2-CD-Album DigiPac (6-plated) with 70-page booklet, 47 tracks, playing time approx. 126 minutes

New Orleans is still in everyone's hearts and minds?not least for the music it contributed to the world. The beginning of New Orleans R&B is chronicled in an astonishing new Bear Family compilation!It features early and great performances by crescent city legend Professor Longhair!Most of the recordings new to CD! Some have never been available since the early 1950s!

Back in 1989, we issued a double LP, 'Mercury Records--The New Orleans Sessions, 1950. ' Containing early and great (not to mention some unissued) recordings by Professor Longhair, Alma Mondy, and other Crescent City legends, it was a definitive statement of New Orleans R&B at its inception. We uncovered the original acetates at Mercury Records' vault, and painstakingly restored them, thereby re-creating one of the great field trips in record business history on two LPs!

Since CDs were introduced, we've had requests to reissue that 2-LP set, but we couldn't see how we could improve upon it. . until now. Researcher Rick Coleman, whose recently published book on Fats Domino is recognized as a classic work in New Orleans R&B, figured out that a Mercury R&B session long thought to have taken place in Los Angeles in 1953 actually took place in New Orleans. To confirm his hunch, Rick spoke with Mercury A&R man Dee Kilpatrick, who recalled recording Alma Mondy along with a female impersonator, Pat Valadear, Woo-Woo Moore, and Plas Johnson's brother, Ray. So we included everything from that session, plus the ultra-rare gospel recordings by the Silvertone Singers from the 1950 sessions!

Add new photos, new notes, and digitally enhanced sound. That's how we took the story of Mercury's New Orleans sessions to a new level. A fitting tribute, especially as so many of the neighborhoods that gave birth to this music may never return!

Track Listing

• Hank Thompson - Miss Lollypop's Confession
• Mondy, Alma - Love Troubles
• Mondy, Alma - Baby Get Wise
• Mondy, Alma - Just As Soon As I Go Home
• Mondy, Alma - Street Walkin' Daddy
• Mondy, Alma - A Job For A Jockey
• Mondy, Alma - Still My Angel Child
• Mondy, Alma - No Stuff For Me
• Mondy, Alma - I Need You Baby
• Mondy, Alma - You Done Me Wrong
• Mondy, Alma - Byrd's Blues
• Byrd, Roy & His Blues Jumpers - Her Mind Is Gone
• Byrd, Roy & His Blues Jumpers - Bald Head
• Byrd, Roy & His Blues Jumpers - Hey Now Baby
• Byrd, Roy & His Blues Jumpers - Oh Well
• Byrd, Roy & His Blues Jumpers - Hadacol Bounce
• Byrd, Roy & His Blues Jumpers - Longhair Stomp
• Byrd, Roy & His Blues Jumpers - Been Foolin' Around
• Byrd, Roy & His Blues Jumpers - Between The Night And Day
• Byrd, Roy & His Blues Jumpers - I Walk In My Sleep
• Johnson, Theard - Lost Love
• Johnson, Theard - Boogie's The Thing
• Miller, George & Mid Driffs - Bat-Lee Swing

• Miller, George & Mid Driffs - She Won't Leave No More
• Little Joe Gaines - Snuff Dipper
• Little Joe Gaines - Mercury Boogie
• Craven, Dwine (Mr. Brown) - New Way Of Loving
• Craven, Dwine (Mr. Brown) - Bye And Bye
• Silvertone Singers - What Are They Doing In Heaven Today
• Silvertone Singers - Call On Jesus In Scret Prayer
• Silvertone Singers - Rest From Labor
• Silvertone Singers - Keep Yoru Hands On Your Heart
• Valdevear, Pat - Baby, Rock Me
• Valdevear, Pat - Boogie The Blues
• Johnson, Ray - House Of Blues
• Johnson, Ray - I'll Never Let You Go
• Johnson, Ray - Smilin' Blues
• Johnson, Ray - Somethin's Wrong
• Moore, Herbert 'Woo Woo' - Five Long Letters

Additional Details

Label: Bear Family Records

Genre: R & B

Run Time: 126 mins

Release Date: 01/02/07

UPC: 4000127168047