The Iconic Blues Historic Blues from 1930s to 1970s
SOME FULL REVIEWS OF SET 10
MATCHBOX BLUESMASTER SERIES –
SOME FULL REVIEWS OF SET 10
JAZZ JOURNAL (Ian Lomax)
Matchbox Bluesmaster Series – Set 10, Home Time Skiffle
Matchbox's 10th features Blind Boy Fuller and Sonny Boy Williamson as well as 'country girls' and such 'home time skiffle' as the Hokum Boys
The story continues. This is set 10 of what was intended to be a seven-set series. To be fair to Matchbox they did always say that once they had re-released the original vinyl Bluesmaster Series in digital format (and it being favourably received) then some of the other 1960s and 1970s Matchbox releases might also see the light of day.
Set 10 consists of six CDs, each having previously been released by the Saydisc label between 1969 and 1970. The subtitle “Home Time Skiffle” is partially applicable as it is the title of one of the six discs contained in this set, that being a collection of early folk blues featuring artists such as the Hokum Boys, the Beale Street Sheiks and the Paramount All Stars. It doesn’t apply to the whole collection though, since traditional blues players such as Blind Boy Fuller and Sonny Boy Williamson together get the biggest share.
As always, the production is exemplary, despite most of the Bluesmaster Series having been derived from LP using high-end transcription techniques. The master tapes for the vinyl releases apparently vanished long ago, although there is a suspicion they may have been donated to an American University. The sleeve notes, by David Harrison and Tony Russell, are from the original 1969-70 vinyl releases and are highly informative and detailed.
The set consists of two albums devoted to Blind Boy Fuller and the singers he influenced, Sonny Boy Williamson in various combinations, an album of “country girls” and the fascinating two albums of early folk blues which shows the blues development and tradition in a new light.
I understand that another two sets are planned. The final set will be devoted not to American artists, but Matchbox’s central role in the 1960s British blues boom. I have been a fan of the series since the beginning and believe Saydisc/Nimbus are owed a great deal of praise for their intrepid work in preserving for posterity and sharing these remarkable historic recordings.
JEFFERSON BLUES MAGAZINE, SWEDEN
MATCHBOX BLUESMASTERS SERIES - SET 10
Home Town Skiffle
MSESET10 - 6 CD
Set 10 consists of six LPs released by Saydisc/Matchbox in 1969/70. The content is made up of blues from the 1920s/30s, andat the time were good examples of the interest in early blues that generated similar releases on labels such as Yazoo, Herwin, Biograph, Roots... The list is looong. Today, most (if not all) is accessible via the flood of CDs that Blues Documents, JSP and others produce. But 50 years ago, these records were priceless. So what do we find here?
CD1 - BLIND BOY FULLER ON DOWN VOL.1 – SDR 143 (40 min)
Blind Boy Fuller was from North Carolina, an outstanding guitarist and singer, influential during his timeand in turn influenced contemporaries such as Gary Davis, Curley Weaver, Buddy Moss, Brownie McGhee and others. The list goes on and on. He was born inthe early years of the 1900s, ranging between 1904 and 1907. Due to untreated eye inflammation, he became completely blind in his 20s. Making a living as a street singer and general entertainer was an option. The area where he lived offered a lot of opportunities, thetobacco industry flourished. But those were tough times. Fuller always carried a gun on him, which wasn't always so good. Atthe time of these recordings (1937-39), he shot his wife in the leg, though probably accidentally.
We get 14 songs with absolutely amazing guitar playing. On some, he isbacked by Bull City Red on washboard or Sonny Terryon harmonica. This is among the best there is from what we today call the Piedmont blues, a mix of blues/ragtime and a bit old timey. "Put you back in jail" is a good example. "What's that smells like fish" reflects a penchant for slightly cheekier lyrics, probably very popular with the audience. "Get youryas yas out", on the other hand, is irresistible dance music.
