Furry Lewis - Live At The Gaslight At The Au Go Go

Size: 108.1 MB
Time: 46:03
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 1971/2023
Styles: Country Blues
Art: Front

01. Introduction - Paer Lee (4:11)
02. My Dog Got The Measles (4:58)
03. Nero My God To Thee (1:29)
04. East St. Louis (4:18)
05. Waiting For A Train (2:13)
06. When I Lay My Burden Down (2:36)
07. Move To Kansas City (5:25)
08. Pallet On The Floor (3:32)
09. Brownsville (3:02)
10. Furry's Blues (3:16)
11. John Henry (3:27)
12. Turn Your Money Green (4:16)
13. K.C. Jones (3:14)

American country blues singer and guitarist
Born: 6 March 1893 (or 1899), Greenwood, Mississippi, USA
Died: 14 September 1981, Memphis, Tennessee, USA

Lewis began recording on the Vocalion label in 1927. His stamping ground - despite the fact he had lost a leg - was in and around the Memphis scene, such as Pee Wee Saloon near his home on Beale Street, with a day job as a street-sweeper until his retirement in 1966. In 1972 he was part of the renowned Memphis Blues Caravan, along with artists such as Bukka White, Sleepy John Estes & Sam Chatmon. He twice opened for The Rolling Stones and even acquired a profile in Playboy magazine. He died of heart-failure aged 82, shortly after contracting pneumonia, and is buried in Hollywood Cemetery, South Memphis.

Live At The Gaslight At The Au Go Go MP3
Live At The Gaslight At The Au Go Go FLAC

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Various - Memphis Rent Party

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 48:36
Size: 111.3 MB
Styles: R&B, Memphis blues, Hill Country blues
Year: 2018
Art: Front

[4:08] 1. Jerry McGill - Desperados Waiting For A Train
[3:55] 2. Luther Dickerson - Chevrolet
[4:18] 3. Junior Kimbrough - All Night Long
[5:05] 4. Furry Lewis - Why Don't You Come Home Blues
[7:11] 5. Calvin Newborn - Frame For The Blues
[3:00] 6. Alex Chilton - Johnny Too Bad
[2:54] 7. Jerry Lee Lewis - Harbor Lights
[4:42] 8. The Fieldstones - Little Bluebird
[2:38] 9. The Panther Burns - Drop Your Mask
[2:02] 10. Mose Vinson - Same Things On My Mind
[2:32] 11. Charlie Feathers - Defrost Your Heart
[6:05] 12. Jim Dickinson - I'd Love To Be A Hippie

The compilation illustrates the eclectic scope of Bluff City music, from Furry Lewis and Junior Kimbrough to Alex Chilton, Jim Dickinson and the Panther Burns. Memphis is about individualism, about distinct characters making “it” different. The best music out of Memphis — be it deep blues, early rocking Elvis, Stax soul, indie 1990s Grifters, or today’s Julien Baker or North Mississippi Allstars — forged its own sound. The Memphis aesthetic is to not sound like hits, but to sound different. Sometimes “different” hits. This soundtrack is a great companion to Memphis Rent Party, the latest book by Robert Gordon,

Memphis Rent Party mc
Memphis Rent Party zippy

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Various Artists - Masters of Memphis Blues

Masters of Memphis Blues compiles four CDs of performances by Furry Lewis, Beale Street Sheiks, Gus Cannon as Banjo Joe, Frank Stokes, Allen Shaw, Robert Wilkins and Little Buddy Doyle. It's hard to go wrong with these 101 recordings cut between 1927 and 1939. The tracks have been remastered, making the majority of this material sound great. Unlike other packages of this type, the liner notes are informative, listing personnel and dates and providing concise histories without going on ad nauseam. Beale Street in Memphis was Black man's street. Many people came to gamble, to con, to cheat and to have a good time. Beale Street was a joint street, it was never night time. They just stayed open from dawn to dawn. Unregulated mayhem reigned any night of the week in the alleys. The weekly death rate was alarming but musicians mostly avoided joining it. Pianos and guitars played the soundtrack for raucous behaviour in the taverns and bars that catered to the teeming humanity drawn like bees to Beale Streer's honey.

