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Richer Tradition: Country Blues and String Band Music 1923-1942

Various Artists
4 discs

0. DISC 1:
1. Guitar Blues - Sylvester Weaver
2. Time Ain't Gonna Make Me Stay - Ed Andrews
3. Sundown Blues - Daddy Stovepipe
4. Salt Lake City Blues - Papa Charlie Jackson
5. Whiskey and Gin Blues - South Street Trio
6. James Alley Blues - Richard Rabbit Brown
7. Goin' to Leave You Blues - Big Boy Cleveland
8. Hey Lawdy Mama - The France Blues - Papa Harvey Hull/Long "Cleve" Reed
9. Chicken Can Waltz the Gravy Around, A - Stovepipe No. 1/David Crockett
10. Bamalong Blues - Andrew & Jim Baxter
11. Man Trouble Blues - Jaybird Coleman
12. Blue Coat Blues - Tom "Blue Coat" Nelson
13. Frisco Whistle Blues - Ed Bell
14. Two Ways to Texas - Emery Glen
15. Gravel Camp Blues - Lewis Black
16. T and T Blues - Mooch Richardson
17. Death Bell Blues - Tom Dickson
18. C.C. & O. Blues - Pink Anderson/Simmie Dooley
19. Middlin' Blues - George "Bullet" Williams
20. Rolling Log Blues - Lottie Kimbrough
21. Kyle's Worried Blues - Charlie Kyle
22. Bull Frog Blues - William Harris
23. Sobbin' Woman Blues - Elizabeth Johnson
24. Miss Meal Cramp Blues - Alec Johnson
25. Unknown Blues - Tarter & Gay
0. DISC 2:
1. Jail House Blues - Whistler & His Jug Band
2. Blues, Just Blues, That's All - Old Southern Jug Band
3. String Band Blues - Kansas City Blues Strummers
4. Black Cat Blues - Old Pal Smoke Shop Four
5. Dirty Guitar Blues - Leecan & Cooksey
6. Boodle-Am-Shake - The Dixieland Jug Blowers
7. Quill Blues - Big Boy Cleveland
8. Jug Band Special, The - Whistler & His Jug Band
9. Cold Morning Shout - South Street Trio
10. Violin Blues - Johnson Boys
11. Easy Winner - The Blue Boys
12. G. Burns Is Gonna Rise Again - Johnson/Nelson/Porkchop
13. I Got a Gal - James Cole String Band
14. Jazz Fiddler, The - Walter Jacobs/Lonnie Carter
15. Knox Couty Stomp - Tennessee Chocolate Drops
16. Adam and Eve - Tommie Bradley
17. Runnin' Wild - James Cole's Washboard Four
18. Giving It Away - Birmingham Jug Band
19. Jackson Stomp - Mississippi Mud Steppers
20. Old Hen Cackle - Coleman & Harper
21. Travelin' Railroad Man Blues - Alabama Sheiks
22. Old Hen Cackle - Coleman & Harper
23. Ted's Stomp - Louie Blue/Ted Bogan
24. Dusting the Frets - Dallas Jamboree Jug Band
25. Arkansas Traveller - The Nashville Washboard Band
0. DISC 3:
1. Original Stack O'Lee Blues - Long "Cleve" Reed/Little Harvey Hull
2. Tuxedo Blues - Whistlin' Pete/Daddy Stovepipe
3. Mean Conductor Blues - Ed Bell
4. Back Door Blues - Emery Glen
5. Spanish Blues - Lewis Black
6. Helena Blues - Mooch Richardson
7. I Heard the Voice of a Pork Chop - Ben Covington
8. Rising River Blues - George Carter
9. She Could Toodle-Oo - Hambone Willie Newbern
10. Weak Minded Woman - Willie Baker
11. Old Rock Island Blues - Lonnie Coleman
12. Cairo Blues - Henry Spaulding
13. I Ain't Givin' Nobody None - Mae Glover
14. Showers of Rain Blues - Edward Thompson
15. Framer's Blues - Eli Framer
16. If I Call You Mama - Luke Jordan
17. Never Drive a Stranger From Your Door - Willie Harris
18. Mississippi Swamp Moan - Alfred Lewis
19. Paddlin' Madeline Blues - Gitfiddle Jim
20. Shaking Weed Blues - Tommy Settlers
21. South Carolina Rag - Willie Walker
22. Beans - El Morrow/Beans Hambone
23. Poor Jane Blues - Jack Gowdlock
24. Window Pane Blues - Tommie Bradley
25. Hot Jelly Roll Blues - George Carter
0. DISC 4:
1. Labor Blues - Tom Dickson
2. Goin' Away Blues - Lottie Kimbrough
3. No Baby - Charlie Kyle
4. Early Mornin' Blues - William Harris
5. Dreaming Blues - Willie Reed
6. Weeping Willow Blues - George Carter
7. Way Down in Arkansas - Hambone Willie Newbern
8. Wild About My Loving - Lonnie Coleman
9. Indian Squaw Blues - Freezone
10. Florida Bound - Edward Thompson
11. God Didn't Make No Monkey Man - Eli Framer
12. Tallahatchie River Blues - Mattie Delaney
13. Diamond Ring Blues - Jim Jam (Walter Taylor)
14. Bedside Blues - Jim Thompkins
15. Lonesome Midnight Dream - Willie Harris
16. Billy Goat Blues - John Byrd
17. That Won't Do - Arthur Petties
18. Ghost Woman Blues - George Carter
19. 'Toby' Woman Blues - Gene Campbell
20. Rollin' Dough Blues - Jack Gowdlock
21. Starvation Farm Blues - Bob Campbell
22. Farewell to You Baby - Carl Martin
23. Teasin' Brown Blues - Louie Lasky
24. Married Woman Blues - George Torey
25. Dago Blues - Virgil Childers
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Additional Info