CD2 - BLIND BOY FULLER ON DOWN VOL. 2 – SDR 168 (48 min)
The purpose of this album was to illustrate the influence Fuller had on his contemporaries. Brownie McGhee is found under the pseudonym Blind Boy Fuller No.2. His songs have effective washboard from Bull City Red. Jammin’ Jim and Curley Weaver are represented with tracks from the early 50s. An exception is perhaps Julius Daniels with"Crow Jane blues" from 1927. Daniels was a songster who might in turn be seen as an influence on Fuller. Sonny Jones is considereda Fuller copy and only recorded four songsof his own (at the end ofa Fuller session in 1939). Something that certainly doesn’t make his "Love me with a feeling" any worse. A good and informative collection.
CD3 - SONNY BOY AND HIS PALS – SDR 169 (42 min)
We leave theEast Coast and head for Chicago and John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson. An album on RCA Sonny Boy was my first blues album. Big surprise, I thought it was the Chess Sonny Boy! How little you knewin those days. The recordings made between 1939-41 with backing that includes Big Bill Broonzy, Blind John Davis, Ransom Knowling; the regular Bluebird accompanists. On half of the 14 tracks, Sonny Boy back other artists, such as Elijah Jones, Yank Rachell and Big Joe Williams. A good and varied collection with the first Sonny Boy.
CD4 - THOSE CAKEWALKING BABIES FROM HOME – SDR 182 (42 min)
Anthologies featuring female blues singers are notthat common. Although it has been 50 years since this release, we have unfortunately not seen many followers. Blues Documents, of course, have their complete releases, and Bessie Smith and Ma Raineyare of course covered, but really interesting anthologies are few. That's why I think "Cakewalking Babies" still stands up very well. It was actually called Vol.1, but there was never a runner-up. Sara Martin is jug band with some jazz style, Bernice Edwards plays her own piano, Lulu Jackson her own guitar. Madlyn Davis has Tampa Red and Georgia Tom backingher. The time span is from 1924 to 1941. Annie Turner's two tracks come from the legendary session at the St. Charles Hotel in New Orleansin 1936. Little Brother Montgomery on piano along with Walter Vincson guitar, a Mississippi Sheik. Closing is Memphis Minnie, perhaps one of the women who made the most impression in early blues. Along with Little Son Joe, she does"I'm not a bad gal" and "It was you, baby," an accusatory song to a lousy man.
CD5 - SKOODLE UM SKOO– EARLY FOLK BLUES, VOL. 1 – SDR 199 (56 min)
On "Skoodle Um Skoo", we dive straight into history. A very interesting collection! As a discographer, I love the complete collections of our days, all these complete recordings in chronological orders. But what one loses is the context in which the music was originally recorded. "Skoodle" is a textbook example of how it should be done. Sam Jones, or Stovepipe No.1 as he was called, appears with two religious and two folk songs. All recorded in 1924, almost 100 years ago! Harmonica and stove pipes. Here we are talking root music. Papa Charlie Jackson is more commercial, vaudeville andcheeky songs like "Shave 'em dry". He played the banjo, an instrument I've never liked when used in the blues, but that’s my opinion. There's nothing wrong with the music. His "Coffee pot blues" has the same melody as legendary"Gang of brown skin women" with Long"Cleve" Reed and Papa Harvey Hull. And believe it or not, more banjo from Banjo Joe, better known as Gus Cannon. Three songs with accompaniment by Blind Blake from his first session in 1927, one year before Cannon's Jug Stompers recorded in Memphis. Joe Linthecome does "Humming blues”, same melody as Carr/Blackwell's hit "How long blues” from theprevious year, 1928. Winston Holmes and Charlie Turners"The Kansas City call" have whistling and good humor. It beats"In the summertime" by horse lengths! The smashing instrumental "Sheik's Special" and "Dear little girl" were recorded in 1930 by Lonnieand Bo Chatmon, Walter Vincson and probably Charlie McCoy. They were kins to Charley Patton who two weeks earlier had been up in Grafton, Wisconsin recording "Dry well blues."Oh, what a mighty time! Finishingoff is Blind James (who is probably Blind Blake) with "Champagne Charlie is my name", recorded (yes, in Grafton) two years later, in 1932.
