Five Discs You Might Have Missed (V. 16)

Here's another theme that FBF hasn't visited in a long time - over eight years.  With this theme, we look at five recordings released over the years that listeners might have missed for one reason or another when they were first on the shelves.  Some of them may not have ever made the streaming venue and may be out of print, but they are well worth seeking out for blues fans.  

Like we posted last week, a lot of people don't listen to physical product anymore, but those that don't are missing out on a lot of treats, such as liner notes - which enabled me to learn so much more about my favorite blues artists, band and recording info - who played what instruments and where the albums were recorded, discovering songs on albums that I never heard on the radio that I really liked, and even the great album art and pictures that accompanied many of these albums.

Music is more convenient and accessible these days for sure, but I sure miss the days of thumbing through the music sections in record stores and finding a treasure that I wasn't expecting.  That's actually how I got into the blues in the first place nearly forty years ago - seeing the cover of Showdown!, in the JAZZ section of a record store of all places.  If I had not stumbled onto that album, I might never have stumbled onto the blues.  

Okay, enough of that....here are five excellent albums that you might have missed over the years.

John Watkins - Here I Am (Blues Reference):  I first heard Watkins on Alligator's The New Bluebloods collection and his featured track, "Chained To Your Love" was my favorite song on the album.  Loved the passionate vocals and crisp guitar work and keyboards (Jimmy Johnson played rhythm guitar - I think Watkins was in his band at the time, and St. James Bryant played keyboards).  Seems like the liner notes mentioned that Watkins had an album released in France, which he did on Blue Phoenix in 1985.  I was not able to track that album down for many years, but finally tracked down a used copy of the reissued release on Blues Reference.  

It was a long search, but well worth it.  I really liked his mix of blues, soul, and R&B.  He offered fine covers of several blues classics, adding his own personal touches to his versions, his original songs and his band support was first rate.  That was the only release that Watkins had during his heyday.  I heard that he left Chicago and ended up in Detroit.  I was able to find him on Facebook and have chatted with him a couple of times on Messenger, telling him I tracked down his album.  He seems to be doing fine, said he had fond memories of making the record.  He is still performing as evidenced by several videos on YouTube.

Hip Linkchain - Airbusters (Evidence Records):  I had no idea about Hip Linkchain (born Willie Richard in Jackson, MS in 1936 and died from cancer in Chicago in 1989).  In my correspondence via email with Twist Turner during the late 90's, I heard about him - Twist played drums for him frequently.  I was able to hear a couple of tracks on a UK anthology around that time and I liked what I heard, rock-solid Chicago blues, for sure, but had not ever seen any other releases except for this album, which was originally released on the Dutch label Black Magic in the mid-80's and reissued by Evidence in the early 90's.  

Dick Shurman produced the album and features some top notch musical support (Barrelhouse Chuck, Jon McDonald, Ted Harvey, Robert "Huckleberry Hound" Wright, Big John Trice, etc...).  Ten of the fourteen songs are originals and while there's nothing fancy on these tracks, if you're a big fan of good ol' down and dirty Chicago blues, you will love this set.  I'm going to revisit Twist Turner's book, Blues With A Twist, to read some of the stories he wrote about Hip Linkchain - hey, grab that book if you haven't already.  It's a keeper, too.  This was actually Hip's last recording before he passed, and it's not very difficult to find a copy online - I found my copy at the Little Big Store - a surprise purchase while thumbing through the stacks of CDs.

Big Mojo Elam and his Chicago Blues Band - Mojo Boogie! (St. George):  Another album I found thumbing through the Blues section of the Little Big Store.  Elam was a bass player in Chicago, playing with Luther Allison and appearing on Delmark's Sweet Home Chicago anthology, and also appearing on the wonderful And This Is Maxwell Street collection on one track with Robert Nighthawk.  

Elam only recorded one studio album (he also cut a live set in the late 70's for the Storyville label, which was also titled Mojo Boogie).  This is a really hot set of traditional Chicago blues with Studebaker John on guitar (his slide work is superb), Twist Turner on drums, and Little Mac Simmons on harmonica.  Elem sounds great on vocals and the song list is pretty good, too.  I kind of bought this as an afterthought the day I was shopping, but it ended up being my favorite of the bunch.

Smokey Wilson - Round Like An Apple:  The Big Town Recordings 1977 - 1978 (Ace Records UK):  Yet another surprise find at the Little Big Store, I first heard Wilson when he recorded for Bullseye Blues in the 90's and he was quite electrifying to me.  His gravelly Wolf-like vocals and his gritty guitar work really grabbed you by the collar.  I loved all three of his Bullseye releases.....I really miss that label and the others listed here as well.

