Label: Document Records.
Release Date: July 2, 2002.
Recording Time: 59 minutes.
Recording Date: November 22, 1939 - December 12, 1940.
Styles: Acoustic Blues, Country Blues, Delta Blues, Regional Blues.
Tommy McClennan recorded his entire output, some 40 tracks in all, for Bluebird Records between 1939 and 1942, before wandering off the blues stage forever, supposedly dismissed by Bluebird because of his drinking problems. With his hoarse, shouted vocals, often with spoken asides, and rudimentary guitar style, McClennan worked from an intriguing but limited palette, and his work is best sampled in two- or three-song doses. Still, the diminutive singer managed to turn out a handful of country blues classics, including "New Shake Em On Down," "Bottle It Up and Go," and his signature tune, "Whiskey Head Woman," all of which are included here. So is "Whiskey Head Man," which simply changes gender and uses the exact same arrangement and phrasing as "Whiskey Head Woman." In a genre known for recycling guitar runs and rhymed couplets, McClennan takes it a step further and recycles his own songs in only slightly different guises, making him somewhat of a one-trick pony. By the second volume of Document's two-disc series of his recordings, it is obvious that McClennan had run out of ideas. This first volume is the one to get, then, because the tracks seem just a bit fresher. - Review by Steve Leggett.
Credits: Gary Atkinson - cover design, executive producer; Keith Briggs - liner notes; Tommy McClennan - composer, guitar, primary artist, vocals; Paul Swinton - compilation producer, digital remastering, producer; Traditional - composer.
Tracks: 1) You can mistreat me here; 2) New shake 'em on down; 3) Bottle it up and go; 4) Whiskey head woman; 5) Brown skin girl; 6) Cotton patch blues; 7) Baby, don't you want to go?; 8) Baby, please don't tell on me; 9) I'm goin', don't you know; 10) New highway No. 51; 11) She's just good huggin' size; 12) My little girl; 13) My baby's gone; 14) It's hard to be lonesome; 15) My baby's doggin' me; 16) She's a good looking mama; 17) Whiskey head man; 18) New sugar mama; 19) Down to skin and bones; 20) Katy Mae blues; 21) Love with a feeling.