Hard Time Blues - St. Louis 1933-1940 (Mamlish, 1970s)

If Don Kent's Mamlish label had been half as prolific as Nick Perls's Yazoo Records, the company would have received a lot more recognition for its equally fine reissues of prewar blues sides than it has. In total, the outfit released only 14 titles (versus the 79 albums featured in Yazoo's original 1000-series), but every one is well worth owning - if you can find them. Back in my college days (and before the internet made searching for rare vinyl a considerably easier task), a record collector friend and I would constantly lament over the near impossibility of finding Yazoo, Mamlish, and Origin Jazz Library albums in the bins of our favorite used record stores. However, as he astutely pointed out, it's not as if casual music buyers were likely to procure such items, decide they didn't like them, and then trade in the discs for cash or credit. By his reasoning, the people purchasing these esoteric LPs were probably prewar blues freaks like ourselves who were not likely to part with their carefully researched acquisitions unless they were in dire situations.

BLIND TEDDY DARBY

With the exception of 78-collecting cognoscenti, few people realize the importance of St. Louis in the history of prewar blues, especially during the Great Depression. However, as the liner notes for this record point out,

St. Louis survived, and indeed bid fair to dominate the blues industry in the years immediately following 1933. Memphis and Atlanta, both of which produced a large number of artists playing within a recognizable musical framework, were effectively dried up by the customary practices of the times. Two very important factors prevented St. Louis from meeting a similar fate: its close proximity to Chicago, where the major companies had studios, and the proven salability of St. Louis artists. Lonnie Johnson, Walter Davis, Roosevelt Sykes and Peetie Wheatstraw each recorded over 150 sides before the war, not including accompaniments.

While the three pianists mentioned above are represented by some of their finest-ever performances ("Just Thinking," "Drunken Gambler," and "Third Street's Going Down" respectively), Hard Time Blues - St. Louis 1933-1940 also shines the spotlight on the city's guitarists and less-celebrated singers. Moreover, what this collection makes abundantly clear is that the Gateway to the West was home to some of the best blues guitar-piano pairings in the entire country. Charley Jordan and Peetie Wheatstraw perfectly complement each other on "Tight Time Blues" and provide vocalist Mary Harris with superb accompaniment on "Happy New Year Blues." Elsewhere, the "Devil's Son-in-Law" tickles the ivories alongside singer Leroy Henderson and pickers Casey Bill Weldon (whose Hawaiian-style playing is instantly recognizable) and Blind Teddy Darby on the engaging "Good Scuffler Blues" while switching over to guitar and teaming with pianist Jimmy Gordon behind Alice Moore on "Blue Black and Evil Blues." The rollicking "Pitty Pat Blues" gives Darby the opportunity to take lead billing (albeit under the pseudonym "Blind Squire Turner" on the original 78) on a duet with little-known piano player Tom Webb. "Don't Love That Woman" serves as an excellent solo vehicle for quintessential St. Louis bluesman Henry Townsend to display his considerable singing and guitar-playing talents, whereas the excellent "Grinder Blues" features him alongside the Sparks brothers, vocalist Milton and pianist Aaron. The latter was one of at least two other blues piano players to adopt the sobriquet "Pinetop," as he's billed on the Big Maceo-ish "Work House Blues." The Depression period piece "Times Are So Tight" finds Aaron backing the melancholy vocals of the obscure Charlie McFadden, although the song is not quite as anthemic as this album's title track by the equally mysterious Lane Hardin. On the considerably rural-sounding "California Desert Blues," the same singer-guitarist sports an eerie falsetto that is nearly the equal of Skip James's in terms of emotional impact.


1. Hard Time Blues - Lane Hardin
2. Workhouse Blues - Aaron "Pinetop" Sparks
3. Happy New Year Blues - Mary Harris
4. Drunken Gambler - Roosevelt Sykes
5. Don't Love That Woman - Henry Townsend
6. Tight Time Blues - Charley Jordan
7. Just Thinking - Walter Davis
8. Pitty Pat Blues - Blind Teddy Darby
9. Third Street's Going Down - Peetie Wheatstraw
10. Blue Black and Evil Blues - Alice Moore
11. Times Are So Tight - Charlie McFadden
12. Good Scuffler Blues - Leroy Henderson
13. Grinder Blues - Milton Sparks
14. California Desert Blues - Lane Hardin