Jug Band

The Little Elmore Reed Blues Band is a compilation of Austin’s most dedicated blues players including members Mark Hays, drums (Seth Walker, Smokin Joe Kubek & Bnois King), J.P. Whitefield, bass (Founding member of The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Angela Strehli Band and the original Antone’s house band), and Willie Pipkin, guitar and vocals (South Austin Jug Band, Toni Price, Warren Hood).

Symphonion Dream was the last album recorded by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band before Jim Ibbotson left and the band began to move away from its traditional jug band/bluegrass roots. The big question is why in 1975, when the rest of the First Division of country-rock practitioners – the Eagles, Poco, Souther-Hillman-Furay et al – had been travelling for some time in the direction of simplified, stadium-friendly AOR, the NGDB went the other way and produced what I think is the best, and surely the quirkiest, psychedelic country album ever.

The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band are actually a trio – the Reverend Josh Peyton on primitive slide guitar, harmonica, and vocals; his wife, Breezy Peyton, on washboard and backing vocals; and Aaron "Cuz" Persinger on percussion (often buckets and trash cans) and background vocals – but the sound is big indeed, a boozy, uncontained noise in which jug band, country, blues, and down-home boogie tumble around in a joyous, uplifting cacophony……

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's second album is a masterpiece. From the opening bars of Jackson Browne's "Shadow Dream Song," the high spirits overflow the grooves (or ones and zeros, on the CD) of the record. The singing and playing are more confident, and some of the songs - including the bluesy "Ooh Po Pe Do Girl" and the hook-laden "I'll Search The Sky" by Jeff Hanna, and Copeland and Noonan's (the "Buy for Me the Rain" team) "Tide of Love" - are as solid as anything coming out of California. Even the kazoo-dominated "Coney Island Washboard" and "Happy Fat Annie" and the nostalgic '20s-styled Jackson Browne-written "It's Raining Here in Long Beach" fit well into the mix, reflecting the full range of the band's influences…

Forty years ago, this original of this album almost appeared on Island Records, and therein lies a tale almost as interesting as the record itself. Ian A. Anderson, as he was then known, almost shared a name with Jethro Tull's frontman. The band's management decided the label wasn't large enough for two Ian Andersons and the newcomer was shuffled off elsewhere. As an anecdote it's priceless, but so is this artefact of the British blues boom of the late 1960s. It was, perhaps, great hubris on Anderson's part to believe he could write blues songs equal to those of the greats (and he probably cringes these days over "Short Haired Woman Blues"), but in many ways they hold up well, and he's helped out by some excellent musicians, notably the great Bob Hall on piano, while Chris Turner turns in some stunning harmonica performances…

From the classic sounds of the jug band heyday to the earthy blues straight from the Mississippi Delta, Memphis was at the very epicentre of the 1920s country blues explosion. This Rough Guide charts the city’s huge influence with classic tracks by blues legends Memphis Minnie, Furry Lewis, Sleepy John Estes and many more.

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

Various Artists - Let Me Tell You About The Blues - Atlanta: The Evolution Of Atlanta Blues (2010) {3 CD Box Set}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 562 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 453 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 146 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2010 Fantastic Voyage / Future Noise Music Ltd. | FVTD055
Blues / Regional Blues

Like Memphis, Tennessee, Atlanta was a staging post for itinerant musicians and like Memphis, it was home to an impressive number of guitarists who established a very distinctive style of playing that became synonymous with the city. It was also the location for the first country blues artist, Ed Andrews, to be recorded. Three years later, Julius Daniels was the first Carolina bluesman to record. Atlanta was also a recording centre for out-of-state artists such as Blind Lemon Jefferson, Bo Carter, the Memphis Jug Band, Blind Willie Johnson and Hambone Willie Newbern. A further school of blues gathered around Peg Leg Howell and Eddie Anthony.