Michelle Dixon Trauma

Shortly before his death in 1992, Dixon won a Grammy in 1988 for Hidden Charms. Not one of Dixon's stronger albums, Hidden Charms obviously gave the Grammy voters a chance to recognize someone who'd completely altered the blues. Not bad for roughly 70 years of struggle in the Depression, in the boxing ring, in jails, in recording studios, and in courtrooms. Dixon's ring career might have been short-lived, but he was a fighter to the core.

When Willie Dixon left his native Mississippi and traveled north to Chicago, he almost single-handedly dragged the blues with him into the modern era, giving the country blues a hard, new sheen with his deft songwriting, sturdy bass playing, and his considerable talents as a producer and arranger. This two-disc, 47-track set catches Dixon wearing all of his hats, with the first disc featuring him in the studio and in concert (including several live tracks with Johnny Winter) and the second spotlighting his bass playing and production work with the likes of Robert Nighthawk, Eddie Boyd, Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Lowell Fulson, Bo Diddley, Willie Mabon, and Howlin' Wolf. What emerges is a well-rounded portrait and introduction to one of the major architects of the modern blues sound.

The soundtrack to an obscure movie. "What I have tried to explain for years I've been able to express through this score". So says the Blues master and composer of this album in his sleeve notes.