If you love the Blues, these sets provide some of the greatest songs all in one collection. You need these in your collection. It's very hard to characterize "Memphis blues," even though all blues started at Memphis. This is more delta blues, but still a good collection. Some of what we call "Chicago blues" is more of "toned up" Memphis blues. Not so much of that here, and it should've been included. Old school Blues with a large selection of music and great artist,enjoyed it.
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.
We don’t normally expect prisons to play a role in the history of music. But with the blues, it’s not just drinkers, ramblers and vagrants who take a starring role, but also convicts. The blues grew up not only in plantations but in prisons.
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.
Chicago Urban Blues 1923-1945 is a concentrated anthology of historic recordings by individuals with ties to communities all across the southern United States. This collection includes well chosen examples by pianists Meade "Lux" Lewis, Bob Robinson (of Hokum Boys fame), Roosevelt Sykes, Clarence "Pinetop" Smith, and Jimmy Yancey, who played on one of only two recordings known to have been made by vocalist Faber Smith. Amos Easton, also known as Bumble Bee Slim, was backed on the ivories by Myrtle Jenkins, who also made records with Priscilla Stewart, Mary Mack, and the State Street Swingers. There's enough female energy in here to settle anybody's business. You hear Ida Cox accompanied by pianist Lovie Austin; Bertha "Chippie" Hill by Richard M. Jones, and Hannah May, who might have been Victoria Spivey's sister Elton Spivey, with Georgia Tom Dorsey and Tampa Red. Lil Johnson sings "My Stove's in Good Condition" backed by pianist Black Bob and guitarist Big Bill Broonzy. "Squat It" comes from a large body of works generated by the team of Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe McCoy. Sippie Wallace sings the "Bedroom Blues," and her little brother Hersal Thomas performs his own "Suitcase Blues," which became a staple of the piano blues repertoire and received its best reinterpretation on a 1939 Blue Note recording by Albert Ammons.
The essential history of the blues, includes of 100 superb performances from the 20's of the XX century to our days. There are so many wonderful artists to enjoy on this collection: B.B. King, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Bessie Smith, Sonny Boy Williamson, T-Bone Walker, Lightnin' Hopkins, Howlin' Wolf, Elmore James, Buddy Guy, Albert Collins, Big Walter Horton, Albert King, Koko Taylor, James Cotton, and more…