CD6 - HOME TOWN SKIFFLE – EARLY FOLK BLUES, VOL.2 - SDR 206 (50 min)
A continuation of "Skoodle". More roots. This collection certainly demonstrates the music's intention to entertain. We meet the MississippiSheiks, Beale Street Sheiks, Hokum Boys and Paramount All-Stars among others. The latter was the first blues supergroupwith Georgia Tom, Blind Blake, Charlie Spand, Will Ezell and Papa Charlie Jackson (with his banjo). Everyone playsa little snippet on the two-sided"Hometown skiffle" that more recent appeared on John Tefteller's 2009 blues almanac (including a test) from a 78in better condition. This collection is maybe not as historically interesting as "Skoodle", but still shows how broad and extensive the record releases were inthose early years of the blues.Which, of course, reflected the interest of theaudience.
All volumes in this set have supplementary notes by David Harrison and Tony Russel. In some cases, one might wish they had been updated with new facts, but that is a minor point. Overall, an interesting and entertaining set, with an additional plus for "Skoodle Um Skoo".
Max W Sievert
Blues Blast Magazine March 2nd2023
Various artists – Home Town Skiffle: Matchbox Bluesmaster Series Set 10
Saydisc Matchbox Bluesmaster Records MSESET10
78 songs – 236 minutes on 6 CDs
A label that specializes in music from all corners of the globe, Britain’s Saydisc Records made a splash in the 1980s with the release of its Matchbox Bluesmaster series – 42 richly annotated LPs that captured first-generation bluesmen laying down the foundation for what fans around the world enjoy today. If you missed out on them then, you can enjoy them now through their reissue as ten reasonably priced, six-CD sets, of which this is the final instalment.
The series debuted in 2021 with Country Blues & Ragtime Blues Guitar 1926-30, which featured the works of Texas Alexander, Peg Leg Howell, Buddy Boy Hawkins, Papa Harvey Hull and a dozen other artists, all of whom sounded as if they were playing in your living room. While the music on this one contains a wealth of material, its primary focus is Piedmont blues giant Blind Boy Fuller and harmonica pioneer Sonny Boy Williamson, both of whom recorded into the ‘40s, before shifting focus to early female vocalists and then concluding with a healthy sampling of tunes that spanned the pre-War blues and folk spectrum.
Accompanying each of the discs are the same extensive liner notes – penned by Tony Russell and David Harrison -- that appeared on the original pressings and provide a rich background into the artists and their works, all of which are packaged in the 32-page accompanying booklet.
Discs One and Two – originally issued as Blind Boy Fuller on Down Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 – put the spotlight on one of the most influential six-string stylists of the era. A South Carolina native who left us in the early 40s at age 36, his melodic attack rings true from the opening of “What’s That Smells Like Fish” to the closing notes of “Where My Woman Usta Lay” on the first CD, which contains 12 other classic numbers, including “Weeping Willow,” “Get Your Yas Yas Out” – with backing from Sonny Terry and Bull City Red, “Corrine” and “Mean and No Good Woman.”
The second set includes two more Fuller standards, “Walking and Looking Blues” and “Working Man Blues,” but the focus shifts quickly to artists he influenced, including Buddy Moss, Blind Gary Davis, Sonny Jones, Ralph Willis, Dan Pickett and Curley Weaver along with Brownie McGhee, who recorded in that period as “Blind Boy Fuller No. 2.”
Disc Three – first released as Sonny Boy and His Pals – displays the evolution of the raw country sound to what we now recognize as the modern blues sound. Williamson shows his talent on harp and vocals through the first seven tracks with backing from future superstar guitarist Big Bill Broonzy, pianists Walter and Blind John Davis, bassist Ransom Knowling and others before stepping into the background in support of mandolinist/vocalist Yank Rachell for six cuts and then Big Joe Williams on the closer.
