Release Date: October 26, 2010.
Recording Time: 197 minutes.
Recording Date: 1920s - 1930s.
Release Info: Compilation (DTD-16) Studio Recording.
Styles: Acoustic Blues, Bluegrass, Classic Female Blues, Close Harmony, Country Blues, Dance Bands, Dirty Blues, Early American Blues, Old-Timey, Pre-War Country Blues, Ragtime, Society Dance Band, Trad Jazz, Traditional Country, Yodeling.
Compiled by John Heneghan, these 66 tracks are derived from John's 78 rpm record collection with liner notes by Nick Tosches and a centerfold illustration by R. Crumb.
Dust to Digital always does an impressive job of providing compelling thematic material in artfully designed packaging. This has been true since their debut offering, Goodbye, Babylon, that showcased Southern sacred song and oratory. Baby, How Can It Be? Songs of Love Lust and Contempt from the 1920s and 1930s (the label's 16th release), follows suit. Assembled from the 78 collection of John Heneghan, this three-disc, 66-track set looks at its title subjects from all sides. It travels disc by disc from the first flush and ardor of romance, through the heat and passion of eros, to the tales of terror, depression, and violence that occur when the flower of belladonna replaces the rose's bloom. Baby How Can It Be? contains selections by familiar names such as the Mississippi Sheiks, Bo Carter,Cab Calloway, and Blind Lemon Jefferson, but there are plenty of obscure artists and songs too. Blues, jazz, old-timey folk, urban "pop" tunes, bluegrass, brass bands, yodels, wild, raw rural jams -- check "I Ain't a Bit Drunk" by George "Short Buckle" Roark and tell us what it is -- are all included. Disc one, the "Love" disc, features romantic and sometimes syrupy songs one would usually associate with a thematic compilation like this, but all selections are wonderfully chosen and a pleasure to hear. Even here, however, there is complexity; as love can breed darkness too, as "Insane Crazy Blues" by Charlie Burse & the Memphis Jug Band, "Lost Lover Blues" by Lottie Kimbrough & Winston Holmes, and "Don't Leave Me Here" by Henry "Ragtime Texas" Thomas, reveal. Disc two --the "Lust" disc-- offers sensually suggestive tomes such as Ukelele Ike's "If You Can't Land 'Er on the Old Veranda" and the originally recorded version of "Tip Toe Through The Tulips with Me" by Eddie Peabody. But there are downright bawdy and scandalous ones as well: Harry Roy & His Bat Club Boys' "Pussy," Hartman's Heart Breakers' "Let Me Play with It," and Frank Quinn's "Murphy's Wife" -- the tale of a drunken Irish threesome -- attest. The "Contempt" disc offers the widest range of emotion and musical diversity. There are tales of heartbreak so profound they result in self loathing -- Laura Smith's barroom betrayal blues "I'm Gonna Kill Myself" and the Callahan Brothers' high lonesome "I Want to Ask the Stars" are examples. Hostility abounds in "You're Gonna Look Like a Monkey When You Get Old" by Robert Hill; "Married Girl's Troubles" by Hazel Scherf gives way to the desperate in Mississippi Matilda's "Hard Working Woman"; while relief comes in the wild brass band jazz of "After You've Gone" by Alphonse Trent & His Orchestra, and the criminal, in Fiddlin' John Carson's "Its a Shame to Whip Your Wife on Sunday." With a terrific set of liner notes by Nick Tosches and a centerfold illustration by R. Crumb, this set isn't just for vintage American music fans, it's for virtually anyone interested in the blessings and burdens caused by love or the lack of it. ~ Thom Jurek
Dust-to-Digital review:
"As is commonly recognized, or so at least it should be stated for matters at hand, the 1920s and 1930s represented the golden age of the love song. Baby, How Can It Be? Songs of Love, Lust and Contempt - don't forget that odi-et-amo angle - from the 1920s and '30s reflects that age of gold resplendently. Chosen from the collection of John Heneghan, the sixty-six recordings here are alive with more cooing, kissing, cupidity, cussing, and killing than lifetimes of longing, heavenly and demonic, could ever aspire to. Talk about a handful of young roe and its discontents. As them Hebe smut-hounds of old used to say, you ain't heard nothin' yet." ~ Nick Tosches (from the liner notes)
Aquarius Records: "There are horns, banjos, yodeling, scatting, fiddles, barrelhouse piano, ukuleles, all manner of voices, rough and raw, sweet croons, male, female, and the lyrics… from honest and heartfelt, to saucy and bawdy, to downright nasty, another winner from Dust-to-Digital, definitely one of our new favorite old timey reissues, and as with all D2D releases, gorgeous packaging, a full color 8 panel digipak, with tons of photos and paintings, and really funny liner notes by Nick Tosches."