Album: Masters of Memphis Blues Disc A
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Source: LL (from CD)
Released: 2004
Styles: Blues
Time: 72:56
Size: 168,6 MB
Covers: Full

(2:55) 1. Everybody's Blues
(2:34) 2. Mr. Furry's Blues
(2:12) 3. Sweet Papa Moan
(2:48) 4. Rock Island Blues
(2:39) 5. Jelly Roll
(2:33) 6. Billy Lyons and Stack O'Lee
(2:52) 7. Good Looking Girl Blues
(2:46) 8. Why Don't You Come Home Blues
(2:50) 9. Falling Down Blues
(2:51) 10. Big Chief Blues
(2:45) 11. Mean Old Bed Bug Blues
(3:15) 12. Furry's Blues
(3:13) 13. I Will Turn Your Money Green
(3:11) 14. I Will Turn Your Money Green
(3:08) 15. Mistreatin' Mama
(3:06) 16. Dry Land Blues
(3:06) 17. Cannon Ball Blues
(3:06) 18. Kassie Jones, Pt. 1
(3:03) 19. Kassie Jones, Pt. 2
(3:06) 20. Judge Harsh Blues
(3:00) 21. Judge Harsh Blues
(2:54) 22. John Henry (The Steel Driving Man), Pt. 1
(3:20) 23. John Henry (The Steel Driving Man), Pt. 2
(2:49) 24. Black Gypsy Blues
(2:40) 25. Creeper's Blues

Tracks 01-25 : Furry Lewis

Furry Lewis was born in Mississippi but grew up in Memphis. As a kid, he made himself a guitar of a cigar box and screen wire. Lewis was good and he got him a Martin guitar. Furry played the streets with a jug band and travelled the South with medicine shows. In 1916 he lost a leg hopping a freight train. In 1923 Lewis worked for the Memphis Sanitation department, cleaning the streets and hauling garbage. In the evening and at night he played parties and taverns. Furry Lewis was a very popular entertainer. In 1925 he joined the Memphis Jug Band with Will Shade, Dewey Thomas and Hambone Lewis. A Vocalion talent scout discovered Lewis and Jim Jackson in 1927 and they recorded their first sides in Chicago. Victor recorded Lewis in Memphis in 1929. Thirty years later Furry Lewis was rediscovered by Sam Charters and made a comeback.

Masters of Memphis Blues Disc A
Masters of Memphis Blues Disc A artwork

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Album: Masters of Memphis Blues Disc B
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Source: LL (from CD)
Released: 2004
Styles: Blues
Time: 74:08
Size: 171,4 MB
Covers: Full

(2:49) 1. You Shall
(2:55) 2. It's a Good Thing
(2:55) 3. Sweet to Mama
(2:51) 4. Half Cup of Tea
(2:53) 5. Beale Town Bound
(2:56) 6. Last Go Round
(2:48) 7. Jazzin' the Blues
(2:42) 8. You Shall
(2:58) 9. It's a Good Thing
(2:39) 10. Mr. Crump Don't Like It
(3:06) 11. Chicken You Can Roost Behind the Moon
(2:43) 12. Blues in D
(2:55) 13. Ain't Goin' to Do Like I Used to Do
(3:06) 14. Hunting Blues
(3:11) 15. Rockin' on the Hill Blues
(3:09) 16. Fillin' in Blues, Pt. 1
(3:14) 17. Fillin' in Blues, Pt. 2
(3:08) 18. Wasn't That Doggin' Me
(3:06) 19. Jumpin' on the Hill
(3:10) 20. Jonestown Blues
(3:12) 21. Poor Boy, Long Ways from Home
(2:57) 22. Madison Street Rag
(2:57) 23. Jazz Gypsy Blues
(2:45) 24. Can You Blame the Colored Man
(2:51) 25. My Money Never Runs Out

Tracks 01 - 19 : The Beale Street Sheiks
Tracks 20 - 25 : Banjo Joe (Gus Cannon)

The Beale Street Sheiks are Frank Stokes and Dan Sane. In the summer of 1927 they travelled to Chicago to record. Few of these songs could be categorised as blues: the basic 8- or 16 bar measures were bent out of shape by Stokes adsides of impromptu polyrhytmic excursions. Two more sessions took place, but Stokes also recorded sessions under his own name.