Wilson released two albums on the Big Town label, which was owned by the Bihari Brothers, who recorded numerous blues and R&B artists in the 50's and 60's, such as B.B. King, John Lee Hooker, Johnny "Guitar" Watson, Elmore James, Lightnin' Hopkins, and many others.  By the late 70's, their recordings had dwindled down, but they managed to release two albums on Smokey Wilson (Blowin' Smoke and Sings The Blues).  This set captures songs on those albums, plus five unreleased tracks.  Wilson sounds fine on these tunes, not quite as menacing as his later releases, but still pretty powerful.  It was a nice predecessor for what was to come.

Ben Wiley Payton - Diggin' Up Old Country Blues (no label):  Payton was born and raised in Greenwood, moving to Chicago as a teen, later worked in several industries and eventually he became a pastor in a church in Chicago, also serving as a minister of music during his earlier years, accompanying the choir often on guitar.  He performed as a youth in local soul bands, playing guitar and singing backup, He was able to play the blues in several bands in Chicago including the Wolf Band, subbing for an ailing Hubert Sumlin, and played with Bobby Rush's road band for a time before stepping back to help his wife raise their five daughters.

In his later years, he returned to Mississippi, where he began to get into the blues of his home state.  He relocated to Clarksdale and managed to release a pair of albums of his own unique approach to the Delta blues he grea up listening to and playing.  This 2006 release was his first one and he wrote all new songs that were a snug fit with the traditional sounds of the region.  His relaxed vocals and guitar playing make this a great album to listen to when you're just chilling out at the end of the day.  This one might be a little harder to find than the others, but if you do find it, you'll be glad you did.

Five Discs You Might Have Missed (Volume 17)

Most of you blues lovers probably didn't miss these five albums the first time around, but most of these releases came out during a time when I really didn't have the budget to buy everything I wanted to buy.  Over the past couple of months I've made a stop or two at the Little Big Store in Raymond, MS, where I seem to always find something that I've always wanted to hear, and I also have visited Discogs a few times, which had just about every album or CD that you could possibly want.  I still love to be able to plug a new disc into a CD player and I found a portable player this summer that would fit in my new (to me) car.  That said, here are a few "new" finds that I've been playing quite a bit.

The Smokin' Joe Kubek Band featuring Bnois King - Best of....Served Up Texas Style (Bullseye Blues):  Bullseye Blues was one of my favorite labels during the 90's, but for some reason, I never did pick up any of this band's work.  By the time I came around, it was the early 2010's and they were recording for Delta Groove Records, who sent me review copies of their two releases.  This set captures their finest sides on Bullseye Blues and makes me sad that I missed it the first time, but glad that I wised up.  Kubek is a monster guitarist and can lay down some great Texas Roadhouse guitar as well as anyone, but I really like King's vocals as well.  It's hard to believe that he didn't start singing until later in his career because he has a wonderful voice and is nearly as formidable a guitarist as Kubek.  These sides are good enough to encourage me to check out their recordings for Alligator and Blind Pig Records.

Paul "Wine" Jones - Mule (Fat Possum Records):  Jones was never a professional musician...he was a professional welder.  His brother, Casey Jones, was one of the go-to drummers on the Chicago scene for many years, but Paul Jones only played music as a side gig, working on farms and eventually welding around Belzoni, MS.  Discovered by Robert Palmer (Deep Blues), Jones cut a couple of albums for Fat Possum and Mule was his debut.  Backed by drummer Sam Carr and guitarists Kenny Brown and Big Jack Johnson, he probably was responsible for one of the rawest, grittiest, greasiest blues releases of the mid 90's.  This is the real deal Delta blues and, thankfully, there's none of the bells and whistles that Fat Possum began adding to their traditional blues albums shortly after this release.

Rocky Hill - Texas Shuffle (Tomato Record):  I really enjoy listening to WNCU's Blues Time show on Saturday nights out of Durham, NC.  The host, Bruce Friedman, joined up at our Black Top Records Facebook page and he invited me to listen to this show and a jazz show he hosts on Monday nights.  In the meantime, he has introduced me to some really cool blues and jazz recordings (stay tuned for another one shortly).  I had heard of Rocky Hill for years....that he was an amazing talent who could play just about anything on guitar, but he was his own worst enemy and made some bad choices over the years before passing away in 2009 in his early 60's.  He was the brother of bassist Dusty Hill and they played in a trio with drummer Frank Beard before the latter two left to join Billy Gibbons as ZZ Top.  Rocky Hill finally got to record an album in 1982 with Johnny Winter, Dr. John, the Leon Russell singers, and the Muscle Shoals Horns and it's a jaw dropper for blues rock fans.  Sadly, he wasn't able to follow through.  This one probably would have caught fire if it had been released about five years later.

