The Last Trail

Great Britain's JSP label took a chance in 2006 by issuing a four-disc overview of rembetika (the "officially designated" Greek underground and criminal communities) called Rembetika: Greek Music from the Underground. It was official because at one point in the 20th century, the music was actually officially banned by the Metaxas government (in 1937) and didn't peep… More above ground for another 11 years. (Gangster rappers and metalheads take heart: you were not the first nor will you be the last.) That set, like this one, appropriately titledRembetika 1: Greek Music from the Underground, included four CDs, all of which were annotated with fine notes, and production masters cleaned up as much as possible – no easy feat since a lot of this music was originally released on either 78s or cylinders – but some survived, amazingly, on recording tape

One of country music s most eclectic heroes, Marty Robbins celebrated an extraordinary career as one of the genre s leading crossover artists. While Marty Robbins maintained a busy schedule throughout his life, it was without a doubt his early career that left the biggest impact on the world of country music. Johnny Cash released a version of I Couldn t Keep From Crying in 1960, while Guy Mitchell recorded versions of both Singing The Blues and Knee Deep In The Blues .

Bloodbound is a Swedish power metal band formed in 2004. They released their first album, Nosferatu, in 2005 and their second, Book of the Dead, in May 2007. The brainchild of former Street Talk members Fredrik Bergh and Tomas Olsson, the band has also included Michael Bormann (Jaded Heart), Urban breed (Tad Morose) and Pelle Åkerlind (Morgana Lefay). Their debut album Nosferatu featured former Tad Morose singer Urban breed on vocals. Released on 16 December 2005 (in Japan; European release date 24 February 2006), Nosferatu features artwork by Mark Wilkinson (Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Marillion) and received an early rave review from the Swedish rock magazine Power Play. Based solely on the strength of their debut album, the band opened for Evergrey and headlined day one of the Gothenburg Metal Festival.After Urban breed announced his departure from Bloodbound in fall 2006, former Tad Morose singer Kristian Andrèn briefly joined the band for some live dates. In March 2007, they announced their new singer, German Michael Bormann, who laid down vocals on the band's second album Book of the Dead. Bormann, however, played no live shows with Bloodbound: for their first performance after releasing Book of the Dead (9 June 2007 at Sweden Rock Festival), Urban breed handled the vocal duties. Urban also performed with the band at subsequent shows, including Bollnäs Festivalen, 21 July 2007. Bloodbound played two sets, both backed up by a symphony orchestra. For the second set they backed Paul Di'Anno of Iron Maiden fame.

During the last quarter of the 20th century, and thanks largely to Eric Clapton's remarkable devotion to his memory, Robert Leroy Johnson posthumously became the most celebrated Delta blues musician of the pre-WWII era. Among numerous editions of his complete works and various anthologies that combine his recordings with those of his contemporaries and followers, J.S.P.'s The Road to Robert Johnson and Beyond combines many of his essential performances with those by dozens of other blues artists from Blind Lemon Jefferson and Henry Thomas to Muddy Waters and Elmore James. 105 tracks fill four CDs with several decades' worth of strongly steeped blues that trace the African American migration from the deep south on up into Chicago. This is a fine way to savor the recorded evidence, as primary examples from Blind Blake, Charley Patton, Son House, Charlie McCoy, Walter Vincson, Skip James, Ma Rainey, Tampa Red, Kokomo Arnold, Scrapper Blackwell, Leroy Carr, Lonnie Johnson, and Peetie Wheatstraw lead directly to early modern masters like Big Joe Williams, Sonny Boy Williamson, Big Bill Broonzy, Johnny Temple, Leroy Foster, Johnny Shines, Homesick James Williamson, Robert Jr. Lockwood, Snooky Pryor, Little Walter, and David Honeyboy Edwards, among many others.