Before the formation of Cannon's Jug Stompers, Gus Cannon was known as Banjo Joe, travelling with many medicine shows. All of his 10 brothers played an instrument and Gus played the banjo. Cannon worked for a while on steamboats. In Tennessee he met Noah Lewis and they travelled to Memphis. A Paramount talent scout noticed Cannon in Chicago and offered him a recording contract to cut six sides; on all but one of which he was accompanied by Blind Blake.

Masters of Memphis Blues Disc B
Masters of Memphis Blues Disc B artwork

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Album: Masters of Memphis Blues Disc C
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Source: LL (from CD)
Released: 2004
Styles: Blues
Time: 77:14
Size: 178,3 MB
Covers: Full

(3:10) 1. Downtown Blues
(3:14) 2. Downtown Blues
(2:58) 3. Bedtime Blues
(3:01) 4. What's the Matter Blues
(3:14) 5. Mistreatin' Blues
(3:03) 6. It Won't Be Long
(3:24) 7. It Won't Be Long
(3:06) 8. Nehi Mamma Blues
(3:00) 9. I Got Mine
(3:18) 10. Stomp That Thing
(3:10) 11. 'Tain't Nobody's Bizness If I Do, Pt. 1
(3:17) 12. 'Tain't Nobody's Bizness If I Do, Pt. 2
(3:16) 13. 'Tain't Nobody's Bizness If I Do, Pt. 2
(3:11) 14. Take Me Back
(3:12) 15. How Long
(2:56) 16. South Memphis Blues
(2:55) 17. Bunker Hill Blues
(3:07) 18. Right Now Blues
(3:07) 19. Shiney Town Blues
(2:47) 20. I'm Going Away Blues
(2:47) 21. Old Sometime Blues
(2:54) 22. Frank Stokes' Dream
(2:49) 23. Memphis Rounders Blues
(3:06) 24. I Couldn't Help It
(3:02) 25. Moanin' the Blues

Tracks 01 - 23 : Frank Stokes
Tracks 24 - 25 : Allen Shaw

Frank Stokes was Memphis favorite blues musician and he knew he was the better guitar player. He also set a fashion for musicians: a cap, suspenders and tweed pants. His solo recordings were made in 1928 and 1929. His Beale Street Sheik partner Dan Sane accompanied him on guitar and violin.

Guitarist Allen Shaw was well known around Memphis but spend most of his time traveling between communities of Western Tennessee. In his younger days he played also with Noah Lewis. While playing in Memphis, he performed with singer Hattie Hart. In september 1934, Shaw travelled with Hart and Willie Borum to New York to record. Allen Shaw got the chance to record for himself and two songs were issued.

Masters of Memphis Blues Disc C
Masters of Memphis Blues Disc C artwork

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Album: Masters of Memphis Blues Disc D
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Source: LL (from CD)
Released: 2004
Styles: Blues
Time: 77:14
Size: 178,4 MB
Covers: Full

(2:55) 1. Rolling Stone, Pt. 1
(3:30) 2. Rolling Stone, Pt. 2
(3:33) 3. Jail House Blues
(3:38) 4. I Do Blues
(2:54) 5. That's No Way to Get Along
(2:38) 6. Alabama Blues
(3:07) 7. Long Train Blues
(2:39) 8. Falling Down Blues
(3:24) 9. Nashville Stonewall Blues
(3:03) 10. Police Sergeant Blues
(3:33) 11. Get Away Blues
(3:07) 12. I'll Go With Her Blues
(3:15) 13. Dirty Deal Blues
(2:52) 14. Black Rat Blues
(2:58) 15. New Stock Yard Blues
(2:53) 16. Old Jim Canaan's
(3:11) 17. Losin' Out Blues
(2:40) 18. Hard Scufflin' Blues
(2:37) 19. Grief Will Kill You
(2:38) 20. Slick Capers Blues
(2:32) 21. Renewed Love Blues
(2:34) 22. Bad in Mind Blues
(2:53) 23. Three-Sixty-Nine Blues
(2:36) 24. She's Got Good Dry Goods
(2:42) 25. Lost Baby Blues
(2:40) 26. Sweet Man Blues

Tracks 01 - 17 : Robert Wilkins
Tracks 18 - 26 : Little Buddy Doyle

Robert Wilkins learned to play guitar as a teenager, watching others play. After a year Wilkins was the leading songster and blues player in Hernando. In 1915 he moved to Memphis and moved in with an older sister. In the mid 1920s Wilkins worked for Pullman, traveling the whole country. After he met Joe Lawlars he took up music again. They recorded some songs in a furniture store on Third and Beale. "Rolling Stone" was pressed and on sale and made them in-demand performers. A session for Brunswick followed. In 1935 Wilkins recorded with Son Joe and Kid Spoons for Vocalion. Wilkins married to raise a family and quit music in 1936.

