Mississippi Blues

Various Artists - Essential Mississippi Blues (2012) {2CD Not Now Music NOT2CD459}
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© 2012 Not Now Music | NOT2CD459
Blues / Traditional Blues / Delta Blues

The Mississippi Delta has some of the most fertile soil in the world and became one of the richest cotton growing areas in the world which, before the American Civil War, was worker exclusively by black slaves brought over from Africa. The blues was forged on the anvil of poverty and hardship the black sharecroppers and tenant farmers had to endure. Born of the harsh, brutal conditions of life in the South, and full of pain, frustration and anger, the passionate, soulful sounds of the Delta revolutionised the sound of 20th-century music. This compilation celebrates some of its greatest exponents.

"Mississippi" Fred McDowell played simple, haunting blues with vivid, demonstrative passion and power. He wasn't a great guitarist, but his voicings and backings were always memorable, while his singing never lacked intensity or conviction or failed to hold interest. This 1965 set contains mostly McDowell compositions, with the exception of the set's final number, a nearly seven-minute exposition of Big Bill Broonzy's "Louise." Assisted only at times by his wife Annie, Fred McDowell makes every song entertaining, whether they're humorous, poignant, reflective, or bemused.

The state of Mississippi is the undisputed home of the blues - the single most important source of modern popular music. From the towering influence of Delta legends Charley Patton and Son House to the guitar intricacy of Skip James and Mississippi John Hurt, this collection highlights the remarkable blues legacy of the Magnolia State through these seminal early recordings.

The 2010 issue of Mississippi Blues by Sonny Landreth on the Fuel 2000 imprint is not a new album, nor is it a representative compilation of his oeuvre. In fact, the set is a complete repackage of the album entitled The Crazy Cajun Recordings originally issued on CD by Great Britain’s Edsel in 1999. The material dates from 1973 and 1977, recorded with the famed Huey P. Meaux (aka the Crazy Cajun) when he wasn’t touring with Clifton Chenier as part of his Red Hot Louisiana Band. These 20 tracks range from Landreth’s Lafayette, LA-styled take on the acoustic Delta blues solo and with a band that included a mandolin player, an electric bassist, and a drummer to his early electric experiments playing a meld of Cajun-flavored soul, rock, and R&B. The electric slide guitar fury evidenced on his own records from the 1980s onward is all but absent here, but the acoustic slide work is particularly plentiful – check his reading of “I Know You Rider,” “Lazy Boy,” and the stomping “Prodigal Son”.

After a rather lukewarm outing on his own label in 2011 Cadillac Jack , Mighty Mo Rodgers is back in great form on this new Dixie Frog release. The theme, like the majority - if not all- of his CDs is about racial injustice in the US, which Mr. Rodgers is able to present in a form that maintains his topical and relevant message without alienating the listener -a very unique talent. Mr Rodgers is one of a kind with his Blue Thumb CD Blues Is My Wailin Wall an essential part of any blues collection.

Si on connaît bien les origines du il fallait un ouvrage pour nous plonger dans la scène blues contemporaine qui émerge à partir du début des 90's et fait écho à la vie des afro-américains ruraux d’aujourd’hui. Éric Doidy présente les grandes vedettes qui popularisent le Delta blues et son héritage dans les années 1990-2000 (John Lee Hooker et B.B. King), les artistes qui le renouvellent et auprès desquels le rock indépendant acquiert de nouvelles perspectives (Junior Kimbrough, R.L. Burnside) ainsi que la génération actuelle de ceux et celles qui perpétuent le genre au XXIe s…

This three-CD set documents some historic country-blues performances by the likes of Mississippi John Hurt, Skip James, Bukka White, Mississippi Fred McDowell and Mance Lipscomb. The urban side of things is well represented by Lightnin’ Hopkins, John Lee Hooker, Memphis Slim, Muddy Waters with Otis Spann, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band and The Chambers Brothers turning in a riveting rendition of “See See Rider.” Included here are 11 previously unreleased tracks. A must for acoustic-blues fans.

This is a well-organized, smartly chosen 20-track compilation of some of the lesser-known early Mississippi blues artists. Garfield Akers is about the most famous, which tells you right there how obscure most of these names - King Solomon Hill, Otto Virgial, Mattie Delaney, Joe Calicott, Blind Joe Reynolds, John D. Fox and others - are to the general listening public. It's quality material, however, and not in a drastically different league than the most renowned classics by singers like Tommy Johnson and Son House. The guitar playing and singing are emotional and inventive throughout, but standouts include Mattie Delaney, Elvie Thomas and Geeshie Wiley, some of the relatively few guitar-playing Delta blueswomen who recorded; Wiley's minor-key, doomy "Last Kind Words" is particularly affecting.