Lonesome Road Blues: 15 Years in the Mississippi Delta 1926-1941 (Yazoo, 1974; 1991)

A key title in my development as a fan of this kind of music, Lonesome Road Blues: 15 Years in the Mississippi Delta 1926-1941 ranks among the best compilations of its kind ever assembled. Then again, what else would you expect from Yazoo Records, the greatest of all blues reissue labels? For whatever reason, Shanachie used different cover artwork when they reissued this album on CD in the early 1990s. You can check out what the original vinyl version looks like over at Stefan Wirz's website, one of the Internet's most valuable resources for research on recorded blues.

SAM COLLINS

This fantastic collection focuses on both legends of the genre as well as some less-celebrated but nonetheless important prewar Mississippi Delta bluesmen, although approximately half of those featured on this disc had relocated to Chicago by the time they started making records. One such figure is the prolific nine-string guitarist Big Joe Williams, whose "Little Leg Woman" dates from his very first session for Bluebird in 1935 and finds him making some of the rawest and most interesting music of his career, due largely to his unique sense of rhythm and utilization of Charlie Patton-inspired string snapping. Although Arthur Pettis had also transplanted himself to the Windy City from the Delta, his musical approach on the melodic "Good Boy Blues" is more akin to that of Big Bill Broonzy as discussed in Stephen Calt and John Miller's worthwhile booklet notes. Eugene "Sonny Boy Nelson" Powell is arguably the most neglected of all prewar Mississippi blues guitarists, and his superb "Street Walkin'" should be better known than it is. Sticklers for detail might object to the inclusion of Sam Collins (a so-so guitarist but a fantastic singer) on this comp since he hailed from the southern part of the state, which is outside the Delta region. Moreover, his repertory, including "Lonesome Road Blues" and "My Road Is Rough and Rocky," leaves him sounding more like a songster than someone who focused exclusively on blues as we understand the musical style today. Regardless, his two sides at the very least provide some variety. To be precise, Caldwell "Mississippi" Bracey (no apparent relation to Ishmon) was a blues singer and guitarist from the central part of the state instead of the Delta, but this should not detract from the magnificence of his two best sides, the haunting "Cherry Ball" (with Charlie McCoy providing accompaniment on second guitar) and the hypnotically rhythmic "Stered Gal," whose title, according to the notes, is "a recording executive's translation of 'stir it, gal.'" Often mentioned in the same breath as the less-interesting Tommy McClennan, Robert Petway recorded some of the finest blues of the early 1940s as his definitive version of "Catfish Blues" makes abundantly clear. According to Gayle Dean Wardlow's research, Freddie Spruell lived in Lake Providence, Louisiana before coming up to Chicago sometime before waxing some of the earliest-ever country blues sides for the OKeh label in 1926. (While his previous residence lay beyond the Mississippi state line, one should remember that the Mississippi Delta properly refers to the flat Southern former swampland that borders both sides of the Mississippi River, thus explaining the inclusion of certain parts of eastern Louisiana and Arkansas in the Delta region.) His unique instrumental style is well represented on the percolating "Milk Cow Blues" (with an amusing spoken-word introduction provided by an unknown associate) and the menacing 12-string guitar tour de force "Tom Cat Blues." Isaiah "The Mississippi Moaner" Nettles for the most part qualifies as a biographical blank, but he did at least leave us with perhaps the best Blind Lemon Jefferson cover ever attempted, an interpretation of "Long Lonesome Blues" retitled "It's Cold in China Blues" and played at breakneck speed. Despite Skip James's dismissal of his one-time student as a "dummy," Johnnie Temple sublimely reworks "Devil Got My Woman" as "The Evil Devil Blues" with assistance from the supporting guitar work of the ubiquitous Charlie McCoy. Essentially a cover of "Sweet Home Chicago," "Take a Little Walk with Me" finds Robert Lockwood, Jr. still firmly under the musical sway of his "step-father" Robert Johnson, but his precise fretwork is an enjoyable listening experience all the same. And what more really needs to be said about Skip James's unparalleled frantic guitar masterpiece "I'm So Glad"? As a non-musician, I can't even begin to imagine how someone could play this piece.

ROBERT PETWAY

1. Little Leg Woman - Big Joe Williams
2. Good Boy Blues - Arthur Pettis
3. Street Walkin' - Sonny Boy Nelson
4. Lonesome Road Blues - Sam Collins
5. Cherry Ball - Mississippi Bracey
6. Catfish Blues - Robert Petway
7. Tom Cat Blues - Freddie Spruell
8. It's Cold in China Blues - The Mississippi Moaner
9. The Evil Devil Blues - Johnnie Temple
10. Take a Little Walk with Me - Robert Lockwood
11. My Road Is Rough and Rocky - Sam Collins
12. Stered Gal - Mississippi Bracey
13. Milk Cow Blues - Freddie Spruell
14. I'm So Glad - Skip James