2-CD Digipac (6-plated) with 134-page booklet, 58 tracks. Total playing time approx. 178 minutes

First volume in a series of four 2-CD digipac sets.
Almost 3 hours of pre-war blues.
Covering the story of acoustic blues from 1923 to 1939.
Pre-war recordings, a total of 58 tracks, carefully re-mastered from the original 78s.
134-page booklet with rare photos and in-depth liner notes and bios.
Blues greats like Blind Lemon Jefferson, Tommy Johnson, Charley Patton, Son House, Bukka White, and Robert Johnson alongside blues obscurities like Rube Lacy, Little Hat Jones, a. m. o.

August 10, 1920 was a crucial day for the future of the blues. That's when Mamie Smith recorded her groundbreaking Crazy Blues for OKeh Records. Her glamorous approach to the music was solidly based in the vaudeville tradition, the accompaniment dominated by jazzy horns and flowery piano.

The next big trend to emerge a little later in the decade revolved around blues guitarists, virtually all of them originally hailing from the rural South, their approach closely related to field hollers and work songs. Many were veritable virtuosos on their instruments. Lonnie Johnson, Blind Willie McTell, Blind Blake, and Skip James mapped out the guitar-dominated long-term future of the idiom with every 78 they released. These giants made their nimble fretwork heard over the cacophonous din inside the rowdy juke joints where they plied their trade by fretting their instruments with a slide or bottleneck. They achieved a fluid, crying sound on their acoustic axes, or pounded the hell out of their boxes with forceful chording. Performers popular enough to afford them acquired flashy steel-bodied National guitars that resonated louder than standard models.

Read more at: https://www.bear-family.de/

Track Listing

• Weaver, Sylvester - Both Sides Now
• Weaver, Sylvester - Guitar Blues
• Jackson, Papa Charlie - Shake That Thing
• Johnson, Lonnie - Mr Johnson's Blues
• Jefferson, Blind Lemon - Match Box Blues
• Barbecue Bob - Mississippi Heavy Water Blues
• Lewis, Furry - Billy Lyons And Stack O'Lee
• Jackson, Jim - Jim Jackson's Kansas City Blues / Pt 1
• Johnson, Blind Willie - Dark Was The Night / Cold Was The Ground
• Stokes, Frank - Downtown Blues
• Hurt, Mississippi John - Frankie
• Ramblin' Thomas - So Lonesome
• Lacy, Rube - Ham Hound Crave
• Thomas, Henry - Bull Doze Blues
• Blackwell, Scrapper - Kokomo Blues
• Johnson, Tommy - Canned Heat Blues
• Bracey, Ishman - The Four Day Blues
• McTell, Blind Willie - Statesboro Blues
• Weaver, Curley - No No Blues
• Newbern, Hambone Willie - Roll And Tumble Blues
• Spaulding, Henry - Cairo Blues
• Patton, Charley - Pony Blues
• Kansas Joe and Memphis Minnie - When The Levee Breaks
• Jones, Little Hat - Little Hat Blues
• Blind Blake - Diddie Wa Diddie
• McCoy, Charlie - Last Time Blues
• Wilkins, Robert - That's No Way To Get Along
• Townsend, Henry - Henry's Worry Blues
• Gibson, Clifford - Ice And Snow Blues
• Reynolds, Blind Joe - Outside Woman Blues

• Mississippi Sheiks - Sitting On Top Of The World
• Akers, Garfield - Dough Roller Blues
• House, Son - My Black Mama / Part 1
• Brown, Willie - M & O Blues
• Jordan, Charley - Stack O' Dollars Blues
• Smith, 'Funny Paper' - Howling Wolf Blues / No 1
• James, Skip - I'm So Glad
• Hill, King Solomon - Times Has Done Got Out Of Hand
• Big Bill and His Jug Busters - Long Tall Mama
• White, Joshua - Good Gal
• Tampa Red - Black Angel Blues
• Leadbelly - Midnight Special
• Memphis Minnie - Chickasaw Train Blues (Low Down Dirty Thing)
• Arnold, Kokomo - Milk Cow Blues
• Temple, Johnnie - Lead Pencil Blues (It Just Won't Write)
• Estes, Sleepy John - Someday Baby Blues
• Blind Gary - Cross And Evil Woman Blues
• Fuller, Blind Boy - Rag, Mama Rag
• Martin, Carl - Crow Jane
• Joe Williams' Washboard Blues Singers - Baby Please Don't Go
• Bill, Casey - Somebody Changed The Lock On My Door
• Woods, Oscar - Lone Wolf Blues
• Johnson , Robert - Cross Road Blues
• Black Ace - Black Ace
• McCoy, Robert Lee - Prowling Night-Hawk
• White, Bukka - Shake 'Em On Down
• Carter, Bo - Old Devil
• Tharpe, Sister Rosetta - This Train
• McClennan, Tommy - Bottle It Up And Go

Additional Details

Label: Bear Family Records

Genre: Blues

Run Time: 178 mins

Release Date: 04/24/15

UPC: 5397102172298