Release Date: 2014.
Recording Date: 1940s - 1950s.
Release Info: BCD 17230, 2 x CD, Compilation, Remastered.
Styles: Acoustic Blues, Country Blues, Delta Blues.
The second volume of Bear Family's four-part Acoustic Blues series showcases the '40s and '50s, which were pivotal years in the maturation of recorded blues. What this collection skips by design is the rise of electric blues -- that's covered on Bear Family's companion 2012 series Electric Blues -- a movement that wound up pigeonholing purveyors of acoustic blues as purists, but during these two decades there still were emerging new bluesmen who had yet to plug into an amp. This generation included musicians that would later electrify -- Muddy Waters, Robert Lockwood, and Lowell Fulson, all featured here -- but there also were figures like Lightnin' Hopkins and Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup who would continue to play an acoustic. As this volume reaches its conclusion, the folk-blues revival of the '50s surfaces via Jesse Fuller, Big Bill Broonzy, and Mississippi Fred McDowell, but there's also the emergence of the titan John Lee Hooker, a man who would also later plug in but never lose the essence of the Delta. Still, what's best about this expertly assembled and annotated collection -- this, like the rest, is produced by Bill Dahl, who also wrote the liner notes -- is how it illustrates that acoustic blues remained vital in the '40s and '50s, that the musicians adapted to the time (listen to the jumping "Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee" by Stick McGhee or the K.C. Douglas Trio's "Mercury Boogie," just one of many songs about cars), and that acoustic blues was not a thing of the past, it was still a music that spoke to how people lived their lives. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Credits: Artwork - Retrograph; Mastered By - Christian Zwarg; Reissue Producer, Liner Notes - Bill Dahl.
Tracklist:
Disc One: The 1940s
01. Crawlin' King Snake - Joe Williams
02. Catfish Blues - Robert Petway
03. Step It Up And Go No. 2 - Brownie McGhee
04. Cut Saw Blues - Tony Hollins
05. Black Spider Blues - Robert Lockwood
06. I Be's Troubled - McKinley Morganfield
07. If I Get Lucky - Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup
08. Unfinished Business - Buddy Moss
09. Mississippi Blues - William Brown
10. Water Coast Blues - David Edwards
11. Stick With Me - Gabriel Brown
12. Evil-Hearted Woman Blues - Johnny Shines
13. Katie Mae Blues - Lightnin' Hopkins
14. Evil Hearted Man - Josh White
15. Ora-Nelle Blues - Othum Brown
16. Money Taking Woman - Johnny Young
17. Blood Red River Blues - Little Boy Fuller
18. Sweet Woman Blues - The Back Porch Boys
19. Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee - Stick McGhee and his Buddy
20. Single Man Blues - Frankie Lee Sims And His Guitar Trio
21. Mercury Boogie - K. C. Douglas Trio
22. The Blues Is Killing Me - Lowell Fulson
23. Boar Hog Blues - Alabama Slim
24. Ugly Woman Blues - Sylvester Cotton & His Guitar
25. Applejack Boogie - Pine Top Slim and His Guitar
26. Prowlin' Ground Hog - Willie Lane
27. Ride To A Funeral In A V8 - Dan Pickett
Disc Two: The 1950s
01. Paper Wooden Daddy - Dennis McMillon
02. Walking Talking Blues - Manny Nichols & His Guitar
03. You Gotta Lay Down Momma - Johnny Beck
04. Model T Boogie - James Tisdom
05. Dallas Be-Bop Blues - Lawyer Houston
06. You're Gonna Weep And Moan - Little David
07. Talkin' To You Mama - Pig 'n' Whistle Band
08. Ticket Agent Blues - Lil' Son Jackson
09. 1951 Blues - Luther Huff
10. Eyesight To The Blind - The Larks
11. 1949 Blues - Luther Stoneham And His Guitar
12. Me Talking Boy - William 'Talking Boy' Stewart
13. Take It Easy Baby - Nat Terry
14. Down At The Depot - John Lee
15. If You See My Lover - Julius King
16. Don't Be Funny, Baby! - Doug Quattlebaum
17. I'm Going To The City - Sister O. M. Terrell
18. Before Long - Jimmy & Walter
19. Gonna Move To California - Jesse Thomas
20. Rocks Is My Pillow - Big Son Tillis & D.C. Bender
21. San Francisco Bay Blues - Jesse Fuller
22. I Love My Baby - Lick, Slick & Slide
23. Industrial Boogie - Doctor Ross
24. Willie Mae Blues - Big Bill Broonzy
25. Freight Train - Elizabeth Cotten
26. See See Rider - Snooks Eaglin
27. Burning Hell - John Lee Hooker
28. Keep Your Lamp Trimmed And Burning - Mississippi Fred McDowell