Eddie Shaw - In the Land of the Crossroads (Rooster Blues):  Okay, I had this one on cassette back in the early 90's and it was a favorite.  It took me until about two months ago to find it on CD at an affordable price, but let me tell you it was great to finally hear it again.  I absolutely love everything I've heard by Shaw, especially that wonky saxophone and his big, brassy vocals.  However, I especially enjoy the guitar playing from his son, Eddie "Vaan" Shaw, who manages to mix the traditional sounds of the blues with some feisty rock-edge fret work.  The elder Shaw is also a great songwriter with a humorous streak that is really effective, and he has great taste in cover material as well.  I liked the way Rooster Blues recorded their albums...it was like Jim O'Neal just stuck microphones in the studio and let the band just wail away, giving it a live on-stage quality.  If you can track down any of Rooster Blues Records' catalog, you will be glad you did, and this is one of their best.

John "Juke" Logan - The Chill (Razor & Tie):  Okay, you might not have heard of Juke Logan, but you have probably heard Juke Logan at some time during your life.  Logan's harmonica playing was featured on a couple of popular TV shows in the 90's (Roseanne and Home Improvement) and he was also prominent on a couple of movie soundtracks (Crossroads and La Bamba), appeared on dozens of albums, backed Dobie Gray, Leon Russell, and Dave Alvin, and wrote songs for Poco, John Mayall, and Gary Primich.  In 1995, he released The Chill and the people that heard it loved it.  I never got to hear it because I couldn't find it in 1995.  The aforementioned Blues Time radio show has played several of the tracks on this album as well as other Logan albums, which are also on my radar.  This set is all blues, but he mixes in rock, jazz, funk, zydeco, and Latin music and it's still the blues.  Some of the guest stars on this album include David Hidalgo and Conrad Lozano of Los Lobos, and guitarists Junior Watson, Brenda Burns, and Denny Freeman.  This disc is great from start to finish and you can't help but feel good after listening.....just a lot of fun!  Logan passed away from cancer in 2013, but he left some fine recordings that fans of any kind of music would enjoy.

  

Five Albums You Might Have Missed (V. 14)

As we all recover from our Thanksgiving eating binges, it's time once again for Friday Blues Fix's look at five discs that might have slipped through the cracks upon first release.  If you're like me, you might have missed them because you weren't listening to the blues at the time, they might have been overshadowed by other new releases, they might have been hard to track down, or maybe they went out of print before you could find them, or maybe you just flat missed out the first time around due to total cluelessness, which is how it usually works for me.  Don't look now, but this is your golden opportunity to make up for lost time and track down these great albums.  Some of them may be out of print, but they can be found pretty easily online at eBay or Amazon.  You can thank me later.

Buddy Guy - Live at The Checkerboard Lounge, Chicago 1979 (JSP Records):  This may have slipped through the cracks for some because it was recorded and released by a U.K. label during a low point for the blues.  It was recorded at Guy's own club, The Checkerboard, which was located on Chicago's South Side, so Guy was pretty much in his ideal environment, playing for his friends and neighbors, backed by his own band, which included his brother Phil on guitar, Ray Allison on drums, and J.W. Williams on bass, among others.  Guy is in really good form here, with the sizzling guitar work and passionate vocals that we would expect from him and very little of the rock-edged shredding that we're also accustomed to hearing from him in recent times.  This is just the blues, pure and simple, or as pure and simple as Buddy Guy can play them.  You can hear the crowd and assorted racket during the tunes, even a few people who you really want to tell to shut up during the songs.  That just adds to the atmosphere and gives you the feeling that you are there.  If you're a Guy fan and you've missed this one, you'll want to check it out.

Mel Brown and the Homewreckers - Blues - A Beautiful Thing (Electro-Fi Records):  Guitarist Mel Brown played with just about everybody who was anybody in the blues during his long career, including Sonny Boy Williamson II, Etta James, Lou Rawls, T-Bone Walker, B.B. King, and a lengthy stint with Bobby Bland in the 60's and 70's.  He recorded a few albums in the 60's, but was largely absent from the studio until the late 90's, when he was signed to Electro-Fi and released several excellent albums over the next ten years until his death in 2009 at age 69.  In 2006, he recorded this underrated effort, on which he wrote nine of the twelve tracks, mixing four tasty instrumentals in that verify his standing among the great elite modern blues guitarists.  Brown was also a keyboardist of note, and he plays on several of the tracks.  While Brown was a capable vocalist, the real star of his albums was his guitar and that's the case here as well.  Tasteful restraint is the best way to describe Brown's guitar work and this album will be pleasing to any blues guitar fan.

