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The Paramount Masters [Box]

Various Artists
4 discs

0. DISC 1:
1. Nappy Head Blues - Bob Grant
2. Red River Blues - Lottie Beaman
3. Honky Tonk Train Blues - Meade "Lux" Lewis
4. You Can't Keep No Brown - Bo Weavil Jackson
5. Lawdy Lawdy Worried Blues - Blind Teddy Darby
6. No. 29 - Wesley Wallace
7. Outside Woman Blues - Blind Joe Reynolds
8. Old Country Rock - William Moore
9. Keep a Knockin' - James Wiggins
10. Touch Me Light Mama - George "Bullet" Williams
11. Jack of All Trades - Bernice Edwards
12. Come on In (Ain't Nobody Here But Me) - Harum Scarums
13. All Birds Look Like Chicken to Me - Sweet Papa Stovepipe
14. Cotton Field Blues - Charlie "Dad" Nelson
15. Traveling Blues - Ma Rainey
16. Soon This Morning Blues - Charlie Spand
17. Gay Cattin' - Papa Charlie Jackson
18. Whoopee Blues - King Solomon
19. Eagles on a Half - Geeshie Wiley
20. Wasn't It Sad About Lemon - Washboard Hannah
21. Freakish Man Blues - George Hannah
22. Rough Rugged Road Blues - Bumble Bee Slim
23. Mississippi Jail House Groan - Reverend Rubin Lacy
24. Try Me One More Time - Marshall Owens
25. Barrel House Flat Blues - Mary Johnson
0. DISC 2:
1. I Shall Not Be Moved - Charley Patton (alternate take)
2. Walking Blues - Raymond Barrow
3. Guitar Boogie - Blind Roosevelt Graves
4. Black and Evil Blues - Alice Moore
5. New Dirty Dozen, The - Ben Curry
6. Low-Down Mississippi Bottom Man - Freddie Spruell
7. Vicksburg Blue - Little Brother Montgomery
8. Jack of Diamonds Georgia Rub - Henry Townsend
9. Billy Goat Blues - John Byrd
10. Bunker Hill Blues - Side Wheel Sallie Duffie
11. Number Three Blues - Buddy Boy Hawkins
12. Mamlish Blues - Ed Bell
13. Eastern Chimes Blues - Henry Brown
14. Fetch Your Water - Charlie Spand
15. Lonesome Swamp Rattlesnake - J.D. Short
16. Water Bound Blues - Alice Pearson
17. Broke Down Engine - Lonnie Clark
18. Dying Pickpocket Blues - Barrel House Welch
19. Seven Sister Blues - Edward Thompson
20. Old Timbrook Blues - John Byrd
21. Preacher Must Get Some Sometime, The - Bob Robinson
22. Motherless Child Blues - Elvie Thomas
23. Ducks Yas Yas, The - Jack O' Diamonds
24. Boodle de Bum Bum - Ben Curry
25. Gotta Shave 'Em Dry - James Wiggins
0. DISC 3:
1. Some Scream High Yellow - Bo Weavil Jackson
2. Jab Blues - Jabo Williams
3. Raised in the Alley Blues - Freddie Brown
4. Frisco Leaving Birmingham - George "Bullet" Williams
5. Ninety Nine Blues - Blind Joe Reynolds
6. Conjur Man Blues - Roosevelt Sykes
7. Mama's Angel Child - Sweet Papa Stovepipe
8. Honey Blues - Lottie Beaman
9. Lonesome Atlanta Blues - Bob Grant
10. Fat Greasy Baby - Robert Peeples
11. No Special Rider Blues - Little Brother Montgomery
12. New York Blues - Blind Roosevelt Graves
13. Doctor, Oh Doctor - Henry Townsend
14. I Heard the Voice of a Pork Chop - Ben Covington
15. Red Letter Blues - Ruby Paul
16. Piano Kid Special - Piano Kid Edwards
17. Where Did You Stay Last Night - The Famous Hokum Boys
18. Gone Dead Train, The - King Solomon
19. Fanny Lee Blues - Wesley Wallace
20. Narrow Face Blues - Washboard Walter
21. Pick Poor Robin Clean - Geeshie Wiley
22. Boy in the Boat, The - George Hannah
23. Texas Blues - Marshall Owens
24. Evil Woman Blues - James Wiggins
25. Three, Six and Nine - Roosevelt Sykes
0. DISC 4:
1. Tom Cat Blues - Freddie Spruell
2. Smiling Blues - Jack O' Diamonds
3. Mama, Don't You Think I Know - Papa Charlie Jackson
4. Back to the Woods (Blues) - Charlie Spand
5. Prison Blues - Alice Moore
6. Deep Morgan Blues - Henry Brown
7. My Laona Blues - Blind Teddy Darby
8. Pistol Blues - Bo Weavil Jackson
9. Pratt City Blues - Jabo Williams
10. Telephone Arguin' Blues - J.D. Short
11. Over to My House - Elvie Thomas
12. Hambone Blues - Ed Bell
13. Down in Tennessee - Lonnie Clark
14. Ham Hound Crave - Reverend Rubin Lacy
15. Fire Detective Blues - Roosevelt Sykes
16. Up on the Hill Blues - Edward Thompson
17. Key to the Mountain Blues - Mary Johnson
18. Down on My Bended Knee - King Solomon Hill
19. Red River Blues - Charlie "Dad" Nelson
20. Give Us Another Jug - Piano Kid Edwards
21. Nehi Blues - Blind Joe Reynolds
22. Last Farewell Blues - Ruby Paul
23. Larceny Woman Blues - Barrel House Welch
24. Wicked Devil's Blues - Robert Peeples
25. Raggin' the Blues - William Moore
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Additional Info

