Release Date: August 24, 1999.
Recording Time: 57 minutes.
Recording Date: 1930 - 1940.
Release Info: KATCD 106, CD, Compilation, Reissue.
Booker White (his name was misspelled on the label for "Shake 'Em on Down" when it was issued on Vocalion in 1937, and it stuck) turned his vigorous guitar style, heavy voice, and considerable songwriting abilities into 20 classic blues tracks between 1930 and 1940, all of which are collected here on this absolutely essential release from England's Catfish Records. White was not a delicate player or singer, falling into the Charley Patton/Son House school of Delta blues, slashing and pounding on his guitar (usually a National Steel, which could cut through any juke joint din) while he growled out ragged, raspy vocals. What set White apart, though, was his skill as a songwriter. His themes were fairly standard in the blues field (spiritual crisis, relationship troubles, trains, prison time, death), but he tackled each from such a personal direction that he is that rarity (along with Patton, Sleepy John Estes, and very few others) in the prewar country blues field, an artist whose blues are both personal and specific to time and place. White first recorded for Victor Records in 1930, cutting four tracks, including two spirituals, "I Am in the Heavenly Way" and "The Promise True and Grand." He recorded two more pieces in 1937 for Vocalion, most notably the influential "Shake 'Em on Down," before he ran afoul of the law (he supposedly shot a man in the leg) and ended up in the notorious prison Parchman Farm. There he recorded two songs ("Sic 'Em Dogs On" and "Po' Boy") for folklorist Alan Lomax in 1939. The following year, immediately after his release from Parchman, White did a second session for Vocalion, recording the striking and passionate group of songs on which his reputation rests. With Washboard Sam providing percussion, White stormed through a set of prison-related material that must have served as an exorcism. "When Can I Change My Clothes," "Parchman Farm Blues," "High Fever Blues," "Fixin' to Die Blues," and "Aberdeen Mississippi Blues" all crackle with a kind of desperate immediacy, with driving rhythms and careful, timeless lyrics. His love of trains (and not just as a metaphor) is evident on "Special Stream Line," also recorded at this session, and as his voice ticks off station stops, it is filled with the sort of joy only a man recently freed from prison can know. Following this historic session, White dropped from sight until 1963, when he was rediscovered by John Fahey and ED Denson, and he resumed recording, releasing material for several small labels until his death in 1977. These later recordings are revealing, showing White's ability to pull new songs out of thin air, and his natural tendency to expand and lengthen his older material into long juke-friendly epics. But Booker White's reputation and legacy rest primarily on the 20 recordings on this disc, which are unrivaled in energy and intensity. ~ Steve Leggett
Credits: Bukka White - Composer, Guitar, Primary Artist, Vocals; Denis Blackham - Mastering; Julia Burns - Design.
Tracklist:
- 01. The New Frisco Train (03:01)
- 02. The Panama Limited (03:09)
- 03. I Am in the Heavenly Way (03:05)
- 04. Promise True and Grand (03:06)
- 05. Pinebluff, Arkansas (02:49)
- 06. Shake 'Em on Down (03:01)
- 07. Sic 'Em Dogs On (02:23)
- 08. Po' Boy (02:52)
- 09. Black Train Blues (02:57)
- 10. Strange Place Blues (02:52)
- 11. When Can I Change My Clothes? (02:59)
- 12. Sleepy Man Blues (02:51)
- 13. Parchman Farm Blues (02:39)
- 14. Good Gin Blues (02:23)
- 15. High Fever Blues (02:50)
- 16. District Attorney Blues (02:42)
- 17. Fixin' to Die Blues (02:48)
- 18. Aberdeen Mississippi Blues (02:35)
- 19. Bukka's Jitterbug Swing (02:38)
- 20. Special Stream Line (02:54)