Blind Dog Radio

Greenville Smokin' by Willie Love & His Three Aces (Elmore James, Joe Willie Wilkins and Little Milton)

Label: Trumpet Records.
Release Date: March 28, 2000.
Recording Time: 50 minutes.
Recording Date: April 7, 1951 - April 13, 1953.
Release Info: Compilation Studio Recording.
Releases: 2000 (Cleopatra / Mimosa Music), 2006 (Purple Pyramid).

Styles: Delta Blues, Piano Blues, Regional Blues.

Willie Love spent most of his short career working around Mississippi as part of Sonny Boy Williamson's King Biscuit Entertainers, but he also recorded as a solo artist for Trumpet Records in Jackson, Mississippi. This 18-track set brings together all of his extant recordings for the label, some featuring Elmore James, a young Little Milton, and Joe Willie Wilkins on guitar. Hard barrelhouse piano and Love's laconic vocals frame classics like "V-8 Ford," "Feed My Body to the Fishes," and the bouncy "Everybody's Fishing." A bluesman who deserves a wider listen.
Review by Cub Koda

Notes: Original releases on the Trumpet label. Compilation previously released in 2000 on the Mimosa label.

Credits: Rusty Alfred - drums; Junior Blackman - drums; Big Bill Broonzy - composer; Milton Campbell - guitar; Leroy Carr - composer; James Cotton - composer; Otis Green - sax (tenor); T.J. Green - bass; Walter Buck Henson - bass; Lonnie Holmes - guitar; Oneal Hudson - drums; Elmore James - choir/chorus, guest artist, guitar, vocals; Willie Kyles - saxophone; Steve LaVere - photography; Richard "Dickie Boy" Lillie - sax (tenor); Little Milton - guest artist; Love - composer; W. Love - composer; Willie Love - composer, cover photo, piano, primary artist, vocals; Willie Love & His Three Aces - performer, primary artist; Robert McCullum - composer; Buddy Moss - composer; John Strother - engineer; Johnnie "Geechie" Temple - composer; Alex Wallace - drums; Carlton Wells - saxophone; Joe Willie Wilkins - choir/chorus, guest artist, guitar, vocals; Bernard Williams - saxophone; Lester Williams - guitar; Sonny Boy Williamson II - composer; Hally Wood - composer.

Recording dates: 1) 7 April 1951, Trumpet 137; 2) 7 April 1951, Trumpet 137; 3) 25 July 1951, Trumpet 147; 4) 25 July 1951, Trumpet 147; 5) 1 December 1951, Trumpet 172; 6) 1 December 1951, Trumpet 172; 7) 1 December 1951, Trumpet 173; 8) 1 December 1951, Trumpet 173; 9) 1 December 1951, Trumpet 174; 10) 1 December 1951, Trumpet 174; 11) 1 December 1951, Trumpet 175; 12) 1 December 1951, Trumpet 175; 13) 13 April 1953, unissued; 14) 23 March 1953, unissued; 15) 23 March 1953, unissued; 16) 13 April 1953, unissued; 17) 13 April 1953, unissued; 18) 13 April 1953, unissued.

Tracks: 1) Take It Easy Baby; 2) Little Car Blues; 3) Everybody's Fishing; 4) My Own Boogie; 5) Falling Rain; 6) Feed My Body To The Fishes; 7) Vanity Dresser Boogie; 8) 74 Blues; 9) 21 Minutes To Nine; 10) Shady Lane Blues; 11) Nelson Street Blues; 12) V-8 Ford; 13) Shout Brother Shout; 14) Worried Blues; 15) Lonesome World Blues; 16) Wonderful Baby; 17) Willie Mae; 18) Way Back.