Various - The Introduction To Living Country Blues USA (2-Disc Set)

The material was collected from the blues expert Siegfried A. Christmann and Axel Küstner in the fall of 1980 on an extensive trip through the United States - in the form of so-called field-recordings - recordings that reflect the artist in his natural environment and not in the studio. They put 10,000 miles (16.000km) with the car back, consumed 180,000 feet (54km) analog magnetic tape and took hundreds of photos to the various aspects of Country Blues, as well as work songs, Fife & Drum Band music, so-called Field Hollers and original gospel music to be documented. There were 35 artists included, some of which are thus the first time ever appeared on record.

Album: The Introduction To Living Country Blues USA (Disc 1)
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 40:50
Size: 93.5 MB
Styles: Acoustic blues
Year: 1981/2008
Art: Front

[ 5:27] 1. Guitar Frank - Lonesome Road Blues
[ 4:27] 2. Memphis Piano Red - The Train Is Comin'
[ 3:11] 3. Flora Molton - What's The Matter Now
[ 4:10] 4. Lottie Murrell - Trouble Late Last Night
[ 2:58] 5. Sam Chatmon - Sittin' On Top Of The World
[ 2:06] 6. James 'Son' Thomas - Rock Me, Mama
[ 1:51] 7. Hammie Nixon - Corinna, Corinna
[10:46] 8. Cora Fluker - Talkin' 'bout Jesus
[ 2:50] 9. Walter Brown - So Hard To See
[ 2:59] 10. Archie Edwards - Bear Cat Mama Blues

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Album: The Introduction To Living Country Blues USA (Disc 2)
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 39:52
Size: 91.3 MB
Styles: Acoustic blues
Year: 1981/2008
Art: Front

[4:45] 1. Bowling Green John Cephas - Reno Factory
[4:01] 2. Lonnie Pitchford - My Babe
[2:47] 3. Sam Stretch Shields - Bluebird Blues
[3:46] 4. Flora Molton - The Titanic
[1:23] 5. Joe Savage - Mean Ol' Frisco
[3:02] 6. Arzo Youngblood - I Can't Be Successful
[2:38] 7. Cedell Big G Davis - I Don't Know Why
[3:20] 8. Othar Turner - Tango Twist
[3:17] 9. Guitar Slim - Come On In My Kitchen
[4:57] 10. Guitar Slim - Lula's Back In Town
[3:17] 11. Boyd Rivers - You Got To Move
[2:33] 12. Boogie Bill Webb - Big Road Blues

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Big Chief Ellis - Big Chief Ellis Feat. Tarheel Slim, Brownie McGhee & John Cephas

Size: 136,8 MB
Time: 58:09
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 1976/1995
Styles: Piano Blues, Electric Blues
Art: Full

01. Prison Bound (3:50)
02. All Down Blues (7:05)
03. Dices #2 (5:05)
04. Louise (4:05)
05. Fare You Well, Mistreater (6:23)
06. How Long Blues (3:06)
07. Let's Talk It Over (5:15)
08. Rocky Mountain Blues (4:05)
09. Hey, Baby (5:25)
10. Sweet Home Chicago (3:44)
11. Chief's EB Blues (5:19)
12. Blues For Moot (4:42)

Those who seek after music often remind me of anthropologists. We rarely consider an area ripe for research unless it is geographically and culturally remote. How else to explain the fact that Wilbert (Big Chief) Ellis has lived amongst those of us in the New York and Washington, D.C. areas for many years with so little attention paid him? He is the legitimate heir of a long and honorable Alabama blues piano tradition. His friends and predecessors include men like Cow Cow Davenport, Pine Top Smith, Walter Roland, Jabo Williams, Vance (Piano Red) Patterson (who recorded) and Bubba Jack, Man Lewis, Goat, Hooky Doo, and Price Linnear (who didn’t). During his long, eventful life, Chief has been exposed to many styles of blues and other music, but, recognizing the beauty and importance of what he has, refused to allow alien influences creep into his thoughtful, emotional and carefully structured approach to the music he loves.