No Depression: "The three disc collection is culled from the record collection of John Heneghan and features everything from Appalachian folk and Dixieland jazz to Hawaiian ballads and cowboy songs. Virtually every form of roots music can be found here, from artists as well known as Uncle Dave Macon and Cab Calloway, to those such as Henry Thomas who should be familiar to devotees of the eras music, to complete unknowns like Hazel Scherf and Davey Miller... In short, the set provides hours of great, rarely heard music from the Golden Age of Recording and would be the perfect gift for the roots music fan in your life."
Credits: Susan Archie - Design; The Broadway Bell-Hops - Primary Artist; Burnett & Rutherford - Primary Artist; Charlie Burse - Primary Artist; The Callahan Brothers - Primary Artist; Cab Calloway & His Orchestra - Primary Artist; Bill Carlisle - Primary Artist; The Carolina Buddies - Primary Artist; Fiddlin' John Carson & His Virginia Reelers - Primary Artist; Bo Carter - Primary Artist; Clyde Evans Band - Primary Artist; Lonnie Coleman - Primary Artist; Doc Cook & His 14 Doctors of Syncopation - Primary Artist; Crowder Brothers - Primary Artist; R. Crumb - Illustrations (Centrefold); Bernie Cummins & His Hotel New Yorker Orchestra - Primary Artist; Dallas String Band - Primary Artist; Macon Ed - Primary Artist; Cliff "Ukelele Ike" Edwards - Primary Artist; Joseph Falcon - Primary Artist; Oscar Ford - Primary Artist; The Georgia Browns - Primary Artist; Hartman's Heartbreakers - Primary Artist; Hawaiian Beach Combers - Primary Artist; Fletcher Henderson & His Orchestra - Primary Artist; John Heneghan - Producer, Source Material, Transfers; Bertha "Chippie" Hill - Primary Artist; Robert Hill - Primary Artist; Winston Holmes - Primary Artist; Mississippi John Hurt - Primary Artist; Frankie "Half-Pint" Jaxon - Primary Artist; Blind Lemon Jefferson - Primary Artist; Kalama's Quartette - Primary Artist; Kanui & Lula - Primary Artist; Kid Smith And Family - Primary Artist; Lottie Kimbrough - Primary Artist; April G. Ledbetter - Production Assistant; Steven Lance Ledbetter - Mastering, Producer; Bobbie Leecan's Need-More Band - Primary Artist; Ted Lewis & His Band - Primary Artist; Joe Linthecome - Primary Artist; Cripple Clarence Lofton - Primary Artist; Uncle Dave Macon - Primary Artist; Asa Martin - Primary Artist; Norridge Mayhams & His Barbecue Boys - Primary Artist; Memphis Jug Band - Primary Artist; Davey Miller - Primary Artist; Mississippi Matilda - Primary Artist; Mississippi Maulers - Primary Artist; Mississippi Sheiks - Primary Artist; Eddie Peabody - Primary Artist; Frank Quinn - Primary Artist; Dick Reinhart - Primary Artist; George Short Buckle Roark - Primary Artist; "Banjo" Ikey Robinson & His Bull Fiddle Band - Primary Artist; Harry Roy & His Bat Club Boys - Primary Artist; Rutherford & Foster - Primary Artist; Hazel Scherf - Primary Artist; Hayes Shepherd - Primary Artist; Laura Smith - Primary Artist; Eddie South & His Alabamians - Primary Artist; Hilary Staff - Production Assistant; State Street Boys - Primary Artist; Frank Stokes - Primary Artist; Lowe Stokes & His North Georgians - Primary Artist; Dan Sullivan's Shamrock Band - Primary Artist; Tampa Joe - Primary Artist; Taylor's Kentucky Boys - Primary Artist; Henry Thomas - Primary Artist; Nick Tosches - Liner Notes (Essay); Alphonse Trent & His Orchestra - Primary Artist; Virginia Four - Primary Artist; Dock Walsh - Primary Artist; Welling & McGhee - Primary Artist; Fess Williams & His Royal Flush Orchestra - Primary Artist.
