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CD/LP/Track Review
Various Artists: Blues From Up The Country (2003)
C. Michael Bailey
...wants to know if Gene Harris is playing "Summertime" in Heaven...
Delmark’s 50th Anniversary Collection, Part 4 Blues From up the Country
Nowhere is this grittiness heard more than on Big Joe Williams’ "49 Highway Blues" and Arthur Crudup’s "That’s All Right." Williams plays his trademark nine string guitar like he just got off the train and walked right in the studio with the intention to return to Mississippi the next day. Arthur Crudup sings the song that made Elvis famous with the most spare and raw guitar accompaniment possible. Both men have Ransom Knowling playing bass, adding a certain effort to urbanize this rough country fare.
Curtis Jones and Champion Jack Dupree add piano blues to the mix with Jones’ lamenting "Lonesome Bedroom Blues" and Dupree’s rollicking "Rub a Little Boogie." The most recent recording, Jimmy Burns’ "Catfish Blues," retains its late ‘50s flavor in spite of its youthful production. Probably the two most delightfully strange tunes in this collections are Sleepy John Estes’ "Beale Street Sugar" (... not the kind you put in your tea ...) and Blind Willie McTell’s "Hide Me in Thy Bosom," which was released on The Backpoarch Boys (Delmark). McTell was of the habit of showing up in different studios every decade, recording, and disappearing again. Hear the blind singer in great voice on this original spiritual.
For more information, see Delmark Records .
Track Listing: Big Joe Williams
Record Label: Delmark Records
Style: Blues
Keith Jarrett / Gary Peacock...
Lisa Young Quartet
Larry Corban
Christian McBride & Inside...
Sudo Quartet
Laszlo Gardony
Joe Locke
Alexi Tuomarila Trio
Bobby McFerrin
Jonathan Kreisberg
Miguel Zenon & The Rhythm...