Wilson Pickett - It's Harder Now (Bullseye Blues):  If you're over forty-five and listened to popular music at all, you know who Wilson Pickett was.  Anyone younger than that has heard at least one of his songs in some musical setting.  To me, Pickett was the closest thing to blues that there was in the soul music world.  He was a force of nature in the world of southern soul with his fiery vocal style and his multiple hits, which included "In The Midnight Hour," "Mustang Sally," "Funky Broadway," and many others.  He faded from the recording scene for a lengthy period, along with many other soul singers in the 70's.  He resurfaced in 1999 with this excellent release.  One thing that most listeners notice when they plug this one into their stereo is how little his vocals diminished over time.  He could still shriek and growl and hit those notes as if it was 40 years earlier.  At the time this album was released, most soul records were heavy on synthesizers and drum machines, but It's Harder Now was different and ranks pretty high in The Wicked Pickett's musical catalog. 

Vance Kelly - Hands Off! (Wolf Records):  I'm not really sure what the deal is with Vance Kelly.  He's been on the Chicago scene since the late 60's/early 70's, working with A.C. Reed's Spark Plugs in the 80's and launching his own solo career in the 90's.  He plays rock solid Chicago blues and southern soul with the best of them, with guitar skills to burn and a strong, soulful vocal style.  Despite his obvious talent, he has never recorded an album for an American-based record label, recording eight albums for the Austrian-based Wolf Records.  All of his recordings are excellent, mixing some classic blues and soul covers with some highly original songwriting, but Hands Off! is my favorite because it was my first exposure to this deserving artist.  He takes several old blues war horses and breathes new life into them.  His own songs rest pretty comfortably in the soul/blues vein on this particular release, and I can't understand why he hasn't garnered more attention by a domestic label.  Oh well, it's their loss, but you shouldn't have to suffer from their neglect, so be sure and check out Vance Kelly.  This is a good place to start.....at least it was for me.

Eddie Shaw - In the Land of the Crossroads (Rooster Blues):  Shaw is a rarity in the blues....a sax player that leads a blues band.  The former Howlin' Wolf side man has led his own band since the Wolf passed away in 1976 and he also played with Magic Sam, Otis Rush, Freddy King, and Muddy Waters during his long career.  His own band, the Wolf Gang, features his son Eddie Jr., also known as Vaan, on lead guitar.  Shaw has recorded pretty regularly since the late 70's, but this 1992 release on Rooster Blues, recorded in his native Mississippi, stands as his best.  I like a lot of things about this disc.....the songwriting is really unique with songs like "Dunkin' Donut Woman" (one of my all time favorites), "My Friend Rosco," "Wine Head Hole," "Fannie Mae Jones," and the vividly descriptive "Delta Bound."  The younger Shaw is a powerhouse on guitar and provides some nice moments, and his Dad blows the sax like a hurricane and is a strong vocalist to boot.  This one may be a bit hard to find, but you'll be glad you tracked it down.

Five Albums You Might Have Missed (V.12)

Here we are again with Friday Blues Fix's look at five discs that might have slipped through the cracks upon first release.  If you're like me, you might have missed them at the time because you weren't listening to the blues at the time, they might have been overshadowed by other releases at the time, or maybe they went out of print before you could find them, or perhaps you just flat missed out the first time around due to total cluelessness, which is how it usually works for me.  Don't look now, but this is your golden opportunity to make up for lost time and track down these great albums.  Some of them may be out of print, but they can be found pretty easily online at eBay or Amazon.

Corey Stevens - Albertville (Ruf Records):  When Stevens got started in the early 90's, he drew the inevitable comparisons  with Stevie Ray Vaughan, but he worked hard to move beyond SRV's shadow to prove himself a fine songwriter and performer in his own right.  Like Vaughan and numerous other modern-day blues guitarists, Stevens was influenced by Albert King, and this 2007 release paid tribute to the legendary guitarist.  Stevens covers nine of King's tunes, ranging from the familiar ("Breaking Up Somebody's Home," "Cold Women With Warm Hearts," "I Get Evil," "Got To Be Some Changes Made") to the fairly obscure ("A Real Good Sign," "Little Brother (Make A Way)," and my favorite on the disc, "That's What The Blues Is All About.").  Stevens plays in King's style, but more in reverence than imitation, and he has developed his own distinct vocal style over time as well.  This is well worth seeking out, as are most of Corey Stevens' other releases.