Tracklist:
Disc One - Love
1-01. Baby, How Can It Be? - Bo Carter
1-02. My Angeline - Mississippi Maulers
1-03. I Wants My Lulu - Welling & McGhee
1-04. If I Had My Way - Norridge Mayhams And His Barbecue Boys
1-05. We Courted In The Rain - "Dock" Walsh
1-06. Poche Town - Joseph Falcon
1-07. My Pretty Little Indian Napanee - Davey Miller
1-08. Hapa Haole Hula Girl - Kalama's Quartette
1-09. Sweetest Girl In Town - Oscar Ford
1-10. I'm Crazy 'Bout My Baby - Ted Lewis And His Band
1-11. That's What The Old Bachelor's Made Out Of - Taylor's Kentucky Boys
1-12. Then I'll Be Happy - The Southern Serenaders
1-13. Always Marry Your Lover - Dick Reinhart
1-14. Johnny, Will You Marry Me? - Dan Sullivan's Shamrock String Band
1-15. That's What I Call Keen - Eddie South And His Alabamians
1-16. Insane Crazy Blues - Memphis Jug Band
1-17. Lost Lover Blues - Lottie Kimbrough And Winston Holmes
1-18. My Four Reasons - "Banjo Ikey" Robinson And His Bull Fiddle Band
1-19. Hard For To Love - Hayes Shepherd
1-20. Don't Leave Me Here - Henry Thomas
Disc Two - Lust
2-01. The Gal That Got Stuck On Everything She Seen Said - Uncle Dave Macon
2-02. Tomi, Tomi - Stomp - Kanui & Lula
2-03. Minnie The Mermaid (A Love Song In Fish Time) - Bernie Cummins And His Hotel New Yorker Orchestra
2-04. I'd Feel Much Better - Virginia Four
2-05. Mama You're A Mess - Kid Smith And Family
2-06. Pussy - Harry Roy And His Bat Club Boys
2-07. It's Heated - Frankie "Half-Pint" Jaxon
2-08. I Ain't A Bit Drunk - George "Shortbuckle" Roark
2-09. Shortnin' Bread - Bobbie Leecan's Need-More Band
2-10. Strut That Thing - Cripple Clarence Lofton
2-11. Tiptoe Through The Tulips - Eddie Peabody
2-12. Wild About My Loving - Lonnie Coleman
2-13. There's More Pretty Girls Than One - Rutherford & Foster
2-14. I'm Feelin' Devilish - Fess Williams And His Royal Flush Orchestra
2-15. Let Me Play With It - Hartman's Heartbreakers
2-16. If You Can't Land Her On The Old Veranda - Cliff Edwards
2-17. Murphy's Wife - Frank Quinn
2-18. Queen Of The South Sea Isles - Hawaiian Beachcombers
2-19. How I Got My Gal - Clyde Evans Band
2-20. Nehi Mama Blues - Frank Stokes
2-21. Curley-Headed Woman - Burnett & Rutherford
Disc Three - Contempt
3-01. I'm Gonna Kill Myself - Laura Smith
3-02. She Ain't Built That Way - Asa Martin
3-03. How Can You Look So Good - Cliff "Ukelele Ike" Edwards
3-04. You Gonna Look Like A Monkey When You Get Old - Robert Hill
3-05. I'm Wearin' The Britches Now - Bill Carlisle
3-06. Sweet To Mama - State Street Boys
3-07. I Used To Call Her Baby - Dallas String Band
3-08. I Got Worry (Love Is On My Mind) - "Doc" Cook And His 14 Doctors Of Syncopation
3-09. He Went In Like A Lion (But Came Out Like A Lamb) - Carolina Buddies
3-10. Married Girls Troubles - Hazel Scherf
3-11. Some Of These Days - Cab Calloway And His Orchestra
3-12. Who Stole De Lock? - The Georgia Browns
3-13. Pretty Mama Blues - "Red Onion" Joe Linthcome
3-14. I Want To Ask The Stars - Callahan Brothers
3-15. Some Cold Rainy Day - Bertha "Chippie" Hill
3-16. Corinna Blues - Blind Lemon Jefferson
3-17. Big Leg Blues - Mississippi John Hurt
3-18. I Don't Let The Girls Worry My Mind - Crowder Brothers
3-19. Wimmin-Aaah! - Broadway Bell-Hops
3-20. The World Is Going Wrong - Mississippi Sheiks
3-21. Left All Alone Again Blues - Lowe Stokes & His North Georgians
3-22. After You've Gone - Al Trent And His Orchestra
3-23. It's A Shame To Whip Your Wife On Sunday - Fiddlin' John Carson & His Virginia Reelers
3-24. Hard Working Woman - Mississippi Matilda
3-25. Worrying Blues - Macon Ed & Tampa Joe
Notes:
All records from the collection of John Heneghan. Special thanks to Sophie Abramowitz, Eden Brower, Zach Cincotta, R. Crumb, Sherwin Dunner, Rob Mills, Alec Morton, Janet L. Smith, Jesse Stewart.