Little Buddy Doyle recorded 10 songs at two sessions for Okeh and Vocalion in 1939. Most of the time he played the streets of Memphis and in Beale Street Park. He worked with Frank Stokes, Furry Lewis, Walter Horton and Homesick James.

Masters of Memphis Blues Disc D
Masters of Memphis Blues Disc D artwork

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Furry Lewis & Bukka White - Party! At Home: Recorded in Memphis 1968

File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Source: LL (from CD)
Released: 1972/2004
Styles: Blues
Time: 75:20
Size: 173,9 MB
Covers: Full (12 page booklet)

(3:32) 1. Bukka White - Hello, Central, Give Me 49
(2:28) 2. Bukka White - Grey-Haired Woman
(4:37) 3. Bukka White - Little Woman's Bed
(3:45) 4. Bukka White - Tip and Eight Boogie
(0:36) 5. Bukka White - Talking
(4:23) 6. Bukka White - Hambone Blues
(3:16) 7. Bukka White - I'm Drifting
(4:33) 8. Bukka White - Bukka's Goodtime Swing
(6:45) 9. Bukka White - Please, Ma'm
(1:08) 10. Bukka White - Talking
(4:02) 11. Furry Lewis - Going Away Blues
(4:25) 12. Furry Lewis - John Henry
(1:56) 13. Furry Lewis - Talking
(3:49) 14. Furry Lewis - Skinny Woman
(1:00) 15. Furry Lewis - Talking
(1:07) 16. Furry Lewis - Old Dog Blue
(0:52) 17. Furry Lewis - Talking
(2:12) 18. Furry Lewis - Let Me Call You Sweetheart
(3:14) 19. Furry Lewis - Talking
(1:45) 20. Furry Lewis - Farewell to Thee
(5:54) 21. Furry Lewis - Mama's Fish
(4:45) 22. Furry Lewis - When I Lay My Burden Down
(5:05) 23. Furry Lewis - Kassie Jones and a Message from Furry

This album is a fascinating document of two old country blues players, Bukka White and Furry Lewis, playing and talking in a completely relaxed, small-party session, surrounded by friends, none of whom treat the recording going on with any special reverence, meaning the whole set sounds exactly like what it is: a party. Recorded by Bob West in three sessions (one at the home of Albino Red and the other two at Lewis' apartment) in 1968 in Memphis and originally released on LP in 1972 (minus the talking and laughing), it remains one of the most intimate glimpses of the country blues in a neutral setting ever captured on tape. While there are some strong musical performances here by both White ("Hambone Blues") and Lewis (a beautifully natural rendition of "Let Me Call You Sweetheart"), its chief function is historical, letting the light in behind the scenes. The joy the folks at the party have in each other is uplifting, and the music is a bonus. It doesn't add anything startling to the cache of either blues player, but it will make you smile. -- Allmusic.
One of the most recorded of Memphis-based guitarists of the late '20s, Furry Lewis' subsequent fame 40 years later in the '60s was based largely on the strength of his early songs. A great blues storyteller and an extremely nimble-fingered guitarist right into his seventies, he was equally adept at blues and ragtime. The live sessions on this CD begins with Bukka White playing his National steel guitar, performing in the style of Charlie Patton. Most of music here was recorded on Furry's wooden Gibson guitar during a party at his home in 1968. The joking and banter among Bukka, Furry and friends recorded here is priceless. This cd is an intimate and very entertaining performance by two giants of Memphis country blues. -- Amazon.