Women come to the forefront on Disc Four– Those Cakewalking Babies from Home, which includes two stellar songs each from Lucille Bogan and Memphis Minnie. But the bulk of the set shines a light on several ladies whose careers have been obscured by time, including Sara Martin, who fronted a jug band, and vocalists Bernice Edwards, Madlyn Davis, Lulu Jackson, Mae Glover, Gladys Bentley and Annie Turner in lineups that include appearances from pianist Little Brother Montgomery, Tampa Red and Georgia Tom.
Discs Five and Six – Skoodle Um Skoo: Early Folk Blues Vol. 1 and Home Town Skiffle: Early Folk Blues Vol. 2– provide an extensive sampling that turns back the clock even farther and gives a listen to what Russell terms “the pre-history of the blues.” Among the highlights are appearances from Stovepipe No. 1, a novelty act who doubled on guitar and harp, vaudeville banjo star Charlie Jackson, Walter Jackson and the Carter Brothers – the precursor to the Mississippi Sheiks – who appear in all their glory on the closing CD, Blind Blake – billed as Billy James in one of his final recordings, the Beale Street Sheiks – and other top talents.
Home Town Skiffle is a treat for anyone with an interest in pre-War blues.
Blues Blast Magazine Senior writer Marty Gunther has lived a blessed life. Now based out of Charlotte, N.C., his first experience with live music came at the feet of the first generation of blues legends at the Newport Folk Festivals in the 1960s. A former member of the Chicago blues community, he’s a professional journalist and blues harmonica player who co-founded the Nucklebusters, one of the hardest working bands in South Florida.
Rock-n-Reel Mar/Apr 2023
***
Matchbox Bluesmasters Series Set 10 - Home Town Skiffle
Home Town Skiffle, The subtitle of this six-CD boxed set reveals that this release includes the 1969 LPs issued by Matchbox as Blind Boy Fuller On Down volumes 1 and 2, Sonny Boy And His Pals, and Those Cakewalking Babies From Home, the latter a pioneering collection of female vocalists from outside the vaudeville blues tradition; from the following year come the various artists sets Skoodle Um Skoo – Early Folk Blues Vol. 1 and Home Town Skiffle - Early Folk Blues Vol. 2.
Realistically they offer little to those not seriously committed to the blues, and hardcore researchers will probably have much of this material via Document's Complete Recordings releases, but these still have plenty to recommend them. Much of the material is from the 30s and 40s, after the initial burst of 'country blues' recording in the late 20s and before the shock of electricity around the end of the 40s.
Collections like these offer the chance to make connections between styles and artists, besides providing bite-size chunks of a variety of performers - singer/guitarist Blind Boy Fuller's first set is dedicated solely to him, though the second examines his influence on others, and singer/ harmonica ace John Lee 'Sonny Boy No. 1' Williamson's set has his own material and his accompaniments to others.
The two Early Folk Blues releases are fascinating, wonderfully eclectic and packed full of curiosities. If you've followed the series this far, you'll definitely want this.
Norman Darwen
LONDON JAZZ NEWS SET 10 REVIEW
Another set of recordings from Saydisc (Matchbox), featuring blues, rags, the odd dance tune and (Discs 5 and 6) an assortment of blues source material, these six CDs feature not only established legends of the music (Blind Boy Fuller, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, Sonny Boy Williamson, Blind Blakeetc.), but also a host of less well-known figures, all carefully and knowledgeably annotated by David Harrison and Tony Russell.
