Decoration Day

Together with John Lee Hooker and Eddie Kirkland, the magnificent but overlooked Bobo Jenkins was a pivotal figure in the Detroit blues scene of the ‘50s and ‘60s. An electric blues guitarist, singer and songwriter, Jenkins worked at the Packard Motor Company and on the side, managed a garage, before landing a job at Chrysler, where he worked for 27 years. He wrote most of his great songs while working on the assembly line. He got his rhythms from the machines on the line, and he would state that it was like listening to a band all day. This collector’s CD release contains those hard-to-find 7” sides Bobo Jenkins made for different imprints like Chess, Fortune, and Boxer. Highlights include the sensational “Democrat Blues,” “10 Below Zero,” and “Bad Luck & Trouble.” In addition, this remastered set also presents other obscure recordings Jenkins cut in Detroit at the peak of his career, some of them on his own record label, Big Star.

This is a later recording from the legendary pianist made for the German L & R label and now re-released on Evidence. The first nine songs are from a studio set feature Slim with a terrific band including Carey Bell on harmonica, Hubert Sumlin on guitar and Odie Payne on drums. These songs are the best on the CD as Slim and the band run through a set mixing slow blues with up-tempo songs, including several instrumentals. The last six songs are pulled from a series of live recordings that are decent but not spectacular.

John Lee 'Sonny Boy' Williamson - The Story of the Blues (2004) {2CD Membran Music 222068-306}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 518 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 294 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 154 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2004 Membran Music | 222068-306
Blues / Harmonica Blues

This artist was perhaps the most significant pioneer of the city-styled, horn-oriented blues harp – a style brought to perfection by Little Walter. Williamson adapted the country-styled, chordal-rhythmic technique that he learned from Noah Lewis and Hammie Nixon to suit the demands of the evolving urban blues styles. These 42 tracks include Sonny Boy's records and sport an imposing list of sidemen: Robert Nighthawk, Big Joe Williams, Henry Townsend, Walter Davis, Yank Rachell, Big Bill Broonzy, and Speckled Red. This is a definitive collection.

A great Xmas album filled with all the spirit of Xmas a lot of classics blues to enjoy in the joyful season.

Starting in 1949 Eddie 'Guitar' Burns recorded with John Lee Hooker and made records under his own name for Detroit based labels whilst never being a full-time professional musician.

These are the recordings that prompted Sun Records chief Sam Phillips's oft-repeated assertion: "This is where the soul of a man dies." Phillips oversaw sessions by the likes of Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and B.B. King, but the guttural electric blues of Howlin' Wolf captured his fancy like nothing else–and it's not hard to see why. The Wolf of these '52 sessions was just a few years off the farm, having begun to play West Memphis, Arkansas, juke joints, and cat houses following World War II. Working with a small but feral band highlighted by lead guitarist Willie Johnson (called by some the Jimi Hendrix of his day), the already middle-aged singer and harmonica player created a sound in the early '50s that bridged the Mississippi blues that were his roots with the amped Chicago blues that were his destiny…