Label: Arhoolie Records.
Release Date: August 18, 1998.
Releases: January 25, 2011.
Recording Time: 60 minutes.
Soundtrack Studio Recording.
Styles: Songster, Acoustic Blues, Vaudeville Blues.
The soundtrack to the Louie Bluie film has Louis Armstrong in informal settings with various musicians, including Ted Bogan, Ikey Robinson, Yank Rachell, and Tom Armstrong. The selection of material gives a good indication of the breadth of the songster's repertoire, with ragtime, songs in German and Polish, blues, and a bawdy version of "Darktown Strutter's Ball" with much explicit profanity. If you're a casual blues fan and want a representative disc of the songster genre, you could do a lot worse than this, especially as the clear fidelity is far superior to what's possible from remastered 78s. And if you need some of those remastered 78s, the disc isn't a total loss either, as it has the 1934 single he issued under the name "Louie Bluie," "Ted's Stomp"/"State Street Rag," which has some expert, speedy violin (on "Ted's Stomp") and mandolin (on "State Street Rag") by Armstrong. The CD reissue adds four songs from 1929-1938 not on the original Arhoolie LP: "Vine Street Drag" by the Tennessee Chocolate Drops, two sides by Sleepy John Estes with Yank Rachell (including the famous "Milk Cow Blues"), and a 1938 single by Yank Rachell. This version includes bonus tracks. ~ Richie Unterberger
Credits: Howard Armstrong - guitar, mandolin, primary artist, violin, vocals; Tom Armstrong - bass; Kokomo Arnold - composer; Ted Bogan - guitar, primary artist, vocals; Robert Crumb - artwork; Morgan K. Dodge - booklet, tray card design; Sleepy John Estes - composer, primary artist; Mockridge - composer; Public Domain - composer; Yank Rachell - composer, guest artist, primary artist; Banjo Ikey Robinson - banjo, vocals; Willie Sievers - piano, primary artist; Terry Zwigoff - producer.
Tracks: 1) New State Street Rad (feat. Ted Bogan); 2) Nothing in This Wide World for Me (feat. Ted Bogan); 3) That'll Never Happen to Me (feat. Ted Bogan); 4) Ted's Stomp (feat. Ted Bogan); 5) My Four Reasons (feat. Ted Bogan); 6) Barushka (feat: Ted Bogan); 7) 38 Pistol Blues (feat. Ted Bogan); 8) Darktown Strutters' Ball; 9) When He Calls Me I Will Answer; 10) Vine Street Drag (feat. Ted Bogan); 11) My Gal Sal Medley (feat. Ted Bogan); 12) State Street Rag (feat. Ted Bogan); 13) Du, Du Liechst Mir Im Herzen (feat. Ted Bogan); 14) Railroad Blues (feat. Ted Bogan); 15) Cacklin' Hen (feat. Willie Sievers); 16) Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams (feat. Ted Bogan); 17) Vine Street Drag; 18) The Girl I Love (feat. Sleepy John Estes / Yank Rachell); 19) Milk Cow Blues (feat. Sleepy John Estes / Yank Rachell); 20) When You Feel Down and Out (feat. Yank Rachell).