Sonny Rhodes - Out of Control (King Snake Records):  I plan to devote an entire post to the amazing Sonny Rhodes, one of the only proponents of lap steel guitar in the blues, really soon.  He's also a great electric guitarist, is actually the complete package as a blues man.....an excellent songwriter and strong vocalist.  Though he's been playing since the late 50's, entertaining crowds with his guitar prowess, his colorful suits and turbans, he really came into his own as a recording artist in the late 80's/early 90's with releases on Atlanta's Ichiban label and the late, much-missed King Snake Records out of Sanford, Florida.  Released in 1996, Out of Control was Rhodes' second and best release for King Snake, and it burns from start to finish.  Rhodes alternates between lap steel and electric guitar and contributes some of his best songs.  The late Bob Greenlee, owner of King Snake, co-wrote several of these tracks with Rhodes.  Any of Rhodes' great albums are worth a listen.....many, like this one, are out of print, but can be found pretty easily.  Out of Control is one of the best of the bunch.

Robert Belfour - Pushin' My Luck (Fat Possum):  This is Belfour's second Fat Possum release and came out in 2003.  Somehow, I missed it until last summer, when I found it in the great Jackson, MS bookstore, Lemuria.  Belfour plays guitar in that stark, hypnotic Hill Country style that artists like Junior Kimbrough, R.L. Burnside, and Mississippi Fred McDowell perfected, but Belfour's coarse, growling vocals make his music stand out.  This is raw, sweaty, ragged, Mississippi blues at its best.  Belfour hasn't recorded since this one, though he did make an appearance in the M for Mississippi documentary a few years back.  Someone really needs to fix that situation and soon.

Hash Brown - Hash Brown's Texas Blues Revue (Cannonball Records):  I've always enjoyed these "Revue" albums that feature several different singers and a host of musicians backing them.  Texas guitarist Brown has assembled such an album, with vocalists Sam Myers, Darrell Nulisch, and Zuzu Bollin (in what may have been his late recordings).  Fans of Texas blues will be familiar with the song list, and all of these vocalists sound great (Brown himself takes the mic for one track), and the music is fantastic with Brown's T-Bone Walker-influenced guitar work really standing out.  This one came out in 1999 and Cannonball Records closed shop soon afterward, but this one can still be found with a little searching.  It's worth it, as are most of Cannonball's other albums (remember the little cannonballs inserted into the CD case?),

Earl Hooker - Sweet Black Angel (MCA/One Way Records):  This one might take a little bit more searching, but it's well worth it.  Hooker recorded this short session (28 minutes) in the late 60's, just before his death, with old buddy Ike Turner behind the controls.  It's a pretty diverse set, with Hooker covering James Brown, Roosevelt Sykes, Robert Johnson, Robert Nighthawk, and R.G. Ford, plus bringing some sharp instrumentals that belie their rather bland song titles ("Shuffle," "Country and Western," "Funky Blues," etc....).  Some might want to start elsewhere if they're just discovering Hooker, but this is a really nice sampling of just how great he was and you will definitely want to hear more after this one, whether you're a newcomer or a longtime fan.

Classic Live Blues - Magic Slim's Live at the Zoo Bar Series

(photo by James Fraher)

February 21st marked two years since the death of Magic Slim.  Magic Slim was not what people would call a virtuosic musician, but what he did play he played better than anybody, maybe ever.  His style is easily recognizable.....his energetic and exuberant string bending that runs up and down the length of your spine, the churning boogie rhythms of his powerful rhythm section, his growling vocals, and his seemingly endless repertoire......his fans called him "The Human Jukebox".....that made every song he covered basically his own.

Though it took Slim a while to record, once he did get started, he was very prolific.  Most of his U.S. fans had plenty of domestic product from Magic Slim and the Teardrops, because Alligator and Rooster Blues released studio albums and B.L.U.E.S R&B released a classic (but sadly out of print) live performance of the band during the 80's, and Slim enjoyed a lengthy tenure with Blind Pig Records that lasted over twenty years, releasing nine studio albums, one live CD/DVD, and a "Greatest Hits" set.

Beyond the U.S., Slim released a truckload of CDs for European labels.  The Alligator release, Raw Magic, was originally released in France, as was a later recording (Highway Is My Home) that was reissued in the 90's on Evidence Records.  However, Slim's most fruitful European relationship was with the Austrian label, Wolf Records.  