Party! At Home: Recorded in Memphis 1968
Party! At Home: Recorded in Memphis 1968 artwork

Various The 1968 Memphis Country Blues Festival With Bukka White

CD 1 of this set is a reissue of the Memphis Country Blues Festival as recorded on Saturday, July 20th,1968 in Memphis, Tennessee. Performers include Bukka White, Joe Callicott, Furry Lewis, Rev. Robert Wilkins and Nathan Beauregard – and it’s the latter two that steal the show. Beauregard, who by his own admission had stopped learning new material in the 1930’s, turns in the most decidedly electric performance of the evening. His versions of “Highway 61” and “Kid Gal Blues” included here are not to be missed – especially since he only ever recorded six songs! The Reverend Robert Wilkins is mostly remembered for his composition “Prodigal Son” that was covered by The Rolling Stones for their “Beggars Banquet” LP. At the time this Memphis festival took place, however, that Stones release was still a good six months in the future, and as much as I love Mick and Keith’s version, it pales in comparison to the passion and the fury present in these readings of “In Heaven, Sitting Down” and “What Do You Think About Jesus”. With John Wilkins on electric bass and Douglas Wilkins on backing vocals and percussion, the good reverend teaches a masterclass in simplicity and dynamics. -- Blueswebzine

File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Source: LL (from CD)
Released: 2006
Styles: Blues
Time: 50:20
Size: 116,0 MB
Covers: Full (20 page booklet)

CD1: The 1968 Memphis Country Blues Festival With Bukka White
(5:53) 1. Nathan Beauregard - Highway 61
(4:03) 2. Nathan Beauregard - Kid Gal Blues
(5:01) 3. Bukka White - Hello Central, Give Me 49
(2:35) 4. Bukka White - Baby Please Don't Go
(5:17) 5. Furry Lewis - Furry's Blues
(4:04) 6. Robert Wilkins - In Heaven, Sitting Down
(4:44) 7. Robert Wilkins - What Do You Think About Jesus
(6:57) 8. Mississippi Joe Callicott - You Don't Know My Mind
(6:00) 9. Mississippi Joe Callicott - Great Long Ways From Home
(5:41) 10. Bukka White - My Mother Died

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A Memphis, Tennessee studio recording from Sunday, July 21st, 1968, CD 2 of this set is devoted entirely to Bukka White. On the three tunes he had on the festival half, Bukka was accompanied by Jim Crosthwait on washboard; here, he works with various combinations of Crosthwait, Harmonica Boy (harmonica), Trevor Koehler (piano), Bill Barth (guitar), Anchor (bass), and Joe Gray (drums). Indeed: CD 2 is the album originally issued as “Memphis Hot Shots”, with what must surely be one of the most memorable blues album covers ever conceived. While no match for his pre-war output, the solo/duo tunes on this album are nevertheless solid – and the rest is genius! After all that 21st century hype about pushing the envelope and merging blues with hip-hop, it’s a relief to come across a recording that actually does all that and more. Recorded in 1968, the full-band version of “Aberdeen, Mississippi Blues” is well worth the price of this album alone, sounding more current than most of what you’ll find in the Contemporary Blues section today. -- Blueswebzine

File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Source: LL (from CD)
Released: 2006
Styles: Blues
Time: 51:35
Size: 119,2 MB
Covers: Full

CD2: Bukka White The Complete Blue Horizon Recordings
(2:51) 1. Bukka White - Bed Spring Blues
(3:08) 2. Bukka White - Aberdeen, Mississippi Blues
(3:54) 3. Bukka White - Drifting Blues
(5:59) 4. Bukka White - (Brand New) Decoration Day
(3:42) 5. Bukka White - Baby Please Don't Go
(2:32) 6. Bukka White - Give Me an Old, Old Lady
(6:33) 7. Bukka White - Got Sick and Tired
(2:40) 8. Bukka White - World Boogie
(5:36) 9. Bukka White - School Learning
(2:39) 10. Bukka White - Old Man Tom
(3:30) 11. Bukka White - Gibson Town
(3:51) 12. Bukka White - Drifting Blues [Master Version](bonus)
(4:32) 13. Bukka White - Old Man Tom [Master Version](bonus)

CD1 The 1968 Memphis Country Blues Festival
CD2 Bukka White The Complete Blue Horizon
artwork pt1
artwork pt2

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Furry Lewis - Take Your Time

File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Recorded: 1969
Released: 2000
Styles: Blues
Time: 48:03
Size: 110,2 MB
Covers: Full