That love and respect is evident in each of the pieces included in his debut album, He is a sensitive and critical man, and each of these tunes was recorded several times in varying circumstances until he was satisfied with both technique and feeling, Although first-class guitarists like Alden (Tarheel Slim) Bunn, Brownie McGhee and John Cephas give strong backing in several of these selections, it is Chief himself who sets the deliberate pace, drawing attention to the lonesome sound of his piano and to the feeling he imparts to every song,

Ellis was born (in 1915) and raised in Birmingham, where he was absorbed with piano music from ‘the first. His parents were religious and allowed no music in their house. Chief circumvented the restriction by working out an arrangement with his great aunt, who owned a piano and who would allow him to practice every time he mowed her lawn. By the time his parents found out it was too late, for Chief was already a respected musician in the community. They relented, of course, and allowed their son to develop his music to its full potential.

Chief was a professional gambler for most of his adult life. This occupation allowed him to travel and provided occasions for him to learn from other musicians (notably Walter Davis in Chicago) and learn the many secrets which allowed him to survive and prosper in his precarious occupation. He settled in New York City in 1942 where he ran night clubs for several years and even became (after 1945) backup pianist on many record sessions. One of these, for Lenox in 1945, produced his own “Dices, Oh Dices”, which remains his signature piece. Oddly enough, this was the second recording of his own tune. Chief had performed it often while still living in Birmingham – it was picked up by Walter Roland, who recorded it in 1933, a full year ahead of the composer. Another significant recording was made during the late 40s, Stick McGhee’s “Drinking Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee. This R&B bestseller had been composed previously by Chief while he was serving in the army at Ft. McClellan, Alabama. Wine was a favorite during periods of forced idleness. So much was consumed that Chief made up a little song about it, whose refrain began, “drinkin’ wine, motherfucker, drinkin’ wine”. A white record executive in New York heard it and purchased the song for a few dollars, making a hit for someone else. Stick McGhee was Brownie’s brother, and Chief and Brownie are both heard on the hit release.

The popularity of blues and blues-derived music declined in New York with the mass-marketing approach advanced by rock-and-roll in the fifties, and Chief virtually stopped playing. In 1974 I received a letter from Bob Eagle of Australia, whom Brownie McGhee him informed that Chief might be living in the Washington area. One phone call confirmed that this was so, and that I had introduced myself to a man who would become a close friend, as well as a musician whose power and depths I remain in awe of. Chief has discovered that people once again love and respond to his music and he is taking it to bars, clubs, festivals, concerts, and to the homes of his many friends. He is a huge, imposing man, with the gentle consideration and warmth common to the best of huge, imposing men. He pours love into his music the way that soft-drink company claims they do to their ginger ale. And now you too, lucky record buyer, have a chance to partake. ~by Richard K. Spottswood

With the help of a friend.
Big Chief Ellis

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Various - Blues In The Bar: Drinkin' Songs

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 83:25
Size: 191.0 MB
Styles: Assorted blues styles
Year: 2013
Art: Front

[3:26] 1. Floyd Dixon - Hey, Bartender
[2:42] 2. Johnny Otis - Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee
[4:08] 3. Albert Collins - I Ain't Drunk
[3:30] 4. Koko Taylor - Beer Bottle Boogie
[4:24] 5. Lil Ed & The Blues Imperials - 20% Alcohol
[2:33] 6. Saffire-The Uppity Blues Women - Let The Gin Do The Talking
[4:50] 7. Rusty Zinn - Drinking My Last Dime
[4:51] 8. Roy Buchanan - Beer Drinking Woman
[8:13] 9. Smokin' Joe Kubek & Bnois King - Stop Drinking
[3:48] 10. Bob Margolin - Brown Liquor
[3:19] 11. Cephas & Wiggins - No Ice In My Bourbon
[2:39] 12. Roomful Of Blues - Juice, Juice, Juice
[4:29] 13. Billy Boy Arnold - Whiskey, Beer And Reefer
[5:47] 14. William Clarke - Drinking By Myself
[2:35] 15. Lonnie Brooks - One More Shot
[3:56] 16. Joe Louis Walker - Too Drunk To Drive Drunk
[2:41] 17. Johnny Jones - Sloppy Drunk Blues
[5:24] 18. Elvin Bishop - My Whiskey Head Buddies
[5:16] 19. Carey Bell - When I Get Drunk
[4:47] 20. Little Charlie & The Nightcats - I Don't Drink Much

Booze Blues: The sorrow one occasionally feels when drunk. Usually occurs when one drinks when he/she is in a bad mood. The affected person will often be saddened by anything and/or everything wrong in that person's life, no matter how important or trivial (most often trivial). Often accompanied (but not remedied) by more drinking.

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Various - Classic African-American Ballads From Smithsonian Folkways

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 66:49
Size: 153.0 MB
Styles: Folk, Blues, Old Time
Year: 2006
Art: Front

[3:44] 1. Warner Williams With Jay Summerour - Mouse On The Hill
[1:22] 2. K.C. Douglas - Casey Jones
[2:42] 3. Lead Belly - John Hardy
[3:33] 4. John Jackson - Railroad Bill
[3:32] 5. Memphis Slim And Willie Dixon - Stewball
[4:02] 6. Sonny Terry And Brownie Mcghee - John Henry
[2:22] 7. Snooks Eaglin - St. James Infirmary
[5:02] 8. John Cephas And Phil Wiggins - Staggerlee (Stackolee)
[4:53] 9. Convict Group, Ramsey And Retrieve State Farms - Lost John
[3:44] 10. Josh White - Betty And Dupree
[1:57] 11. Lead Belly - Old Riley
[2:26] 12. Jazz Gillum, Memphis Slim, And Arbee Stidham - The Race Of The Jim Lee And Katy Adam
[2:49] 13. Pink Anderson - The Titanic
[2:10] 14. Big Bill Broonzy - Frankie And Johnny
[1:58] 15. Earl Taylor And The Stony Mountain Boys - White House Blues
[3:17] 16. John Jackson - Louis Collins
[2:13] 17. Woody Guthrie - Bad Lee Brown
[2:24] 18. Bhorace Sprott - Luke And Mullen
[2:59] 19. Dave Van Ronk - Duncan And Brady
[2:44] 20. Lead Belly - Gallis Pole
[3:03] 21. Pink Anderson - Boll Weevil
[3:42] 22. Josh White Jr. - Delia's Gone

Classic African-American Ballads is a sampling of an important, historic, and engaging slice of America's Black music heritage. The heyday of the Black ballad tradition (1890-1920) left a lasting strain of creativity and a monument to African American life of the time. Ranging from songs created from the heritage of the English ballad, to social commentary vilifying abusive white authority figures, to "blues ballads," this album reminds us of the enormity and constant evolution of African American musical tradition.

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Various - Blues Routes: Heroes & Tricksters Blues & Jazz Work Songs & Street Music

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 68:35
Size: 157.0 MB
Styles: Blues, Jazz, Ragtime
Year: 1999
Art: Front

[3:57] 1. John Henry Mealing and the Gandy Dancers - Rooster Call
[5:14] 2. John Cephas and Phil Wiggins - John Henry
[2:39] 3. Warner Williams - Step It Up And Go
[3:38] 4. Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson and Willie 'Pinetop' Perkins - Flipping And Flopping
[4:09] 5. Erbie Bowser, T.D. Bell, and the Blues Specialists - It's Love Baby (24 Hours A Day)
[4:12] 6. Robert Jr. Lockwood - Little Queen Of Spades
[3:42] 7. Etta Baker - One Dime Blues
[2:31] 8. Abner Jay - Bluetail Fly
[4:14] 9. Don Vappie and the Creole Jazz Serenaders - Gut Bucket Blues
[4:32] 10. Claude Williams - That Certain Someone
[2:50] 11. Sammy Price - Harlem Parlor Blues
[3:04] 12. Booker T. Laury - Early In The Morning
[5:08] 13. The White Cloud Hunters Mardi Gras Indians - Sew, Sew, Sew
[4:38] 14. Rapper Dee, C.J. (Carl Jones) and Five Gallons of Fun - My Mind Has No Colour- Do It The Go-Go Way
[2:22] 15. Georgia Sea Island Singers - Hambone, Where You Been
[2:55] 16. Boozoo Chavis & The Majic Sounds - Uncle Bud
[8:42] 17. Joe Louis Walker and the Boss Talkers - Bluesifyin

Blues Routes is a resonant almanac of blues styles and blues-related music and musicians including: Memphis barrelhouse and Harlem parlor piano players; blues guitarists from the Delta and Piedmont, San Francisco and Chicago; Kansas City and New Orleans jazz masters; hambone call-and-response and Mardi Gras Indian chants; Texas jump blues and Louisiana Creole zydeco; minstrel and jazz banjomen; street go-go bucket-drummers and railroad track-lining gandy dancers. In this fin de siècle collection, the diversity of American blues and blues-influenced styles and the unity of their African ancestral heartbeats can be heard in great performances recorded live at the influential Folk Masters concert and radio series.

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John Cephas & Phil Wiggins - Bluesmen

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 70:36
Size: 161.6 MB
Styles: Acoustic blues, Piedmont blues
Year: 1993
Art: Front

[5:31] 1. Big Boss Man
[3:05] 2. Mama Let Me Lay It On You
[5:11] 3. Prison Bound Blues
[4:19] 4. Jesus Is Mine
[5:19] 5. The Little Red Rooster
[3:15] 6. Blake's Rag
[4:29] 7. A Shanty In Old Shanty Town
[5:20] 8. Broke Down Engine
[4:15] 9. Good Morning Little School Girl
[3:20] 10. St. Louis Blues
[3:00] 11. The Things I Used To Do
[4:55] 12. Sick Bed Blues
[4:19] 13. Burn Your Bridges
[3:49] 14. Goin' To The River
[6:21] 15. Prison Blues
[4:01] 16. Keep Your Hands Off Her

The Piedmont blues is a gentle and melodic blues style native to the mid-Atlantic region of the US, particularly to the Carolinas and Virginia over to Tennessee, as practiced by such luminaries as Blind Boy Fuller, Blind Blake and the Reverend Gary Davis. The Piedmont players favor a particular alternating thumb and fingerpicking guitar style that is rooted in ragtime, a music that preceded and heavily impacted the blues. Cephas and Wiggins are undoubtedly the heirs to the other great tidewater duo, Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee. While they are by no means a cover, they clearly styled themselves after that great team and picked up a similar sound, in a wonderful kind of way. John Cephas sounds hauntingly similar to Brownie McGhee and Phil Wiggins would have made Sonny Terry proud.

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VA - Virginia Traditions: Tidewater Blues

Size: 108,4 MB
Time: 46:08
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 1982/2013
Styles: Blues Folk
Art: Full

01. Carl Hodges - Leaving You, Mama (3:12)
02. Henry Harris - Albemarle County Rag (1:23)
03. Virginia Four - I'd Feel Much Better (2:32)
04. Pernell Charity - Blind Love (3:00)
05. William Moore - Barbershop Rag (2:59)
06. The Back Porch Boys - King Kong Blues (2:59)
07. John Cephas - Black Rat Swing (3:36)
08. Corner Morris - Going Down The Road Feeling Good (2:19)
09. Pernell Charity - War Blues (2:58)
10. Big Boy - Blues (4:35)
11. The Back Porch Boys - Sweet Woman Blues (3:03)
12. Henry Harris - Motorcycle Swing (1:26)
13. Monarch Jazz Quartet Of Norfolk - Pleading Blues (2:46)
14. Carl Hodges - Poor Boy Blues (3:14)
15. John Cephas - Richmond Blues (2:43)
16. William Moore - One Way Gal (3:15)

Another in the Virginia Traditions series assembled by the Blue Ridge Institute for Appalachian Studies at Ferrum College in Ferrum, Virginia, Tidewater Blues combines commercially released 78s from the 1920s with field recordings done in the 1940s, '50s and '70s to provide a historical sketch of blues in the region. Often called Piedmont or East Coast blues (there are those who would split hairs and make each a distinct school), tidewater blues is generally more intricate and delicate than the Delta or Texas strains of the genre, and draws more heavily on piano rags as well as the black string band tradition and features a gentle, melodic and easy rolling feel. Among the highlights here are two gentle and perfectly nuanced blues songs by guitarist Carl Hodges, "Leaving You Mama" and "Poor Boy Blues," recorded by folklorist Kip Lornell in 1979, and Pernell Charity's accomplished guitar instrumental, "Barbershop Rag," recorded in 1928. The Virginia Four's unaccompanied "I'd Feel Much Better," from 1939, isn't so much blues as secular black gospel, as is "Pleading Blues," sung by the Monarch Jazz Quartet and drawn from a 1929 recording. Tidewater Blues ends up being a gentle, soothing portrait of blues (and blues-based forms) from the coastal region of Virginia, and makes a fine complement to another volume in the Virginia Traditions series, Western Piedmont Blues, which places its focus further inland. ~Review by Steve Leggett

Virginia Traditions: Tidewater Blues

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Various - Classic Harmonica Blues From Smithsonian Folkways

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 62:25
Size: 142.9 MB
Styles: Harmonica blues
Year: 2013
Art: Front

[2:53] 1. Doctor Ross - Theme Song
[3:00] 2. Sonny Terry - Heart In Sorrow
[2:51] 3. Will Shade - Take Your Fingers Off It
[3:34] 4. Eddie Burns - Nine Below Zero
[3:11] 5. Charlie Sayles - Bye Bye Bird
[2:16] 6. Jazz Gillum - Gillum Blues
[2:01] 7. Sonny Terry - Crow Jane Blues
[4:12] 8. John Cephas - Dog Days Of August
[3:43] 9. John Sebastian And The J-Band - Minglewood Blues
[3:39] 10. Doctor Ross - Good Morning Little School Girl
[4:17] 11. Phil Wiggins - Sweet Home Chicago
[2:28] 12. Eddie Burns - One Way Out
[2:33] 13. Sonny Terry - Boogie Baby
[4:07] 14. Neal Pattman - Low Down Blues
[2:28] 15. Chambers Brothers - Hooka Tooka
[5:06] 16. Charlie Sayles - Train Piece
[3:40] 17. Doctor Ross - Chicago Breakdown
[2:04] 18. Warner Williams - I Feel So Good
[1:25] 19. Roscoe Holcomb - Barbara Allen Blues
[2:46] 20. Sonny Terry - Custard Pie

Classic Harmonica Blues from Smithsonian Folkways brims with the creativity of soulful harmonica greats of the 20th century, including Sonny Terry, Doctor Ross, Eddie Burns, Phil Wiggins, and more. Culled from the historic Folkways Records collection and live performances at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, these recordings take us to the heart of the classic American blues tradition.

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Various - Gary Davis Style: The Legacy Of Reverend Gary Davis

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 61:02
Size: 139.7 MB
Styles: Acoustic blues, Folk, Roots
Year: 2002
Art: Front

[2:40] 1. Ari Eisinger - I'm Throwing Up My Hand
[3:11] 2. Willie Walker - South Carolina Rag
[3:06] 3. Blind Boy Fuller - Rag, Mama, Rag
[3:22] 4. Ken Whiteley & Friends - Let Us Get Together
[4:34] 5. Maria Muldaur - I Am The Light Of This World
[3:25] 6. Ernie Hawkins - Will There Be Stars In My Crown
[2:24] 7. Eric Noden - Pure Religion
[1:58] 8. Pat Conte - Devil's Dream
[4:25] 9. William Lee Ellis - I Heard The Angels Singing
[2:34] 10. Ellen Britton - United States March
[2:50] 11. Mary Flower - Sit Down On The Banks
[2:38] 12. John Cephas & Phil Wiggins - Twelve Gates To The City
[3:14] 13. Ian Buchanin With The Otis Brothers - Hesitation Blues
[2:26] 14. Perry Lederman - Gary Davis Style
[2:23] 15. Peter, Paul And Mary - Samson & Delilah I
[2:23] 16. Mitch Greenhill & Mayne Smith - Samson & Delilah Ii
[3:51] 17. Penny Lang & Freinds - God Knows How Much We Can Bear
[2:53] 18. Jerry Ricks - Where'd You Get Your Liquor From Hesitation Blues
[2:59] 19. Dave Van Ronk & Freinds - Soon My Work Will All Be Done
[3:38] 20. Rick Ruskin - I Will Do My Last Singing In This Land

This project started as an attempt to celebrate the centenary of Rev. Gary Davis's birth, but turned into something more like herding cats. We now present to you twenty musical examples that include his early Greenville partner, Willie Walker, from whom Blind Gary undoubtly learned a few tricks; his earliest known student, Blind Boy Fuller, whose commercial success virtually transformed the post-depression blues world; and eighteen recent entries, who were either students of his, or who were taught by someone who was.

The people on this CD are intened to be representative, but not exhaustive. This is because Rev. Davis was as much a teacher as he was a player, and he taught whomsoever presented themselves to be taught, for however long they were in his presence. If we had an unlimited budget and all the CDs in the world, we could present ten times as many people. When I first saw Davis in 1963, I flipped, I would assume the same holds true for all the performers whose works are reproduced here.

Half the numbers were taken from existing CDs, including the two 78s. The other half were newly minted by the performers, and may turn up on their own CDs as time goes on. An effort was made to be as inclusive as possible: we have male and female, black and white, gentle and Jew, Canadian and American, and while most of the performers are living, some have followed Rev. Davis from this vale tears. Rev. Davis did not discriminate. His influence was broad, far reaching and lifelong. But most of all, it was personal. Of the twenty performers on this recording, the majority knew him well, a couple knew him peripherally, and the remainder would have sought him out had they had the chance. ~Andy Cohen

Gary Davis Style: The Legacy Of Reverend Gary Davis

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