Teagan Brooks

There is such joy and power to the music heard on this CD that it is difficult to believe that Big Leon Brooks passed away before the record was released. This is a reissue of an LP from the B.O.B. label and it features Brooks at his best. One of the top blues harmonica players based in Chicago in the '50s, Brooks had drug problems and quit the music business altogether in 1957. Nineteen years later quite by accident he returned to playing blues and he was busy for a few years before heart problems caused him to scale back before his death. On Let's Go to Town his gruff vocals are effective and the backup musicians (which are usually guitarist Louis Myers, bassist Bob Stroger and drummer Odie Payne, Jr.) are perfect for this mixture of blues and jump tunes, and the set has plenty of variety in the blues idiom. This is a perfect last testament for Big Leon Brooks, a great if underrated bluesman.

The very title of Garth Brooks' 2014 comeback Man Against Machine telegraphed how the singer saw himself in the 2010s: he was an outsider, taking on the establishment. Man Against Machine debuted at number one and sold well but it didn't conquer the charts – none of its singles went further than 19 on Billboard's Country Airplay charts – and, in light of this, Brooks did something uncharacteristic: he decided to retreat. On Gunslinger – its title consciously evoking the western themes of No Fences and Ropin' the Wind – Brooks is so unconcerned with hits that he decided that "Baby, Let's Lay Down and Dance," a slice of country-disco that sounds like a kissing cousin to Orleans' "Still the One," was a good idea for a lead single. And, in a way, he's right. Gunslinger has its heart in the past, existing on a plane between Brooks' arena-country '90s hits and his '70s AM influences. The difference is, Brooks is comfortable in his middle age. It's not just that his maturation gives him an easy touch in performance – although that does help – it's that he's no longer obsessed with being the biggest, best star in country music.

Lonnie Brooks' music comes from the R&B side of the blues. Brooks is a passionate singer with an intense rock-like guitar style. With the exception of "Roll of the Tumbling Dice" (a relaxed duet featuring the harmonica of Sugar Blue), the music on Roadhouse Rules is generally unrelenting in its ferocity, blues-oriented but also quite open to the influences of Stax-type soul and rock. The impressive musicianship and sincerity of Brooks' music is probably easier to respect than to love; this release gives listeners a good sampling of his playing.

Twenty-five tracks from her prime, recorded for Modern in the 1940s and '50s, including her hits "That's My Desire" and "Out of the Blue," as well as "Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere." While Brooks was an important figure of the L.A. 1940s R&B scene, latter-day listeners may find this rather tame. Vocally she owed much more to pop-jazz stylings than gritty R&B influences. Her most durable and influential performances were her instrumental ones at the piano bench, especially on the pounding "Swingin' the Boogie," which leads off this collection.

While Ace's previous Hadda Brooks disc, Romance in the Dark, concentrated on her excellent mellow vocal sides, it left the instrumental boogie-woogie aspect of her musical talents unexplored. Swingin' the Boogie corrects that with this amazing release. Brooks recorded many of these tunes for the Modern label, initially released on 78s. Often after the "official session" concluded, there was still studio time available. In these instances, Brooks would pound out amazing boogie-woogie tracks for kicks. Swingin' the Boogie is the first disc to focus entirely on that output. Among the 18 tracks, six were previously unissued, and it includes the rare original flip side of "Swingin' the Boogie," "Just a Little Blusie."