin'
on the Blues," is also wonderful musically, in spite of noise reduction
eccentricities. The Yazoo titles on Blind Lemon Jefferson (#2057, or #1069 with
slightly lower-quality mastering and slightly different track selection) and
the Mississippi Shieks (#2006) are great. Material by Blind WIilie Johnson is
essential, Tommy Johnson, Skip James (Yazoo #2009, the definitive version)also.
The
French reissue label Fremeaux & Associes also has many fine 2-CD titles that
cover this period, either single artists or compilations. All are good, and
don't suffer the noise-reduction problems of their American cousins. Other
great Yazoo titles include Washington Phillips: I am Born to Preach the Gospel
(#2003, yeah, it's a gospel CD actually, but the line is fine, and the music is
GREAT), Sleepy John Estes (#2004,)Barbecue Bob (#2005), and Blind Blake
(#2058). Also essential, esp. for the Dylan connection: Blind Willie McTell.
There are two separate Yazoo discs that mix his
Vocalion/Okeh/Columbia/RCA/Victor material. There is a single two CD set of all
of his material recorded for the Sony-owned Vocalion/Okeh/Columbia material.
Any of these are wonderful. The Library of Congress recordings from 1940 are
pretty fantastic also.

There's more - these are 'high water' marks (egads . . . that's one helluva bad
pun)...

Alex

"Jim" <ja...@vt.edu> wrote in message
news:H_9T7.26$2n...@atlpnn01.usenetserver.com...

> So -

--
Posted from 1cust48.tnt1.franklin.il.da.uu.net [63.61.109.48]
via Mailgate.ORG Server - http://www.Mailgate.ORG

[Dobro910]

Try this, I can spend hours on this site.
http://www.document-records.com.

Mike

[Outfidel]

Ray Baldwin <ray...@ihug.com.au> wrote in message news:<3C1E05E5...@ihug.com.au>...

>
> As for a list of individual "must haves":
>
> Leadbelly (Huddie Leadbetter)
> Ma Rainey
> Blind Lemon Jefferson
> Bessie Smith
> Scrapper Blackwell and Leroy Carr
> Memphis Minnie
> Sonny Boy Williamson (both of 'em)
> Son House
> Blind Blake
> Big Mama Thornton
> The Memphis Jug Band (and virtually anything from Memphis)
> Ida Cox
> Skip James (and any Delta blues compilation)
> Victoria Spivey
> Mississippi John Hurt
> Peetie Wheatstraw
> Walter "Furry" Lewis

Good list! I'd also add:
-- Blind Willie Johnson
-- Lonnie Johnson

[Steve]

Jim,

IMO there are three essential pre-war artists along with Johnson and
Patton -

(1) Mississippi John Hurt (Avalon Blues - The Complete 1928 Okeh
Recordings is only 1 disc but a classic.),
(2) Blind Willie Johnson (there are several compilations available
(make sure they have 'Dark Was the Night', Jesus Make up My Dying Bed'
and 'Lord I Just Can't Keep From Crying') and
(3) Skip James for some baaad blues (Skip's 1960s recordings for
Vanguard after he was rediscovered are best for listening quality, but
there are some powerful grainy (Patton-like) early recordings out
there too.

And as for collections, I'm surprised no-one so far has mentioned 'The
Blues Roots of Bob Dylan" (Catfish Records, 2000) 20 songs, including
Sleepy John Estes, Blind Willie McTell, Mississippi John Hurt, Bo
Carter, Bukka White, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Willie Johnson,
Leadbelly, Blind Willie Johnson etc. It's brilliant, as is its sister
release - The Blues Roots of Eric Clapton - many of the same artists
plus Skip James, Charlie Patton, Johnson, Bessie Smith etc. You can't
go wrong with those 2 collections.

good luck

"Jim" <ja...@vt.edu> wrote in message news:<H_9T7.26$2n...@atlpnn01.usenetserver.com>...

[Steve]

oops - someone did mention The Blues Roots of Bob Dylan! Still,
every home should have one.

sfm...@hn.ozemail.com.au (Steve) wrote in message news:<dc3977b0.0112...@posting.google.com>...