Label: Music Maker Recordings.
Release Date: 1994.
Recording Time: 54 minutes.
Release Info: Music Maker 9401.
Recording Date: 1993.
Styles: Acoustic Blues, Blues Gospel, Country Blues, Delta Blues, Early American Blues, Juke Joint Blues, Piedmont Blues, Regional Blues, Songster.
This is the first compilation album issued by Music Maker Recordings, released a few years before Taj Mahal and the Winston Blues Revival tours helped put the Music Maker Relief Foundation on the map as one of the rootsiest (and hippest) blues nonprofits around. A Living Past is a mix of remastered, contemporary field recordings of Piedmont blues, country ditties, and spoken word -- or, as producer Timothy Duffy puts it in the liner notes, "songs from a front porch or nursing home that will never happen again." Of particular note are the tracks that kicked off Guitar Gabriel's second comeback (his first was in 1970) and the only modern-era recordings by singer/guitarist Preston Fulp. Like the prewar field recordings done by Alan Lomax, this collection gives equal attention to traditions both popular ("Careless Love," "I Got a Woman") and obscure (Captain Luke's weirdly compelling "Kingfish Story"). Before you go diving into the Roots n' Blues reissues on Columbia, you might want to give this one a try, especially since some of these performers are still going strong. ~ Ken Chang
Credits: Big Boy Henry - primary artist, vocals; Willa Mae Buckner - primary artist, vocals; Timothy Duffy - engineer, guitar, liner notes, producer; Preston Fulp - guitar, primary artist, vocals; Guitar Gabriel - guitar, primary artist, vocals; W.C. Handy - composer; Macavine Hayes - composer, guitar, primary artist, vocals; R. Henry - composer; Martha E. Koenig - composer; Mark Levinson - liner notes, remastering; Michael Parrish - guitar (12 string), piano; Elvis Presley - composer; Traditional - composer; Spencer Williams - composer.
Tracks: 1) I Came So Far - Guitar Gabriel; 2) Expressing The Blues - Guitar Gabriel; 3) Careless Love - Preston Fulp; 4) Farther Along - Preston Fulp; 5) Angels Of Mercy - Captain Luke; 6) Little Girl Blues - Big Boy Henry; 7) Hot Shot Momma - Big Boy Henry; 8) Peter Rumpkin - Willa Mae Buckner; 9) Yo-Yo - Willa Mae Buckner; 10) Let's Talk It Over - Macavine Hayes; 11) I Got A Woman - Macavine Hayes; 12) Railroadin' And Gamblin' - Samuel Turner Stevens; 13) Do You Know What It Means To Have A Friend? - Guitar Gabriel & Lucille Lindsay; 14) Freight Train Boogie - Captain Luke; 15) King Fish Story - Captain Luke; 16) Dog And Cat Fight - Captain Luke; 17) A Living Past - Guitar Gabriel.