Wolf released over a dozen Magic Slim recordings, plus a few others that featured Slim and his band mates in solo performances.  These were a mixture of studio and live performances.  I think that most fans would agree that live performances were the best way to capture the entire essence of Magic Slim and his band.  A big part of his persona was the relationship that he built with his audiences, the spontaneity that was such a mark of each performance.

The Wolf recordings are a bit easier to find these days, thanks to the internet.  I can remember reading about these releases in Living Blues back in the 80's and early 90's and the only way that you could get them was via mail order and they sometimes costs a pretty penny to get your hands on them.  Over the years, thanks to Amazon, I was able to pick up a few of the Wolf releases here and there.  

Over a four or five year period in the 90's, Wolf released five volumes of Magic Slim and the Teardrops performing at Lincoln, Nebraska's Zoo Bar, called The Zoo Bar Collection, which has been a blues hotbed since the early 70's.  The Zoo Bar owners had a connection with Chicago musician/promoter Bob Riedy and were able to bring a lot of the Windy City's finest blues musicians to Lincoln.  

Magic Slim began performing at the Zoo Bar in the mid 70's......it was reportedly the first white club that he'd ever played and his first venture outside of Chicago.  Slim soon became a regular performer at the bar, playing for a week at a time, and even moved his family from Chicago to Lincoln in the 90's.

Junior Pettis and Magic Slim at the Zoo Bar (photo by Ted Kirk)

There have been many live albums recorded at the Zoo Bar over the years.  Magic Slim's series spans.....my best guess would be from the early 80's to the late 80's.  The early volumes (Volume 1, Don't Tell Me About Your Troubles, and Volume 2, See What You're Doin' To Me) feature Slim and his brother Nick Holt (bass) with drummer Nate Applewhite and rhythm guitarists Coleman Pettis and Pete Allen (Volume 2).

Pettis answered to several different nicknames.....Daddy Rabbit, Alabama Junior, Junior Pettis, etc......he backed Slim for ten years (1973 - 1983) and was a great, funky rhythm guitarist and an ideal complement to Slim's robust attack.  He also played bass and even released a few albums of his own, including a Wolf release called Nora Lee, which was recorded with the Teardrops providing support.  Pettis died in 1988 at age 53 after a battle with cancer.

Pete Allen played for several Chicago acts, including Zora Young (for over 30 years), Buddy Guy, Carey and Lurrie Bell, and Artie "Blues Boy" White.  He played guitar on Slim's Grand Slam, considered to be one of his best albums.  Allen also plays a few tracks on Volume 3 (Teardrop).  The highly underrated Allen died in 2008 from a heart attack.

John Primer (photo by Ted Kirk)

On Volumes 3, 4 (Spider In My Stew), and 5 (Highway Is My Home), Slim and Holt are joined by longtime Teardrop John Primer (2nd guitar) and drummers Applewhite (Volume 3) and Michael Scott (3, 4, and 5).  Primer was a regular guitarist at Theresa's during the 70's and also played in Willie Dixon's Chicago Blues All-Stars in the late 70's.  Prior to joining Slim in 1983, he served in Muddy Waters' band until the legend's death that same year.  Like Slim and Pettis, Primer and Slim went together like peas and carrots.  When Slim began recording with Blind Pig Records in the early 90's, he graciously gave Primer several tracks on his debut recording, Gravel Road.  Primer's style was perfectly suited for Slim, but he was also capable of branching out into his own version of the classic Chicago blues sound on multiple solo albums, and is still very active today, most recently on an excellent collaboration with harp master Bob Corritore for Delta Groove, Knockin' Around These Blues.

About three or four times a year, I pull out all five of these discs and plug them in over several days.  It's always interesting to see how the band changed over time.  Actually, there's not much change in the delivery at all.  You've got funky shuffles, driving boogies, and the occasional slow blues....all powerfully delivered.  There are some subtle differences in the rhythm guitarists with each variation of the band, but you really have to listen to catch it.

Nick Holt, John Primer, Magic Slim, Michael Scott (photo by Ted Kirk)

I like three things about this set of discs:

(1) They show the remarkable consistency of Magic Slim and the Teardrops over an extended period.  If you play these discs consecutively, it's pretty hard to tell where one disc starts and the next one begins.  For some bands, this might be a problem, but for this band, it's impressive.  These guys were a well-oiled machine in Volume 1 (and prior) and they maintained that with no let-up for many years to follow....the only common factor on each release being Magic Slim and Nick Holt.

