Kathryn Tickell Robin Spraggon's Old Grey Mare

The Old Grey Whistle Test was a music performance television series on BBC 2, and over the years the show has featured an amazing variety of artists, from Gram Parsons to Jethro Tull, including several who fell to the blues side of the pop spectrum. This set collects some of those blues tracks, including songs from R.L. Burnside ("Bad Luck City"), Roy Buchanan ("Sweet Dreams"), and Freddie King ("Going Down"), among others. There's also a track by Elmore James here, "The Sky Is Crying," which is a little confusing, since James never appeared on the program. Apparently the selector here, Bob Harris, wanted to include sides from musicians who should have or could have appeared on the program…

The legendary Old Grey Whistle Test returns with the third in the series - this album delivers what the fans have been asking for. All Live tracks, CD1 and CD2 feature tracks from the original classic show including Van Morrison, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Elton John and the mighty Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. All original and all live - CD3 features tracks from the Old Grey Whistle Test's 40th anniversary BBC Radio 2 show as produced and presented by Bob Harris himself in 2011. All the artists featured on CD3 performed on the original show at some point. The album is lovingly packed in reverse board digipack and comes with sleeve-notes written by Bob himself.

For over 15 years The Old Grey Whistle Test graced British television screens and would go on to become one of the most incredibly influential music programmes. From its premiere in 1971, through to its finale in 1988, the BBC show hosted countless performances from a number of seminal artists. A remarkable appearance would often help propel an artist from being a mere unknown to a household name.