The first two CDs are devoted to Fuller, Disc 1 comprising his own work, the second (mainly) that of musicians influenced by him. Born in South Carolina in 1903 (he died in his late thirties after a kidney operation), Fuller is a true blues great, his singing affecting, sure and confident, his diction clear, his guitar playing assured, often downright virtuosic, his careful picking tellingly interspersed with double-time passages and skilful rhythmic variations. The material on the first disc, recorded between 1937 and 1939, is a mixture of wonderfully atmospheric blues (“Corinne”, “Mean and No Good Woman”) rags/dance tunes and humorous songs with suggestive lyrics (“What’s That Smells Like Fish”), but whatever style of music he plays, Fuller delivers the goods in spades, his light but surprisingly strong voice beautifully complemented by his dexterous guitar. Disc 2 demonstrates just how influential he was in his shortish career: Blind Gary Davis contributes a couple of secular songs, the pungent-voiced Bull City Red (George Washington) another two, and Blind Boy Fuller No. 2 (Brownie McGhee) sings a pair of songs that, as Harrison suggests, “re-create the rhythmic sound of Fuller’s raggy trio sides”. Also containing cuts by Dan Pickett, Sleepy Joe, Buddy Moss and Curley Weaver (whose version of “Tricks Ain’t Walking No More” provides a fascinating chance to compare it with Moss’s version earlier on the CD), this is a hugely enjoyable album, well recorded, and the two CDs together provide a fitting tribute to a great, if somewhat neglected, bluesman.
Disc 3, Sonny Boy and His Pals, as Harrison points out in his notes, features transitional music, “bridging the gap between the more primitive country style of the twenties and early thirties and the slick, often banal, rhythm and blues which has all but superseded it”. Sonny Boy Williamson is joined, in this lively, listener-friendly collection, by (among others) Big Bill Broonzy(guitar), pianist Walter Davis, mandolin player/vocalist Yank Racheland Washboard Sam, but whoever’s backing his vocals or singing to his harmonica playing, the album delivers consistently accessible, uncomplicated music, clearly recorded and performed with an infectious, breezy informality which, while it may not have pleased the purists (Harrison himself refers in his notes to “fast dance music with electric guitars turned up so loud that the words didn’t really matter any more”), was undoubtedly extremely influential in 1969, when the Matchbox LP was first issued.
Disc 4 presents a selection of female artists, recorded between 1929 and the early 1940s. The pleasantly strident voice of Sara Martin, accompanied by violin, banjo and jug, comes from the earliest session here, and the rest of the CD features, among others, Texan moaner Bernice Edwards, who accompanies herself on medium-paced loping piano; Madlyn Davis, skilfully backed by pianist Georgia Tom and guitarist Tampa Red; the sweetly warbling Lulu Jackson (singing a sentimental ballad rather than the blues); the plaintive, lamenting sound of Lucille Bogan backed by pianist Walter Roland; and – from the 1940s – the celebrated singer/guitarist Memphis Minnie, her familiar strong voice ringing out against the excellent guitar of Little Son Joe.
What liner-note writer Tony Russell refers to as the “pre-history of the blues” is documented on the consistently fascinating Discs 5 and 6. Vaudeville, country music and ragtime all fed into the genre, and the first collection, which is, as Russell suggests, “utterly unlike most other anthologies of blues music”, provides a rich overview of these sources. Sam Jones, known as Stovepipe No. 1 because he played it as a novelty instrument (surprisingly effectively, as evidenced on a couple of cuts here) was also a guitarist/harmonica player of considerable skill with an eclectic repertoire of hymns and vaudeville novelties, and on four tracks he performs an intriguing sample of his material. The driving banjoist Charlie Jackson, a vaudeville entertainer with a penchant for the blues, performs a version of the Ma Rainey classic “Shave ’Em Dry” with great aplomb, plus a lively workout of “Skoodle Um Skoo”, also recorded by Blind Blake (who joins Gus Cannon on three tracks, including the celebrated account of Booker T. Washington’s controversial White House dinner with President Roosevelt, “Can You Blame the Colored Man”). Also featured are a skilful kazoo/ukulele player, Joe Linthecome; the extraordinary vocal dexterity (he yodels and whistles in addition to singing) of Winston Holmes; Walter Jacobs and the Carter Brothers(effectively the Mississippi Sheiks, comprising Lonnie and Bo Chatman, Walter Vincson and – probably – Charlie McCoy), who quaver somewhat uncertainly through “Sheiks Special” and the livelier “Dear Little Girl”; plus – a real bonus for Blind Blake fans – “Champagne Charlie is My Name”, which (almost certainly) features the great man visiting a vaudeville item rare in a bluesman’s repertoire. A wholly enjoyable and – given the relatively unusual nature of its material – valuable compilation.