Manufacturer Part Number (MPN): JSP-7798
Credits

Producer
Engineer
The 1920s is perhaps the only time when we hear what America was actually singing of its own accord, and since record companies at the time had little idea what might actually sell, they went out and recorded seemingly anyone and everyone who had a tune in their head. This, coupled with an increasingly awareness of the black record buying market, meant a time of unparalleled diversity in the kind of product labels put out there. By the mid-'30s, this amazing window began to close and labels, starting a process that still plays out nearly a hundred years later, started to dictate rather than reflect what America would be singing. That initial diversity, though, is well apparent on this four-disc, 100-track set of country-blues pieces and maverick black string band releases recorded between 1923 and 1942. There are all sorts of blues forms here, from Richard Rabbit Brown's harrowing and stark "James Alley Blues" (which was completely unlike anything else in his repertoire) from 1927, Big Boy Cleveland's cane fife workout "Quill Blues," also from 1927, the Johnson Boys' "Violin Blues" (that's crack guitarist Lonnie Johnson playing the fiddle and singing) from 1928, Long "Cleve" Reed and Harvey Hull's rare "Original Stack O'Lee Blues," released by Black Patti Records in 1927, Mattie Delaney's harrowing "Tallahatchie River Blues," apparently the only record she ever released, from 1930, and Bogus Ben Covington's version of the odd "I Heard the Voice of a Pork Chop," which had been originally tracked by Big Jim Jackson and was itself a parody of the hymn "I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say." Also definitely worth pointing out here are two absolute gems from guitarist and singer George Carter, "Rising River Blues" and "Weeping Willow Blues," both from 1929 and both full of Carter's lyrical singing and understated but powerfully elegant slide guitar work. Economics in America as the '30s opened meant that record labels could no longer afford to record anything and everything, and the concept of market planning began to rear its opportune head. It just made better business sense to target an audience and then force-feed that audience the records created for it rather than seek out homegrown musicians in the hopes that they had a song or two that might hit home. America, from that moment on, sang what was presented to it. Thank God for sets like this. ~ Steve Leggett