(5:19) 1. Judge Boushay Blues
(3:32) 2. Take Your Time Rag
(5:25) 3. East St. Louis Blues
(3:00) 4. Let Me Call You Sweetheart
(3:22) 5. See That My Grave Is Kept Clean
(4:51) 6. St. Louis Blues
(4:10) 7. If You Follow Me Babe
(4:10) 8. Glory Hallelujah
(4:25) 9. Natural Born Eastman
(2:27) 10. Bugle Waltz
(2:31) 11. How Long?
(4:45) 12. John Henry

Memphis bluesman Furry Lewis was pushing 80 (depending on which of the various dates of birth you go by) when this recording was made in October, 1969. Lewis, coaxed out of retirement after a career as a sanitation worker (he gave up music during the Depression), had spent the 1960s as the toast of the folk-blues revival circuit, and his playing with avid student Lee Baker, Jr. had by this time coalesced into a true duo. Even with Lewis' penchant for randomly inserting and removing bars from his chord progressions and equally wild vocal flights, Baker's accompaniment keeps up. The duo takes on Lewis standards like the signature tune "Natural Born Eastman" (aka "Kassie Jones") and "Take Your Time," as well as versions of the old-time standards Lewis loved to reworked in his gruff, yet powerfully effective voice; "Let Me Call You Sweetheart" and "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean," as well as the southern gospel tune "Glory Hallelujah." An intimate studio recording that still retains the boisterous atmosphere of a front porch jam.

Take Your Time

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Furry Lewis with Bukka White & Gus Cannon - On the Road Again

File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Recorded: 1969
Released: 1999
Styles: Blues
Time: 44:16
Size: 102,3 MB
Covers: Full

(5:15) 1. Furry Lewis - On the Road Again
(4:43) 2. Bukka White - My Wife Is Getting Old
(5:58) 3. Furry Lewis - Why Don't You Come Home Blues
(1:35) 4. Gus Cannon - Lela
(3:16) 5. Furry Lewis - Oh Babe
(5:05) 6. Furry Lewis - I've Got a Bird to Whistle
(3:44) 7. Bukka White - Give Me an Old Lady
(6:50) 8. Furry Lewis - Furry's Worried Blues
(5:03) 9. Bukka White - Gibson Hill
(2:41) 10. Gus Cannon - Goin' Back (To Memphis, TN)

This 1969 recording captures a relaxed blues session of Furry Lewis, Bukka White, and Gus Cannon that is full of warmth and gentle humor. These unwound acoustic tunes are sung and played neither for dancing to nor for damning you, but instead capture a mood akin to early-evening song swapping among these old-time gentlemen of country/folk blues. The elder of the group, Cannon (of Cannon's Jug Stompers), sings two tunes here -- "Lela," and "Goin' Back (to Memphis, TN)" -- while his uniquely tuned banjo accompanies him on a few more. White's playing is Mississippi Delta slide all over his National guitar, and his voice is a gruff box that straightens just a little for the kind teasing in "Give Me an Old Lady." The majority of the tracks come from Lewis, whose fuzz-edged voice delivers in a close, familiar manner that comes off as an unassuming performance for a couple of friends. On the Road Again is an endearing bit of kicking-back by some seminal bluesmen. -- Allmusic

On the Road Again

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VA - Beale Street Saturday Night

Size: 102,3 MB
Time: 35:13
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 1979/2015
Styles: Memphis Blues
Art: Front

01 Sid Selvidge - Walkin' Down Beale Street (3:22)
02 Fred Ford - Hernando Horn (2:40)
03 Grandma Dixie Davis - Beale Street Blues (1:16)
04 Sleepy John Estes - Big Fat Mama Liquor Store (2:55)
05 Prince Gabe - Ol' Beale Street Blues (1:18)
06 Furry Lewis - Furry's Blues (4:59)
07 Teeny Hodges - Rock Me Baby (1:35)
08 Alex - Rock Me Baby (1:35)
09 Thomas Pinkston - Ben Griffin Was Killed In The Monach.. (2:13)
10 Johnny Woods - Frisco Blow (1:45)
11 Mudboy & The Neutrons - On The Road Again (5:09)
12 Thomas Pinkston - Mr. Handy Told Me 50 Years Ago... (1:14)
13 Furry Lewis - Chicken Ain't Nothin' But A Bird (1:45)
14 Grandma Dixie Davis - Roll On Mississippi (3:21)

First-ever reissue of 1979 Memphis classic album. Beale Street Saturday Night is a Jim Dickinson masterpiece.