Manufacturer Part Number (MPN): 7723
Credits

Producer
Engineer
Personnel: Charlie "Dad" Nelson (vocals, guitar, kazoo); Ed Bell, Elvie Thomas, Freddie Spruell, Geeshie Wiley, Henry Townsend, J.D. Short, John Byrd , King Solomon Hill, Rube Lacey, Walter "Buddy Boy" Hawkins, Blind Joe Reynolds, Blind Teddy Darby, Bo Weavil Jackson, Bob Grant, Charley Patton (vocals, guitar); Ben Curry (vocals, banjo, harmonica); Papa Charlie Jackson (vocals, banjo); Charlie Spand (vocals, violin, piano); Georgia Tom Dorsey, Little Brother Montgomery, Raymond Barrow, Roosevelt Sykes, Bernice Edwards (vocals, piano); Mary Johnson, George Hannah, Alice Pearson, Loni Clark, Lottie Beaman, Ma Rainey, Alice Moore, Mozelle Alderson, Side Wheel Sallie Duffie, Bob Robinson , Bumble Bee Slim (vocals); Bob Coleman, Miles Pruitt (guitar, banjo); William Moore , Big Bill Broonzy, Blind Blake, Blind Roosevelt Graves (guitar); Martell Pettiford (banjo); George "Bullet" Williams (harmonica); Baby Jay (cornet); Ike Rodgers (trombone); Fred Coates, Jabo Williams, Henry Brown, Meade "Lux" Lewis, Wesley Wallace, William Ezell, Bob Call (piano); Herman Brown (washboard); Uaroy Graves (tambourine).
Liner Note Author: Neil Slaven.
Recording information: Chicago, IL (03/1924-05/1932); Grafton, WI (03/1924-05/1932); Richmond, IN (03/1924-05/1932).
Paramount Records didn't know it at the time, but they created one of the most valuable catalogs of early American blues and jazz music ever assembled. Formed by a furniture company called the Wisconsin Chair Company in the mid-teens to facilitate sales for their new phonograph cabinets, Paramount Records (along with its subsidiary labels Broadway, Famous, and Puritan) sent a young man named Art Satherley on the road in the South to explore and exploit the growing "race records" market beginning in 1917. Over the next 15 years, Satherley and the other Paramount Records' representatives recorded well over 100 sides featuring blues and jazz artists as well-known as Charley Patton, Ma Rainey, and Meade Lux Lewis, and an otherwise unknown as Side Wheel Sally Duffie, whose "Bunker Hill Blues" is a piano blues showcase for a high-register, vibrato-heavy vocal of uncertain pitch which sounds almost like a 1920s equivalent to Bjrk. These 100 sides are presented in chronological order, with as much information is as known about each recording. Sound quality varies widely, and of course is at times atrocious, but the historical import and entertainment value for students of early jazz and blues is immense. ~ Stewart Mason