Label: Document Records/RST Records.
Release Date: 1995.
Recording Time: 74 minutes.
Recording Date: March, 1923 - May 2, 1929.
Releases: April 3, 2001; October 11, 2005.
Styles: Piano Blues, Jazz Blues, Vaudeville Blues.
Porter Grainger was an obscure pianist from the 1920s whose biggest claim to fame was that at one point he accompanied Bessie Smith. This CD from the Austrian RST label reissues nearly every recording that he ever appeared on but unfortunately Grainger does not take a full solo on any of them. He backs a variety of mostly indifferent blues singers (Gladys Bryant, Ethel Finnie, Dolly Ross, the yodelling Clint Jones and Ada Brown) and is buried behind such vocal groups as the Harmony Hounds, the Jubilee Singers, the Three Jazz Songsters and the Four Cry-Babies! In general the music is pretty mediocre and Porter Grainger's role is fairly minor, making this a well-packaged but ultimately rather frivolous CD. ~ Scott Yanow
Featured Artists: Gladys Bryant, Porter Grainger, Harmony Hounds, Ada Brown, Ethel Finnie, Porter Grainger's Three Jazz Songsters, Buddy Christian's Four Cry Babies, Clint Jones, Dolly Ross.
Credits: Perry Bradford - accordion, vocals, vocals (background); Ada Brown - accordion, performer, primary artist, vocals, vocals (background); Gladys Bryant - accordion, primary artist, vocals; Buddy Christian - banjo, primary artist; Lincoln M. Conaway - guitar (steel); Con Conrad - composer; Ernest Elliott - sax (alto); Ethel Finnie - accordion, primary artist, vocals; Porter Grainger - piano, primary artist; Harmony Hounds - accordion, vocals; Gus Horsley - accordion, vocals, vocals (background); Bert Howell - accordion, vocals; Clint Jones - accordion, primary artist, vocals; Jubilee Singers - performer, primary artist; Johnny Parth - compilation producer, producer; Bob Ricketts - piano; Billy Rose - composer; K.H. Rosenzopf - art direction, cover art; Howard Rye - liner notes; Clara Smith - composer; Rudolf Staeger - executive producer; Gerhard Wessely - remastering.
Tracks: 1) Laughin' crying blues - Gladys Bryant; 2) You've got to see mama every night - Gladys Bryant; 3) The Dark-town Flappers Ball - Gladys Bryant; 4) Triflin' blues - Gladys Bryant; 5) I don't love nobody - Ethel Finnie; 6) Don't you quit me Daddy - Ethel Finnie; 7) Don't know and don't care blues - Ethel Finnie; 8) Hula blues - Ethel Finnie; 9) Done got de blues - Harmony Hounds; 10) I've got a gal and she ain't no good - Harmony Hounds; 11) Where did you get that hat - Porter Grainger's Three Jazz Songsters; 12) It makes no diff'rence to me - Porter Grainger's Three Jazz Songsters; 13) Ground hog blues - Porter Grainger's Three Jazz Songsters; 14) Jonah's ridin' on his mule - Buddy Christian's Four Cry Babies; 15) Nina Lee - Buddy Christian's Four Cry Babies; 16) Wish I had-a died in Egyptland - Porter Grainger's Jubilee Singers; 17) I'm on the right road now - Porter Grainger's Jubilee Singers; 18) He don't know - Dolly Ross; 19) Hootin' owl blues - Dolly Ross; 20) Ramona - Clint Jones; 21) Right or wrong - Clint Jones; 22) Mississippi woman blues - Clint Jones; 23) Blue Valley blues - Clint Jones; 24) Down home dance - Ada Brown; 25) Crazy 'bout my lollypop - Ada Brown.