He captured the community and spirit of Memphis Blues in the ’70s, splicing analog recordings together into an un-banded record only imagined, much less realized, in Memphis.

The ’70s were a dark time for the city. The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. changed Memphis’ soul and soul music. After the assassination, the city tore much of downtown down, bulldozing the path of MLK’s march, Dickinson would point out. Beale Street, which had been a vibrant neighborhood and cultural Mecca, was shuttered at the time of this record. A stain. Stax was demolished, literally.

Dwelling in the ruins, the Memphis underground music community was rich in character at the time of Beale Street Saturday Night. The Blues masters had been interacting and making music with the youth rock ‘n’ roll art underground bohemian outlaw musicians for years now, creating the “world boogie” (which is still coming). These musicians and artists had reached out in the darkness of segregation and found each other through the brotherhood of music and the freedom of rock ‘n’ roll, led by the coffee shop record collecting Yankee youth of Bill Barth and John Fahey, and the Southern illumination of Sam and Dewey Phillips. Mud Boy & The Neutrons rose out of the swamp of the Dream Carnivals and Memphis Blues festivals to carry on jug band music, drug fueled improvisational roots music and performance art, but that’s another’s story.

This is not a field recording. Jim produced these multi-tracked recordings in The Orpheum Theatre, at Ardent and Sam Phillips Studios, and in his home on his beloved Ampex 8-track. He loved the concept of a hi-if recording of a lo-fi sound. He said Johnny Woods could read his mind in the studio. This is an example of the world boogie, the country blues masters and the crazy white boys, locking themselves in world class recording studios for late night recording sessions because they loved playing music together—Mud Boy & The Neutrons (Jim Dickinson, Sid Selvidge, Lee Baker, and Jimmy Crosthwait), Fred Ford, Sleepy John Estes, Prince Gabe, Furry Lewis, Teenie Hodges, Johnny Woods, and so many more.

This is the setting and cast of characters for Beale Street Saturday Night, a fantasy soundtrack to an alternate Memphis reality, the history of Memphis music told by its creators to the future. Living legends in dark rooms with microphones, casting spells and telling lies, transcending time, space, and, most importantly, race. Only in Memphis would young white record producers put such raw black music and storytelling together to create an integrated Southern masterpiece. Only in the grooves of this record does this Memphis exist, the ghosts telling the stories to the kids, aged memory and youthful fantasy combining to create a world all its own. Only James Luther Dickinson could have produced Beale Street Saturday Night.

Beale Street Saturday Night

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Various - The Blues: Music From The Documentary Film By Samuel Charters

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 35:25
Size: 81.1 MB
Styles: Acoustic blues
Year: 1967
Art: Front

[2:43] 1. Willie Borum - Alone In The Evening Hours
[4:55] 2. J.D. Short - Slidin' Delta
[2:29] 3. Pink Anderson - Old Cotton Fields Of Home
[3:29] 4. Furry Lewis - John Henry
[3:26] 5. Baby Tate - Bad Blues
[2:46] 6. Willie Borum - Sitting Here Thinking
[4:17] 7. Sleepy John Estes - Lonesome Ground
[3:04] 8. Baby Tate - If I Could Holler Like A Mountain Jack
[3:22] 9. Baby Tate - When I First Started Hoboing
[4:50] 10. Pink Anderson - Weeping Willow Blues

While recording in the South in the early 1960s, producer, writer, and music historian Samuel Charters was inspired not only by the sound of Furry Lewis’s guitar, but by the patterns of movement in his hands and fingers as he played. Thus Charters decided to make a film that would document aspects of the blues that couldn’t be put on a phonograph record. In the sweltering summer of 1962, Charters journeyed through St. Louis, Memphis, Louisiana, and South Carolina to shoot the film The Blues and record this soundtrack. Artists featured in addition to Lewis are J.D. Short, Baby Tate, and Sleepy John Estes. Liner notes include details of the making of the film and biographies of the artists.

The Blues: Music From The Documentary Film By Samuel Charters mc
The Blues: Music From The Documentary Film By Samuel Charters zippy

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