The last disc continues the historical theme of Disc 5, although Russell provides the caveat that the music is “perhaps a little less ‘early’, even a little less ‘folk’”. The Beale Street Sheiks (Frank Stokes and guitarist Dan Sane) provide a couple of tracks, the rollicking “You Shall” and the slightly more sedate “It’s a Good Thing”, Stokes’s familiar tones set against Sane’s rhythmic accompaniment. Genuine novelties are the two cuts from the Excelsior Quartette, rare examples of blues material sung by a gospel quartet. Other artists include a fair sample of the Paramount stable (called the Hokum Boys: Georgia Tom Dorsey, Blind Blake, Blind Lemon Jefferson et al.), recorded for promotional purposes in Chicago in 1929; Bumble Bee Slim singing “Slave Man Blues” to clarinet accompaniment; Winston Holmes and Charlie Turner performing a delightful novelty song, “Skinner”; and Tampa Red, providing lively kazoo and vocals. Rounded off by the rousing “Texas Tommy” (Yank Rachel) and the Delta Boys’ “Every Time My Heart Beats”, which, as Russell points out, closely prefigures the skiffle music that was so popular in the late 1950s, this CD (to quote Russell’s perfect summation of both this album in particular and the Bluesmaster reissue series in general) encapsulates “the unquenchable spirit of black music, its rampant joyfulness, its wholehearted refusal to be depressed either by commercial pressures or by social and economic deprivation”. (Chris Parker)
HOME TOWN SKIFFLE: MATCHBOX BLUESMASTER SERIES SET 10
Matchbox MSESET10, 6 CDs, approx 4 hours 75 minutes
We've reached the tenth in the unmatched series of Matchbox Bluesmaster reissues and the quality is undimmed. Actually, the quality is patchy, but that's the recordings, not the project.
These Matchbox collections are meticulous and thorough and they make no apology for some of the distinctly odd bits and pieces that nestle in between the timeless gems. They are what they are and they are part of the history and development of our music.
The title of this collection comes from two sides preserved on disc six, “Home Town Skiffle Parts 1 and 2”. They were advertising discs promoting the label and, while they feature key figures like Blind Blake and Blind Lemon Jefferson, they don't really stand repeated listening. Nor yet does Blind Blake's strange rendition of the old musical hall favourite “Champagne Charlie”, or Sonny Jones' contrived take on Blind Boy Fuller's “Dough Roller”.
Still, the legacy preserved here for blues and folk lovers is about as comprehensive a representation of the early days as you could hope for. It's fascinating, bemusing and amusing listening. And, of course, lots of it is fantastic.
Disc four, Those Cakewalking Babies From Home, is a superb compilation of recordings by some of the great female singers of the 1920s and 1930s. Lucille Bogan and Memphis Minnie are featured alongside lesser-known names like Lulu Jackson and Madlyn Davis and there's not a filler among them.
Discs one and two are devoted to Blind Boy Fuller, whose place in the pantheon of blues legends is unassailable. If you're a blues fan, you're now likely to have a lot of these sides in other formats but the original of disc one was among the first to compile Fuller's work. The second of the two discs takes a novel approach in that it traces Fuller's influence on the work of other artists. Buddy Moss, Blind Gary Davis (in his pre-Reverend days) and Brownie McGhee all feature.
