Label: Not Now Music.
Release Date: June 9, 2011.
Recording Time: 144 minutes.
Release Info: Compilation, NOT2CD405.
Recording Date: 1926 - 1956.
Styles: Acoustic Blues, Country Blues, Early American Blues, Pre-War Blues, Pre-War Country Blues, Folk Blues, Pre-War Gospel Blues, Slide Guitar Blues.
The blues belongs to everyone, and everyone essentially understands what it means to have the blues, but when you’re blind, and you’re black, and you live in the South, and you have to earn your keep, you can understand the blues at its deepest levels. There are so many blind blues players in the early history of recorded blues for a very simple reason. You didn’t have to see to be able to sing and play guitar, banjo, or piano, and if you played and sang well enough, you could pay your way. A collection of early blues sides by black blind musicians is an odd way to approach a blues anthology, but it works very well for this two-disc, 50-track set, which not only delivers classic blues takes from the likes of Ray Charles, Rev. Gary Davis, Blind Boy Fuller, Sleepy John Estes, Blind Willie Johnson, Blind Blake, Blind Willie McTell, Blind Lemon Jefferson, and others, it also illustrates how the early blues was a truly commercial music, a way of using the blues to ease the blues, both emotionally and financially -- which is why some say that only the blues can cure the blues. ~ Steve Leggett
Credits: Blind Blake - composer, primary artist; Carlisle - composer; Bo Carter - composer, primary artist; Ray Charles - composer, primary artist; Nigel Cross - liner notes; Blind John Davis - composer, primary artist; Rev. Gary Davis - arranger, composer, primary artist; Sleepy John Estes - composer, primary artist; Blind Boy Fuller - primary artist; Blind Roosevelt Graves - composer, primary artist; Blind Lemon Jefferson - composer, primary artist; Blind Willie Johnson - arranger, composer, primary artist; Blind Willie McTell - composer, primary artist; Blind Joe Reynolds - composer, primary artist; Traditional - composer; Tony Watts - compilation producer.
Tracks, Disc 1: 1. Lonely Avenue - Ray Charles; 2. I'm Gonna Meet You at the Station - Rev. Gary Davis; 3. When You Are Gone - Blind Boy Fuller; 4. Working Man Blues - Sleepy John Estes; 5. Dark Was the Night - Cold Was the Ground - Blind Willie Johnson; 6. Death Cell Blues - Blind Willie McTell; 7. Nobody's Fault But Mine - Blind Willie Johnson; 8. Third Street Woman Blues - Blind Joe Reynolds; 9. Matchbox Blues - Blind Lemon Jefferson; 10. Detroit Bound Blues - Blind Blake; 11. My Brownskin Sugar Plum - Blind Boy Fuller; 12. Who's Been Here? - Bo Carter; 13. Barbecue Bust - Blind Roosevelt Graves; 14. Your Love Belongs to Me - Blind John Davis; 15. Scarey Day Blues - Blind Willie McTell; 16. You Can Go Home - Rev. Gary Davis; 17. One Time Blues - Blind Blake; 18. Pussy Cat Blues - Bo Carter; 19. Special Agent Blues - Sleepy John Estes; 20. Doing a Stretch - Blind Blake; 21. Hittin' the Bottle Stump - Blind Roosevelt Graves; 22. If I Had My Way I'd Tear the Building Down - Blind Willie Johnson; 23. Catman Blues - Blind Boy Fuller; 24. It's a Good Little Thing - Blind Willie McTell; 25. Blackjack - Ray Charles.
Tracks, Disc 2: 1. Misery in My Heart - Ray Charles; 2. Magic Carpet - Blind John Davis; 3. Time Is Drawing Near - Sleepy John Estes; 4. Lost Lover Blues - Blind Boy Fuller; 5. Cross and Evil Woman Blues - Rev. Gary Davis; 6. Dangerous Woman - Blind Roosevelt Graves; 7. My Pencil Won't Write No More - Bo Carter; 8. Got the Blues - Blind Lemon Jefferson; 9. Outside Woman Blues - Blind Joe Reynolds; 10. Soul of a Man - Blind Willie Johnson; 11. Statesboro Blues - Blind Willie McTell; 12. Floating Bridge - Sleepy John Estes; 13. Long Lonesome Blues - Blind Lemon Jefferson; 14. I Cannot Bear My Burden by Myself - Rev. Gary Davis; 15. Rattlesnakin' Daddy - Blind Boy Fuller; 16. Sweeter as the Years Roll By - Blind Willie Johnson; 17. Ninety Nine Blues - Blind Joe Reynolds; 18. One Time Blues - Blind Blake; 19. Banana in Your Fruit Basket - Bo Carter; 20. When the War Was On - Blind Willie Johnson; 21. Bad Luck Blues - Blind Lemon Jefferson; 22. Poor John Blues - Sleepy John Estes; 23. Homesick and Lonesome Blues - Blind Boy Fuller; 24. Skippy Whippy - Blind Roosevelt Graves; 25. Late in the Evening Blues - Ray Charles.