Divorce Blues

A coming-of-age memoir about a young boy in rural Arkansas who searches for himself and his distant father through soul music.

2012 four CD collection. To compliment his incredibly popular radio series we are proud to offer the first in the series Cover to Cover: The Originals. This set brings together a collection of the original versions of classics that Bob Dylan has covered either on stage or on record with a full discography of when where and why. Classic tracks.

Born in the Northern Louisiana Town of Ferriday in 1935, Jerry Lee Lewis grew up listening to a variety of music; The Louisiana Hayride and Grand Ol' Opry broadcasts, 78 rpm recordings of country singers, and the inspired gospel music of the Assembly of God Church. He also spent hours hiding behind the bar at Haney's Big House, soaking up the sounds of blues men like, then 18 year old B.B. King.
His parents both loved country music, and soon young Jerry Lee picked up on it too. At his aunt's house, Jerry would play on the piano and when his parents heard him, they knew he was naturally gifted. They even mortgaged their home to buy him his own piano when Jerry was 8………

Ry Cooder's exceptional Paradise and Lunch takes a popular precept – music as the common denominator across all languages and styles – to extremes few artists have envisioned let alone fulfilled. Considered by many diehards to be the California native's finest hour, the 1974 set unfurls with rarified levels of joyousness, ingenuity, and sophistication. A prime contender for any Desert Island list and an album that repeatedly restores your faith in the inimitable effects experienced upon listening to special performances, Paradise and Lunch is an eternal "musicians' musician" record – an adventurous, ambitious, soulful leap down roads well-traveled and paths less known. Such eclecticism, virtuosity, and ebullience resonate with unmatched verve on our hybrid SACD. Mastered from the original master tapes and strictly limited to 2000 numbered copies, this audiophile reissue boasts dead-quiet surfaces, superb transient response, front-to-back soundstaging, and an organic immediacy that heightens the enjoyment, character, and craft of the arrangements.

This 4 CD set tells the story of music and people who moved from one corner of the US to another - namely the southerners who relocated to the West Coast in the 30s and 40s, bringing country music along with them. On the way they created not only new music but films glorifying the cowboy lifestyle and a new record company (Capitol) sprang up to put out all the songs. Artists such as Tennessee Ernie Ford and Cliffie Stone epitomised the trend and the tracks collected together on this set, along with the authoritative liner notes tell the story of the great move west and of a time before country automatically meant Nashville.

As the Louisville, Kentucky noise rock trio Young Widows scaled back their activity, guitarist/vocalist Evan Patterson created an ever-evolving solo project under the moniker of Jaye Jayle that explored the more abstract realms of the American singer-songwriter process. The name had two meanings. First and foremost, it conjured the image of a bluebird locked in a cage. For Patterson, that image translated into being trapped with the blues and mired in depression.

What a guy! What a picker! What a set! A seminal, and hugely-praised set from one of the most influential musicians in country music. It not only includes all of his Capitol recordings from 1946-1955, but it also includes incredibly rare recordings for King, Bel-Tone, and other small labels, some done under pseudonyms like Tem Martin and the Shepherd Brothers. The famous Merle Travis guitar is featured on the rare guitar-only albums, and the hits here include Divorce Me COD, Steel Guitar Rag, No Vacancy, and Cincinnati Lou. As always, though, the real story is in the rare singles, album cuts, and unissued recordings where Merle's guitar and his winning humor shine. A feast for any fan of finger-style guitar!

What a guy! What a picker! What a set! A seminal, and hugely-praised set from one of the most influential musicians in country music. It not only includes all of his Capitol recordings from 1946-1955, but it also includes incredibly rare recordings for King, Bel-Tone, and other small labels, some done under pseudonyms like Tem Martin and the Shepherd Brothers. The famous Merle Travis guitar is featured on the rare guitar-only albums, and the hits here include Divorce Me COD, Steel Guitar Rag, No Vacancy, and Cincinnati Lou. As always, though, the real story is in the rare singles, album cuts, and unissued recordings where Merle's guitar and his winning humor shine. A feast for any fan of finger-style guitar.