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NEWSLETTER
#124
Blues & Gospel
Various Artists - > Jody Williams
| VARIOUS ARTISTS | Yazoo 2063 | Times Ain't Like They Used To Be, Vol. 5 | ● CD $15.98 |
| 23 tracks, 69 mins, essential. Another fantastic collection
of rural blues and country music from the 20s and 30s. There are some
fabulous blues rarities here including one side of the great Blind Joe
Reynolds 78 that only turned up recently (Cold Woman Blues - the
same side that was issued on the Revenant Charlie Patton box), a
previously unknown track by Ben Covington that's a real beauty and a great
track by an unknown performer recorded on the same day as a Blind Lemon
Jefferson session - whoever he is he's very fine indeed. As if that isn't
enough the booklet has previously unpublished pictures from the 30s of
Skip James and Buddy Boy Hawkins! I'm not as familiar with the country
artists here but there are some beautiful performances from Sam McGee,
Weems String Band, The Garland Brothers & Grinstead (lovely old time
gospel), J.P. Nestor & Norman Edmonds, The Grayson County
Railsplitters, The Murphy Brothers Harp Band, Wyzee, Tucker & Lecroy
and others. And there's more blues from Skip James, Buddy Boy Hawkins,
Charley Patton and more. Sound quality is superb and the 16 page booklet
has excellent, if occasionally patronizing, notes by Rich Nevins. |
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| VARIOUS ARTISTS | Yazoo 2064 | Times Ain't Like They Used To Be, Vol. 6 | ● CD $15.98 |
| 23 tracks, 69 mins, highly recommended More wonderful stuff
including the other side of the Blind Joe Reynolds 78 - Ninety Nine
Blues plus more great blues from Tenderfoot Edwards (aka Edward
Thompson), Mississippi Moaner, Skip James, Charley Patton, Louie Lasky and
Eli Framer. On the country side we have Eck Robertson's pioneer recording
of Sally Gooden reissued for the first time the correct speed plus
sides by Birkhead & Lane, Parker & Dodd, Virginia Mountain
Boomers, Jess Johnston & Byrd Moore, Red Headed Fiddlers, The Swamp
Rooters, Turney Brothers and others. (FS) |
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| MUDDY WATERS | Chess 112 822 | Real Folk Blues/ More Real Folk Blues | ● CD $18.98 |
| Essential! Two great LPs from the mid 60s on one CD previously
available as individual CDs). "Real" is a great collection of Muddy tracks
covering the period from his earliest Aristocrat recording Gypsy Woman
in 1947 to his excellent Same Thing from 1964 where after a few
years of relatively unexciting recordings he recorded this gem along with
the almost as good You Can't Lose What You Ain't Never had. Along
the way we have his magnificent Screamin' & Crying where
Muddy's slide guitar is particularly lyrical and the piano accompaniment
by Johnny Jones is utterly exquisite. Also included are his take off of Bo
diddley's I'm A man which Muddy called Mannish Boy, the
urgent Just To be With You, his all time classics Walking Blues
& Rollin' & Tumblin' and others. "More Real" is
great collection of 12 sides recorded between 1948 and 1952 including
several not originally issued on 78 or 45. Includes 4 Aristocrat sides
with Muddy's searing guitar accompanied only by Big Crawford's thundering
string bass (beautifully brought on this remastering). Includes a version
of Robert Johnson's Kind Hearted Woman and the powerful Whiskey
Blues. Most of the other tracks add Little Walter's lyrical harmonica
and the interplay between Muddy's guitar and Walter's harmonica on tracks
like Sad Letter & Too Young To Know is positively
magical. Other tracks include Down South Blues/ Hello Little Girl/
She's Alright, etc. MUDDY WATERS: Appealing Blues (hello Little Girl)/ Canary Bird/ Down South Blues/ Early Morning Blues/ Forty Days And Forty Nights/ Gypsy Woman/ Honey Bee/ Just To Be With You/ Kind Hearted Woman/ Landlady/ Little Geneva/ Mannish Boy/ Rollin' And Tumblin', Pt. 1/ Sad Letter Blues/ Same Thing/ Screamin' And Cryin'/ She's Alright/ Sittin' Here And Drinkin' (whiskey Blues)/ Too Young To Know/ Train Fare Home Blues/ Walkin' Blues/ Walking Thru The Park/ You Can't Lose What You Ain't Never Had/ You're Gonna Need My Help I Said |
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| KENNY "BLUES BOSS" WAYNE | Electro-Fi 3371 | 88th & Jump Street | ● CD $15.98 |
| New album from this fine singer and piano player. Original
songs with solid band including guest apperances by Jeff Healey, Mel
Brown, Bob Stroger & Willie "Big Eyes" Smith. |
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| JODY WILLIAMS | Evidence 26120 | Return Of A Legend | ● CD $15.98 |
| 13 tracks, 56 mins, essential Jody Williams is back .. with
a vengeance! As Bill Dahl points out in his excellent notes the term
"legend" is bandied about too freely these days but in the case
of Jody Williams it's justified. He was among the most influential
guitarists on the Chicago scene in the late 50s and early 60s but his name
is not too well known as most of his work was as a session guitarist and
he quit music in 1964 for a more secure job working for Xerox. Chances are
you've heard him though as he has played on sessions by Howling Wolf,
Jimmy Rogers, Bo Diddley, Jimmy Witherspoon and many others. The handful
of singles issued under his own name are prized by collectors and held in
awe by blues guitarists. After retiring from his day job in 1995 he
finally allowed himself to be persuaded to perform and record again and
under the expert guidance of his long time friend Dick Shurman who
produced this album he has come up with what surely is going to be the new
blues album of 2002. He is backed by solid rhythm section, occasional
horns and occasional guest musicians (Billy Boy Arnold, Rusty Zinn, etc).
The songs and tunes are all originals including remakes of some of his
classic singles and a whole slew of new compositions. Jody is a tremendous
singer with a powerful and warm quality and the slightly offhand approach
is particularly suited to some of the wry songs he writes. His guitar
playing is dazzling - not flashy, though he can play fast when necessary,
but full of wonderfully constructed solos loaded with invention. If some
of his licks sound familiar from other guitarists playing chances are Jody
originated them! An exceptional release. (FS) |
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