(2)  They provide a glimpse of the astounding repertoire of Magic Slim.  On these five volumes, the band plays 63 songs, and there are only about six tracks that appear more than once.  Slim covers tunes from blues icons like B.B. King ("Paying The Cost To Be The Boss," "How Blue Can You Get"), Lonnie Brooks ("You Know What My Body Needs"), Little Milton Campbell ("The Blues Is Alright," "Possum In My Tree," "So Mean To Me,"), Albert King ("Cold Women With Warm Hearts," She Don't Love Poor Me"), and Jimmy Reed ("You Don't Have To Go"), but he also branches out impressively, tearing into an amazing funky reading of Booker T's "Green Onions," a romping take on Chuck Berry's "Reelin' and Rockin,'" Ivory Joe Hunter's "Since I Met You Baby," and his old reliable version of Wilson Pickett's "Mustang Sally."  Also, the instrumental version of Bobbie Gentry's (yes, you read that right) "Ode To Billy Joe," is a really pleasant surprise.

(3) They prove once and for all (if there was any doubt) that Magic Slim is at his absolute best when performing live.  He did some excellent studio recordings, no doubt, but he raised things up a notch or two when performing in front of an audience.  Some of his studio recordings effective captured that live vibe, for sure (Grand Slam, Black Tornado, Gravel Road, Snakebite, etc....), but to be honest, when I have a hankering to hear some Magic Slim, I will usually opt for one of his live discs.  Many of Slim's recordings for Wolf were done in a live setting.  In fact, the label has released a few discs collecting his finest moments from various performances.  I don't have all of them, but the ones i do have are uniformly fine.  I have always preferred The Zoo Bar Collection because of their rawness and spontaneity.  It's obvious that Slim had a blast performing and the audience had a blast listening.  If you haven't listened to these recordings (there's also a Volume 6 featuring Primer with the Teardrops, but I haven't heard it yet), give them a shot.  You too will have a blast.

Blues For The Budget-Minded

If you're like most people, you're suffering from a condition that's all too common these days.....them No Budget Blues.  For most folks under tight financial conditions, one of the first things to go might be that spare change you used to allow to purchase the occasional blues CD.  One of the best ways around this condition for blues fans is the compilation CD.  Most blues labels put out collections of their best recordings on a regular basis, usually at a bargain price.  Not only is it an inexpensive way to get your hands on some quality blues music, but it also offers the possibility of exposing you to new artists that you might not have heard otherwise.  I have been picking up budget compilations for years and have discovered many of my favorite artists along the way.  Today, Friday Blues Fix will look at a few of the collections that opened my eyes and ears to some great music, and we'll throw a few samples your way while we're at it.

When I first started listening to the blues, MCA was reissuing a lot of the old Chess Records.  Most of these records originally done in the 50's or 60's were relatively short, about ten songs lasting about thirty minutes at most, so MCA released them at pretty low prices.  I knew a lot of the artists for Chess by name only and it was so overwhelming that I didn't know where to get started.  Fortunately for me, MCA had also reissued Chess' classic The Blues five-volume series.  These albums featured tracks from the entire line-up of Chess artists....Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Little Walter, Sonny Boy Willamson, Buddy Guy, Jimmy Rogers, and countless others.  Within a few weeks, I had all five volumes and my blues vocabulary had expanded a hundredfold.  Unfortunately, these are hard to find now, but MCA (and now Universal Music) has repackaged the Chess catalog several times over the years and most of these songs are still easy to find, though not quite as low-budget as previously.  In the early 90's, Chess released a Volume 6 with nothing but rarities on it.  If you can find this series, it's a great, inexpensive place to build up your collection of Chess blues.  They can be easily found on Ebay or on Amazon in used condition for small change, and are well worth the hunt.  Here's the first song I ever heard by Buddy Guy, courtesy of The Blues, Volume 1......"First Time I Met The Blues."

Another great indispensible source of blues in a more modern vein came from Alligator Records.  Their Genuine Houserockin' Music series was an incredible introduction to the Chicago label's wide span of  artists.  I had originally picked up a couple of their albums in record stores and enjoyed them, but when I picked up Volume 1 of this set, I knew that I had to dig deeper.  About once a year for five or six years, the label released a new volume that collected recent recordings.  There were five of these, plus a Christmas edition.  These albums included cuts from Johnny Winter, Koko Taylor, Albert Collins, Roy Buchanan, Hound Dog Taylor, Fenton Robinson, Jimmy Johnson, Kenny Neal, Tinsley Ellis, Lil' Ed & the Blues Imperials, Little Charlie and the Nightcats, Lonnie Brooks, and James Cotton.  Going the extra mile for their listeners, Alligator has also, since the early 90's, released an anniversary two-disc set every five years, also at budget prices, of some of their best work.  These have essentially replaced the Houserockin' series over the years and more and more of them feature previously unreleased songs.

