CD-Charts Position 131
Average Rating:

The Legend of Tommy Johnson, Act 1: Genesis 1900's-1990's

CD-Charts > Music > Delta Blues
by: Chris Thomas King

Release Date October 09, 2001
O'Brother was the summer movie for me. After I saw the movie I then got the soundtrack and upon hearing the whole album, I immediately liked the track by Mr. King and I read that he was a muscian first so I decided to see what else he had done. Due to the obvious set up of this album it was an easy buy. I wasn't dissapppointed by a single track. They are all well performed and the instruments and choosen perfectly. The right types of guitar and the right use of Piano, to the perfect use of back-up vocals this man does it all. Good Show and more power to him.

CD-Charts Position 132
Average Rating:

Son House & the Great Delta Blues Singers

CD-Charts > Music > Delta Blues
by: Son House

Release Date May 27, 1994
If you're interested in the blues roots of rock, you've come to the right place. Son House laid down tracks that have echoed down to this day, and he may have been the first true wellspring of what became rock. I've been a listener and collector of what's now called classic rock for more than 40 years, and I have never found an earlier or truer original source than Son House. With all the fuss being bestowed on Robert Johnson these days, here's a clue: Son House taught RJ how to play! Listen to this album and hear the foreshadowings of ALL the great music to come... Truly great guitar pickin', and a voice as rough, plain and honest as Mississippi dirt clods... You may not want to put this album on Infinite Repeat, but you will not walk away unimpressed ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 133
Average Rating:

Shoulder to Shoulder

CD-Charts > Music > Delta Blues
by: John Cephas, Phil Wiggins

Release Date June 27, 2006
For nearly 30 years, John Cephas & Phil Wiggins have been a premier combination. They are skilled in performing Piedmont Blues. This melodic and acoustic brand of blues came from the tidewater region of Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia. It was popularized by Rev. Gary Davis, Blind Willie McTell, Blind Blake, and more recently Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. Cephas, a former carpenter, wrote six new originals for the album. There are also a half-dozen cover songs from the likes of Sleepy John Estes, Blind Boy Fuller, Skip James, and Sonny Boy Williamson. On them, it is daunting how the venerable duo transports you to the past while not allowing you to become trapped.

These thoroughly enjoyable 51-minutes are all about the songs, not the solos. ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 134
Average Rating:

Classic Blues from Smithsonian Folkways, Vol. 2

CD-Charts > Music > Delta Blues
by: Various Artists

Release Date September 23, 2003
If you've seen the great PBS/Martin Scorsese Blues series, or read any of the books about the great bluesmen (Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, etc) then this disc gives you the opportunity to hear the old songs that started the blues music revolution recorded by the musicians who were at the start of the movement.

Son House, Big Bill Broonzy, Lightnin' Hopkins were all part of the original movement -- the folks that brought the blues to light.

Granted there's a number of modern cuts on this disc (I don't think Lucinda Williams was playing the blues in Chicago or the Mississippi Delta in the 1940's) but that doesn't detract from experience of hearing the old songs sung by the originals.

CD-Charts Position 135
Average Rating:

Raunchy Business: Hot Nuts & Lollypops

CD-Charts > Music > Delta Blues
by: Various Artists

Release Date April 09, 1991
If you love tongue-in-cheek vaudville, you'll love these guys! Risque, raunchy, witty, and blushingly forward, you'll laugh all day. The vendor sent it out right away, and it was in perfect condition for a really good price.

CD-Charts Position 136
Average Rating:

Shoot That Thang

CD-Charts > Music > Delta Blues
by: Super Chikan

Release Date June 12, 2001
On this release for Rooster (arguably the best blues record label operating) James "Super Chikan" Johnson and the Fighting Cocks release that infectious feeling they deliver live. There is a long history of comic blues (mainly "blue" blues, as in Bo Carter of "Bannana in Your Fruitbasket" fame) but Chikan brings us into the postmodern era as only he could. The humor he is known for is generally subtle, sometimes outrageous, but always effective. Every cut contains what could only be explained as a sly grin from Chikan. The title cut is the best example of that "live" feeling, an 8 1/2 minute jam that is the standout on the album. If you're lucky enough to see him live, this album will remind you of the great time you had; if you haven't, this is a great approximation. ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 137
Average Rating:

Etta Baker with Taj Mahal

CD-Charts > Music > Delta Blues
by: Etta Baker, Taj Mahal

Release Date October 05, 2004
Great CD of Etta James. Taj's name appears to be more of a tagline to introduce his fans to her music. Got me so it works! I expected to hear Taj sing or be able to distinguish his guitar playing, but neither happen. Yet I'm captivated by the slow picking, the traditional songs, and the degree of mastery on the guitar. All Etta James signatures I've since discovered. So I can only guess Taj added his name and playing to this CD to widen his fan base musical taste, which is his signature. Works for me. Great music.

CD-Charts Position 138
Average Rating:

Black Appalachia: String Bands, Songsters and Hoedowns (Deep River of Song)

CD-Charts > Music > Delta Blues
by: Alan Lomax

Release Date March 09, 1999
Too much of the general view of socalled old time music comes from the suburban, middle class people, who retreat to it thinking they are getting to something so white, so "celtic" that culturally they are making the same flight from Black people musically that they have made residentially.

However, we pervade. This is real old time music, the Black music that is at the core and foundation of Southeastern American traditional music. You see it, you feel it, in all its glory right here.

This is the Black old time string band and dance music that was ignored by record companies that only wanted blues out of Black artists and by most folklorists who by an large were only interested in blues, work songs, or songs they in their narrow point of ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 139
Average Rating:

Cowboy Songs of the Old West

CD-Charts > Music > Delta Blues
by: Alan Lomax & Ed McCurdy

Release Date July 18, 1994
My parents had an LP with songs 1 - 12 on it, and I loved it then, and love it now. It's great to have those extra songs on it. This is real American folk music, with guts, heart, soul, and humor. My kids like me to sing them to sleep with songs from this CD, and I'm not even a good singer!

CD-Charts Position 140
Average Rating:

Mississippi Delta Bluesman

CD-Charts > Music > Delta Blues
by: David "Honeyboy" Edwards

Release Date January 23, 2001
This dynamite CD is actually a reissue of the vinyl LP put out in 1979 by Folkways in NYC. I brought HoneyBoy Edwards to New York several times in the 1970s. Verna Gillis of Soundscape picked him up & waxed this solo session for Folkways (Moe Asch). The virtue of a simple, clean "back porch" recording came from her no-frills production: She put HoneyBoy in front of a couple of good mikes and this is the result! The late Bob Palmer wrote the notes. The original cover was a photo taken by "yours truly" of HoneyBoy playing at the "Foghat Tribute to the Blues" concert, but this reissue has replaced it with new "art." Judging from the samples, the sound transfer is fine! This is the FIRST HoneyBoy set to buy. Then find his 1940s session, '50s singles and the LP on ... Read More: