Thursday, September 7, 2023
Work Hard, Play Hard, Pray Hard- Hard Time, Good Time & End Time Music 1923-1936 (2012) 3CD FLAC - Tompkins Square – TSQ 2776
The release with early country music features 19 previously un-reissued sides
Original discs from the collections of Don Wahle, Frank Mare and Joe Bussard.
Wednesday, September 6, 2023
Willie ''big Eyes'' Smith and Roger ''hurricane'' Wilson - Live Blues Protected by Smith & Wilson (2012) CD FLAC (Bluestorm Records)
This is a special CD in honor of Grammy winner, and longtime Muddy Waters' band member, the late Willie "Big Eyes" Smith, along with longtime touring Georgia musician, Roger "Hurricane" Wilson. It was recorded during one of the 4 tours that the pair did as a duo throughout the U.S. in the South, the Northeast, and the Midwest, in 2008 through 2010. This one night was truly a musically magical one at a sold out theater show in Harrisburg, PA. You can feel the positive energy from the stage and from the crowd. On this night, along with Wilson on guitar and vocals, he was captured performing traditional Blues in a wonderful intimate setting. This release is in addition to the sessions recorded around the same time at the Sirius XM Radio studios in Washington, DC that are still airing on B.B. King's Bluesville. While Willie "Big Eyes" Smith was mainly known as the drummer for Muddy Waters for many years, and with his traditional shuffle style regarded as the heart and soul for the Chicago Blues sound, he was also a very accomplished Blues harmonica player, songwriter, vocalist, and bandleader. Most recently, he received a Grammy in 2010 for his work with Pinetop Perkins for best Traditional Blues CD for Joined At The Hip on Telarc Records. Roger "Hurricane" Wilson began playing guitar in 1963 at the age of 9. He has been playing professionally since 1973 as a well-known guitar instructor, itinerant touring artist, recording artist, record label owner, music publisher, songwriter, as well as bandleader. With over a million miles traveled, he has honed his skills on electric and acoustic guitar, and really blends his acoustic side marvelously with Willie in this live recording. Longtime Muddy Waters guitarist Bob Margolin says, "Roger blends his style wonderfully in preserving the concept of traditional Blues and complimenting Willie in this wonderful live CD". The legendary Les Paul once said about Roger, "this guy plays some great Blues".
Willie King & ''Birmingham'' George Conner - Walkin' The Walk, Talkin' the Talk (1999) CD FLAC
No label, no catalog number, and definitely no doubt about it, "Walkin' The Walk Talkin' The Talk" will feature in my top 10 albums of 2000. Pickens County, AL based guitarists Willie King and Birmingham George Conner (with a little help from their friends) serve up some of the earthiest sounding juke joint blues you will ever hear on CD.The album, which was cut live in the studio, kicks off with "Let's Come Together," a tune from the "Cool Drink Of Water Blues"/"Smokestack Lightnin'" lineage. It just rolls along for all of its nine and three quarter minutes, having a trance like, hypnotic effect on the listener, making you lose all semblance of time. The band just keep on playing as long as they have got something interesting to say. Having limbered up, they jump straight into a cooking version of Willie Dixon's "I'm Leavin'" that would fill any juke dance floor.
You get a chance for a breather during the next track, where Willie King tells how he started off playing the blues. Then it is back to the music, with the only Conner tune ("Poor Boy"). Like all the tunes here it is heavily guitar based, although for most of the proceedings Jock Webb provides suitably atmospheric harp accompaniment, without ever trying to eclipse the two stars. The rest of the band (Rick Tomlinson, Matt and Mark Kimbrell and Charlie Giambrone) provide sterling support throughout
A meander through B.B. King's "I Want To Get Married" is followed by the instrumental "Strollin' with Willie" which has a melody reminiscent of Junior Walker's "Cleo's Mood." The band then chug through the penultimate "I Miss You When You're Gone" which keeps tantalizingly threatening to break out into "Hideaway." This is one of the great things about the album: the traditions of the blues are there for all to hear, so you can almost plot the genealogy of the tunes, whilst the words are an original blend.
All too soon, the proceedings are drawn to a close with "Freedom Creek Blues." It starts with a narrative section explaining all about the subject of the song, before the band take center stage, and lock into a "Sweet Home Chicago" groove. For the final six minutes or so the band rock things through to a conclusion, with a some more fine guitar slinging from our two heroes.
"Walkin' The Walk Talkin' The Talk" is a slice of living blues history. You would have to go a long way to hear something as vital as this. If you like the Jelly Roll Kings, Junior Kimbrough, or R.L. Burnside, you will love this. Buy it anyway, because it is an essential album that no serious blues lover should be without.
Willie King & ''Birmingham'' George Conner - Walkin' The Walk, Talkin' The Talk (1999) FLAC
Phil Wiggins & Dom Turner - Owing the Devil a Day's Work (2015) CD FLAC
Phil Wiggins & Dom Turner - Owing the Devil a Day's Work is a blues album released in 2015 by American harmonica player Phil Wiggins and Australian guitarist Dom Turner¹. It features 11 tracks of acoustic blues influenced by the Piedmont style. The album received positive reviews from critics and fans of the genre.
Yazoo 1049 - Bottleneck Guitar Trendsetters Of The 1930s CD FLAC
Kokomo Arnold and Casey Bill Weldon were two of the most popular and original-sounding bottleneck guitarists of the Thirties, a generally dismal period for blues recording. In terms of contemporary appeal (the only yardstick that mattered to blues men themselves) they far outstripped Robert Johnson, Bukka White, and other bottleneck artists of the era.... Arnold, a left-handed guitarist, confronts the listener as one of the zaniest, most manic guitarists ever recorded; Weldon's work is an outright rejection of traditional blues harmony, and invites comparison to Western swing."
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Harlem Stride Pianists (2LP) (RCA – 741 118119)
Harlem Stride Pianists (2LP) (RCA – 741 118119) [FLAC]
