CD-Charts Position 171
Average Rating:

Bessie Smith: The Complete Recordings, Vol. 1

CD-Charts > Music > Traditional Blues
by: Bessie Smith

Release Date April 09, 1991
BESSIE SMITH WAS, AND ALWAYS WILL BE, THE QUEEN OF THE BLUES. THESE ARE HER EARLIEST RECORDINGS, THE FIRST TWO CD'S IN A SET OF FIVE TWO CD SETS. THESE RECORDINGS WERE MADE IN 1923-24, AND EVEN THO' THEY ARE RAW, AND DON'T HAVE GREAT BACKUP, THE POWER OF HER VOICE CAN'T BE DENIED.

CD-Charts Position 172
Average Rating:

Backwater Blues

CD-Charts > Music > Traditional Blues
by: Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee

Release Date June 29, 1999
I would recommend this to any lover of the blues, great guitar, vocals and harmonica, totally cool!

CD-Charts Position 173
Average Rating:

The Chess Box :Muddy Waters

CD-Charts > Music > Traditional Blues
by: Muddy Waters

Release Date October 13, 1989
72 tracks on this compilation, and not a single flaw.
The Plantation Recordings from the early 40's and his late 70's albums produced by Johnny Winter are all fine, because again, he just couldn't open his mouth and sing a BAD song.
But leave these ones alone, and get The Chess Box (Everything he has done for Chess between 1947-1972). Just like other Chess artists (Chuck Berry, Howlin' Wolf, Buddy Guy) - the Chess years are his best by far, and the tracks put chronologically here serves you ear and historic sense great.
The music here is absolutely astonishing - Muddy's clear, throaty famous vocal and whining slide work, Little Walter's/James Cotton's weeping harmonicas, Otis Spann on piano and all the other members of this legendary ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 174
Average Rating:

The High Lonesome Sound

CD-Charts > Music > Traditional Blues
by: Roscoe Holcomb

Release Date January 20, 1998
Roscoe Holcomb is the real McCoy and my grandmother was a Kentucky McCoy who loved this sort of singing. I grew up with it and have heard most of the good ones, but Roscoe surely is at or near the pinnacle. This keening type of music is not for everyone, but if you love it, like it, or just are interested in it, you won't find a better performer in the genre than Roscoe Holcomb. He is high - makes Del McDoury, who is one of my best favorites, sound like a bass or a baritone, at least - and the sound does sound as though he is lonesome and soon, you are too. Roscoe's music hails back to the days before bluegrass became big, before Roy Acuff, and before the impossibly tight harmonies of Flatt and Scruggs, all of whose music grew out of the type that Roscoe lays ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 175
Average Rating:

Son House & the Great Delta Blues Singers

CD-Charts > Music > Traditional 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 or unmoved. IMHO, ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 176
Average Rating:

Wish I Was in Heaven Sitting Down

CD-Charts > Music > Traditional Blues
by: R.L. Burnside

Release Date October 24, 2000
I discovered RL Burnside thanks to Sirius Radio. I have purchased 2 of his CD's and have been pleasantly surprised with both. Great music.I plan to buy all or at least most of his CD's in the near future.

CD-Charts Position 177
Average Rating:

Don't Mourn - Organize!: Songs Of Labor Songwriter Joe Hill

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

Release Date July 13, 1992
I have to give this Smithsonian project the highest rating, because it captures one of the enduring myths of the Folk Revival, the Labor Movement, and American leftist politics. And I say all that as a folk music fan, the son of a union member, and a now moderate Democrat who was more radical thirty years ago. Joe Hill was a real person, but good songs, even about real people, do not have to tell the truth to be good songs. The truth seems to be that Mr. Hill probably did shoot down a grocer and his son in a botched robbery, and although he might have been executed partly because of his labor organizing, and his seemingly anarchist politics, that does not mean he was innocent of the crime. A comprehensive biography, "Joe Hill" by Gibbs M. Smith, is pretty convincing in its thesis ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 178
Average Rating:

Not The Same Old Blues Crap II

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

Release Date June 19, 2001
Outstanding sampler from Nortern Mississippi Hill Country Blues label Fat Possum. Much prefer this sampler to the first one. This has that gritty country blues feel with many songs feeling like they were recorded in a leaky basement(and many were). Standouts are the two RL Burnside tracks: "Goin down South" is a staple of his music and the version included of "Walkin Blues" is top notch. The previously unreleased "I Feel Good Again" by Junior Kimbrough and Charlie Feathers is worth more than the low 4.99 price to buy this. The Asie Payton tracks are both stunners and Paul Wine Jones and Super Chikan add some diversity in style with there numbers.

CD-Charts Position 179
Average Rating:

New Orleans Piano

CD-Charts > Music > Traditional Blues
by: Professor Longhair

Release Date October 25, 1990
For me these Atlantic tracks are by far his best recordings.I have the LP but felt I must purchase the CD as well.Backed by Dave Bartholomews best musicians and produced by the excellent Atlantic Records team of Jerry Wexler,Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson it can't get any better!!What an excellent mix!!!These Atlantic greats should have made more trips to New Orleans (sorry Cosimo!)

CD-Charts Position 180
Average Rating:

Classic African American Ballads from Smithsonian Folkways

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

Release Date April 25, 2006
Brilliant!
Authentic artists at their best, performing blues, folk, folk-blues - who cares what is the right name of the genre. Just check the samples from the songs and get it!