On disc three we have John Lee 'Sonny Boy' Williamson, the first Sonny Boy (probably...) and the father of modern blues harmonica. As a harp player, it's impossible to be objective; you hang off every breath. But this is a collection of extra quality because it showcases Sonny Boy as an accompanist as well as a front man. Classics like “Decoration Day” and “Honey Bee” are complemented by Yank Rachel's gorgeous vocals on “Army Man Blues”, “Worried Blues” and others, with Sonny Boy riffing inimitably in between.
There's one annoying thing: the picture of Sonny Boy in the booklet is actually of Sonny Boy II. It happens all the time, but it never fails to irritate me. Mind you, Rice Miller, or Aleck, or whatever his real name was, would have loved it.
Minor quibbles apart, if you have any love of the simple yet elusive magic that is the blues, you have to make room for this set.
STUART MAXWELL, Jazz Rag
Living Blues (USA) Jan 2024
Matchbox Bluesmaster Series, Set 10
Home Town Skiffle
This six-CD set reissues the like number of LPs. along with their original liner notes, which debuted on the English Matchbox label in 1969 and '70. That was still the early days of pre-war blues coming to vinyl, and there's a palpable sense of discovery voiced in the notes.
Blues revival-era Brits seem to have been keener on Fulton Allen. a.k.a. Blind Boy Fuller, than their Yankee cousins. Blind Boy Fuller on Down, Vol. I was inspired by a series of articles in Blues Unlimited by Simon Napier titled The Carolina Blues -Blind Boy Fuller on Down. Not surprisingly. Napier gave this collection of 14 recordings from 1937-40 a "thumbs up" in his review of it: "As a cross section of the man's prolific output it is quite representative," he wrote, and, more than a half century on, Napier's judgment stands. The album opens with the salacious What's That Smells Like Fish. followed by the plaintive Weeping Willow. The varied selections show Fuller's range, from ragtime romps complete with scat singing to deeply felt blues. Bull City Red's raspy washboard and, on one track, Sonny Terry's harmonica complement Fuller's expert guitar work and expressive
bellow. The album reportedly sold more than 1,000 copies within a few months of its release, and at least one buyer was a Rolling Stone: the Stones took the title of one of Fuller's songs here, Get Your Yas Yas Out, for the 1970 "live" album of their infamous '69 American tour.
Matchbox soon followed with Blind Boy Fuller on Down, Vol. 2, subtitled "16 tracks in the Fuller tradition." It includes two 1937 songs by Fuller and others by artists inspired by him (Sonny Jones. Ralph Willis, Ed Harris, Dan Pickett, and Brownie McGhee as Blind Boy Fuller No. 2) and associated with him: Bull City Red swaps his washboard for a guitar and sings, and there are the two pre-war blues sides by Blind Gary Davis. who claimed he taught Fuller all he knew. The inclusion of Atlanta's Buddy Moss and Curley Weaver raises the thorny question of who influenced who: "Moss' work was greatly influenced by the Carolina style of Fuller," David Harrison wrote in his 1969 liner notes, yet the Moss side chosen to illustrate that (Tricks Ain't Walking No More) pre-dates Fuller's 1935 recording debut. Make of that what you will, this is an entertaining collection illustrating Fuller's influential role in a South-eastern tradition that stretched beyond both his regional and racial kin. Merle Travis acknowledged Fuller's impact on his playing, and there would be plenty of bluegrass and rockabilly covers of Step It Up and Go.
