Blues

Broke, Black & Blue delivers multiple surprises within its 100 songs of prewar blues. Arranged chronologically by Joop Visser, the set admirably covers the first 22 years of recorded blues, 1924 to 1946, from vaudeville and Delta to boogie-woogie and jump blues. It's a swell gift for anyone wanting to learn more about the history of blues. But old-timers will be pleased, too, as special attention has been paid to culling rare and idiosyncratic tracks by the well-known and the obscure. The first three discs present single tracks by artists as diverse as the Memphis Jug Band, De Ford Bailey, Tommy Johnson, Son House, Skip James, Peetie Wheatstraw, Lonnie Johnson, and Bukka White, alongside unknowns such as Isaiah "The Mississippi Moaner" Nelson, Barbecue Bob and Laughing Charley, Ed Andrews, Chicken Wilson, and Bumble Bee Slim. On the fourth disc, this convention is jettisoned to luxuriate in a series of very rare sides of lovely, oddly subdued boogie-woogie and jump blues by Jimmie Gordon, Johnny Temple, and Lee Brown.

The set Roots N' Blues features many hours worth of early blues, folk/country and gospel recordings from a variety of American artists.

The Blues Masters series, much to Rhino`s credit, adopts an expansive definition of blues, allowing the likes of Count Basie, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Muddy Waters and even Louis Prima admission. There is none of the purist`s quibbling over strict 12-bar form or the relative significance of prewar and postwar styles.
What Rhino delivers instead is the blues in all its myriad guises. This music is old and new, black and white, acoustic and electric, folksy and jazzy, performed by women and men, and yet it is all still blues at its core.

Country Blues Troubadours contains 125 tracks, spread out over five CD's, tracing blind harpist Sonny Terry and guitarist Brownie McGhee's earliest recordings between 1938 and 1948. JSP not only does an admirable job remastering the tracks, but providing recording dates, personnel, and a bit of history that is easily accessible in individual jewel cases, as opposed to a bulky booklet. Recorded in New York and Chicago, the Piedmont duo encounter, both separately and collectively, blues, jazz, and R&B veterans including Washboard Slim, Baby Dodds, Curley Russell, Hal "Cornbread" Singer, Gene Ramey, Big Chief Ellis, Blind Boy Fuller, Stick McGhee, and Champion Jack Dupree. The discs are divided into five themes: "Getting started and getting around," "Blind Boy Fuller and what followed," "Library of Congress and living with Leadbelly," "New York residents and established artists," and "Mainly Brownie and an interlude with Champion Jack." As far as budget-blues box sets are concerned, this is one of the best.