Speaking of anniversary releases, several blues labels have turned out some great releases celebrating their years in the record business.  Delmark Records has issued anniversary sets for their blues and jazz catalog every five years since their 20th, the last couple also included DVDs.  The unsung Chicago label Earwig Records released a two-CD 20th anniversary set a few years ago that featured music from many little-heard Chicago area artists.  The German label Ruf Records released a 12th, yes....a 12th, anniversary set a couple of years ago with some of the best of the blues being played by many American (Larry Garner, Luther Allison, Omar and the Howlers, Candye Kane, Bernard Allison) and European artists (Ian Parker, Ainsley Lister, Ana Popovic).  There have been many others, and most of them offer some quality listening because the labels are putting examples of their best material on these discs.  I was able to track down some additional music from artists I'd never heard before after listening to these releases.  The great Jimmy Dawkins released an awesome disc in the early 90's from Earwig and this song, "Beetin Knockin Ringin," was on it and also the Earwig anthology.  Check it out.

Around the time I started buying CDs, Rounder Records came out with their fantastic Easydisc series.  By the mid 90's, Rounder had built a huge catalog of blues, zydeco, Cajun, New Orleans R&B, folk, country, surf, and bluegrass recordings, so they began releasing collections of recordings, usually taking on a particular theme, like Blues Guitar Greats, Zydeco Party, Blues on Fire, etc....).  In addition to their own catalog, Rounder also issued tracks from artists on Alligator and JSP on Easydisc recordings, giving them additional exposure.  Due to some of these collections, particularly Blues on Fire, I discovered the British label, JSP, and their vast catalog of seldom-recorded artists like U. P. Wilson, the Butler Twins, and many other artists that they featured on their own budget-priced collections.

JSP offered anthologies of their current releases that loaded sixteen or eightteen songs on a budget-priced disc.  They also offered two-disc sets on Chicago and Texas blues that brought out a lot of previously unheard musicians and many of them benefitted from the exposure.  Another great collection came from the Dutch label, Black Magic, and had some great tracks as well.  Somehow, someway, JSP and Black Magic collections found their way into a lot of mall music stores in Mississippi, which is where I found them.  Take a break from reading and enjoy these two tracks.....first, from the JSP anthology Chicago Blues (Volume 1), here's Phil Guy, brother of Buddy, playing "Once A Gambler"......then from the Black Magic anthology, Witchcraft: Black Magic for Beginners, here's another highly underrated Chicago artist, the late Andrew Brown, with "I Can Hear My Baby Talking."  Brown was criminally underrecorded and he passed away from cancer at a pretty young age in the late 80's, so few got to hear his soul-based blues.  We'll be discussing Andrew Brown more in a future FBF.

In the 70's, the recording business was basically dead to blues musicians.  Their best bet back then was to go to Europe and tour for the appreciative fans overseas.  While they were there, many of them recorded for various labels, like Black & Blue, Sonet, and others.  In the early 90's, Evidence Records bought the rights to many of these albums and began releasing them as budget discs, with bonus tracks added in most cases.  Most of these are still available from Evidence and offer some great music by nearly every major blues artists during that time, filling a gap in most of their recording careers for U.S. fans.

That covered most of the post-war blues for me.  There was also the outstanding collection of discs from Yazoo Records.  Yazoo collected many of the great pre-war artists of the late 20's and 30's in various collections.  It was on these recordings that I first heard Charley Patton, Sam Collins, Skip James, Kokomo Arnold, Tommy Johnson, and Frank Stokes.  Yazoo Records offered a package deal where you could buy three or four and get one free and they were fairly inexpensive to start with, so I snatched up a well-rounded collection over a short amount of time.  To many blues fans, the pre-war recordings are an acquired taste, due to rough sound in most cases, but modern technology has done wonders for these dusty old recordings.  JSP, in particular, has reissued some of these recordings in budget-priced box sets with excellent sound.  Give a listen to Charley Patton's original version of "Spoonful Blues," from Yazoo's Roots of Rock collection.

There are countless other anthology releases that are also worth seeking out, but what you have here is a good start if you're trying to expand your blues collection in a short time on a limited budget.  A bit of warning though......once you get started listening, it's hard to stop.