Matchbox was on a roll in '69 and forged on with Sonny Boy and His Pals, its 14 tracks divided equally between those spotlighting the vocals and harmonica of John Lee Williamson accompanied by the likes of Big Bill Broonzy on guitar and some stellar pianists (Walter Davis, Joshua Altheimer, Blind John Davis) and ones on which Sonny Boy blew harp behind more countrified artists (Elijah Jones. Yank Rachell, Big Joe Williams). The opener, Tell Me Baby, is Williamson's 1939 update of a popular South-eastern theme recorded in the earlier '30s by both Weaver and Moss as Oh Lordy Mama. With the help of Broonzy's guitar and Walter Davis' piano, Williamson takes the tune from ragtime to swing time. They were, after all, playing in Chicago on the eve of the 1940s. But Honey Bee Blues from the same session is as down-home as it gets, and that's true of most of the songs here. They tend not to be Williamson's most personal or lyrically engaging, though Desperado Woman Blues is a blood-drenched attention grabber. The "B" side of the '69 LP has him accompanying his fellow Tennessean Yank Rachell on five songs (Rachell largely plays guitar here), and Big Joe Williams and Elijah Jones on two others. These 1938-45 sides arguably constitute a "last hurrah" for small group country blues recorded by a major label. Till the end, the amiable and adaptable Mr. Williamson managed to keep one musical foot firmly in the country and the other in the city.
'I’m singin' this song for women just like myself," Sara Martin states in Jug Band Blues, the first of 16 songs on the compilation Those Cake Walking Babies from Home. It offers nine different female vocalists recorded between 1924 and 1941, none of whom sing the title track. Like Martin's opener, the best of these performances - Gladys Bentley's working woman's lament Red Beans and Rice and Annie Turner's Workhouse Blues - voice a female blues storyteller's perspective on hard-lived experiences. Unfortunately, the battered 78 sound offered on the Bernice Edwards and Madlyn Davis sides makes them far less enjoyable than they might otherwise be. Other artists on hand include Memphis Minnie, Lucille Bogan, and the delightful team of vocalist Mae Glover and 12-string guitarist John Byrd (Ain't Givin' Nobody None).
I 970's compilation Skoodle Um Skoo Early Folk Blues, Vol I was perhaps the earliest collection to explore folk, vaudeville, and sundry "prehistory of the blues" sounds, as annotator Tony Russell puts it. Its 18 tracks were recorded between 1924 and 1932: precious little material of this sort was commercially recorded later. It opens with four 1924 recordings by Stovepipe No. I (Sam Jones), who uses his namesake instrument to kazoo-like effect (along with guitar, vocal, and harmonica) on tunes generally associated with white old-timey string bands (Turkey in the Straw, Cripple Creek and Sourwood Mountain).
The Mississippi Sheiks were so adept at such material that the two 1930 selections credited here to Walter Jacobs and the Carter Brothers, Sheiks Special and Dear Little Girl. appeared in the OKeh label's "Old Time Tunes" series. Charlie Jackson's five entries represent a vaudeville blues strain, and Blind Blake revamps a 19th century English music hall song Champagne Charlie Is My Name. For sheer abundance of novelty (bird whistling, yodeling, and slide guitar) there's no beating The Kansas City Call of Winston Holmes and Charlie Turner. and Gus Cannon (as Banjo Joe) even puts in three appearances, albeit with shoddy sound.
Closing is Home Town Skiffie - Early Folk Blues, Vol. 2. "The music is a little less early and even a little less folk," Tony Russell admitted in his 1970 notes, but it's a fun, if idiosyncratic collection of hokum blues and a broad range of rowdy and raunchy tracks (16 of them) waxed between 1927 and 1941. Standouts are Hokum Boys' Broonzy and Casey Bill Weldon on two songs, ditto Beale Street Sheiks' Stokes and Sane, and the Paramount All Stars' two-part Home Town Skiffle, a pasted-together promotional record featuring Blind Blake, Charlie Spand, Blind Lemon Jefferson, and others.
It's worth noting that more than a half century has passed since these tracks first appeared on LP, far longer than the gap between the initial recordings and their Nixon-era transfer to vinyl. Both the notes and the audio could stand a freshening up if this ongoing reissue series is to be taken seriously in the 21st century.
Mark Humphrey (Living Blues (USA) Jan 2024)