Release Date: November 8, 2005.
Recording Time: 52 minutes.
Recording Date: May 28, 1941 - 1972.
Release Info: Compilation (120.913 CD) Studio Recording.
Styles: Acoustic Blues, Country Blues, Harmonica Blues, Piedmont Blues, Regional Blues.
The eight sides country bluesman Frank Edwards recorded in Chicago in 1941 for OKeh Records stirred little interest at the time, and the four additional sides he made for Regal Records toward the end of that decade weren't even officially issued until the 1960s, so the album he recorded for blues researcher Pete Lowry's Trix Records label in 1972, Done Some Travelin', was a bit of a revelation in the blues community. Featuring a delightfully wry and ramshackle approach to his material, and singing in a soft, easy, and effortlessly pliant high tenor, Edwards brought a refreshing vitality to the country blues formula, making the album a sort of instant classic of the genre. Done Some Travelin' is reproduced here, minus one instrumental track, and with four of his 1941 OKeh sides added as bonus tracks. It may be difficult to think of the blues as joyous, but that's exactly how Edwards manages to make it sound on his covers of Sonny Boy Williamson's "Good Morning, Little School Girl" and Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup's "Mean Old Frisco" and on his own humorous, shaggy dog tale "Chicken Raid," which details the problems of inviting a preacher to your house for Sunday dinner. The striking "Alcatraz Blues" (which was actually written about Attica State Prison in upstate New York) shows that Edwards had a focused and serious side, as well. Edwards only recorded once more, on March 24, 2002, in Greenville, SC, when he was 93 years old, which resulted in the similarly delightful Chicken Raid album for Music Maker Foundation. He died on his way back to his Atlanta home after the session. One of the last of the great country bluesmen to find an audience, Edwards is a true American original. ~ Steve Leggett
Credits: Steve Carson - Guitar, Main Personnel; Pop Corn - Main Personnel, Washboard; Timothy Duffy - Photography; Frank Edwards - Audio Production, Guitar, Harp, Main Personnel, Primary Artist, Vocals; James Fraher - Photography; David Nelson (Dahveed Ben Israel) - Liner Notes; Washboard Sam - Main Personnel, Speech/Speaker/Speaking Part, Washboard; Gerhard Wessely - Editing, Mastering; Sonny Boy Williamson I - Composer.
Tracklist:
01. Good Morning Little Schoolgirl - Frank Edwards
02. Goin' Back And Get Her - Frank Edwards
03. She Is Mine - Frank Edwards
04. Mean Old Frisco - Frank Edwards
05. Key To The Highway - Frank Edwards
06. Throw Your Time Away - Frank Edwards
07. Got To Get Together - Frank Edwards
08. Chicken Raid - Frank Edwards
09. Mini-Dress Wearer - Frank Edwards
10. Alcatraz Blues - Frank Edwards
11. Love My Baby - Frank Edwards
12. Put Your Arms Around Me - Frank Edwards
13. Terra Plane Blues - Frank Edwards
14. Sweet Man Blues - Frank Edwards
15. Three Women Blues - Frank Edwards
16. Terraplane Blues - Frank Edwards
17. We Got To Get Together - Frank Edwards
Reissue of Georgia Blues + 4 bonus tracks (14 - 17; his first pre-war recordings).