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“Mississippi Delta Blues Jam in Memphis”
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Buy It Now!
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Classic country blues recorded by Chris Strachwitz in Memphis, Tenn. during the week of the Memphis Blues Festival in June, 1969. (Includes all of ARH LP 1085, part of 1084 and several previously unissued cuts. LPs 1084 & 1085 were once available as "Swamp Blues", a double LP originally released on Blue Thumb.)
Also see “Mississippi Delta Blues Jam in Memphis, Vol.2” sold seperatly as CD 386.
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Listen to some of the tracks!! (uses RealAudio®) 1. Back Water Rising - Napoleon Strickland with The Como Drum Band 2. Shake 'Em On Down - Fred McDowell & Johnny Woods 3. Fred's Blues - Fred McDowell & Johnny Woods 4. Keep Your Lamp Trimmed And Burning - Fred McDowell & Johnny Woods 5. Otha's Piece - Otha Turner with The Como Drum Band 6. Shimmy She Wobble - Napoleon Strickland with The Como Drum Band 7. Write Me A Few Of Your Lines - Fred McDowell (previously unreleased) 8. Dark Cloud Rising, A - Fred McDowell (previously unreleased) 9. Furry Lewis' Blues - Furry Lewis (previously unreleased) 10. Walking Blues - Furry Lewis 11. Judge Bushay Blues - Furry Lewis 12. Memphis Rag - R.L. Watson & Josiah Jones 13. St. Louis Blues - R.L. Watson & Josiah Jones 14. Praying On The Old Campground / Lonesome Blues - R.L. Watson/Josiah Jones 15. Mobile Blues - Memphis Piano Red 16. Abel Street Stomp - Memphis Piano Red |
REVIEWS “It doesn't get much better than this. Mississippi Delta Blues Jam is a CD reissue of material from Arhoolie LPs . . . along with three previously unissued tracks from the same sessions, held during the short-lived Memphis Blues Festival in June, 1969 . . . The blues names on this collection are Fred McDowell and Furry Lewis. McDowell does three songs with harp guy Johnny Woods, and then two solo tunes . . . Lewis does three songs . . . The little-knowns include Napoleon Strickland and Otha Turner, both playing fife with their Como Drum Band . . . They make a mesmerizing, primitive music that, as the 1969 liner notes by Pete Welding mention, may be 'the most African of all surviving southern music.' I can't wait to hear Volume 2 of this collection, which includes Bukka White, Sleepy John Estes, and Nathan Beauregard.”(Jim Maher — Baltimore Blues) |
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“Both albums were recorded June 1969 in Memphis, except Bukka White `Mixed Water' recorded November 1963 in Berkeley, California. Originally issued on Blue Thumb Records who let Chris Strachwitz take some of the musicians into the studio for spontaneous performances.
Sixties blues revivalism was undoubtedly one source of the attention given these performers but there's nothing watered down about this music, even when a younger guitarist like Mike Stewart sits in on a few songs. The musicians generally play either solo or in duet and sound like they're trying to please no one but themselves. The result is over two hours of varied blues from the men who helped create the form. The three tracks on Vol. 1 by Napoleon Strickland and Otha Turner aren't blues but a starkly percussive music with direct antebellum roots that sounds almost eerie. The three collaborations between Fred McDowell and Johnny Woods are driving, fairly conventional blues with a fascination for repetition. McDowell takes a sparser, different direction on his two solo pieces which sound haunted and uncompro-mised. Furry Lewis had recorded four decades earlier but his songs here sound just as fresh. His pieces are the closest to the common idea of Delta blues but he puts them across with force and calm dignity. An unexpected standout on this set are three guitar duets by R.L Watson and Josiah Jones, two street musicians practically lost to history because they refused, according to the liner notes, to be interviewed. Watson and Jones were deaf mutes(!) which raises some obvious questions about the striking, sympathetic interplay between their two guitars but they made memorable music, regardless. Finally there are two rollicking barrelhouse pieces by Memphis Piano Red that nicely round off the CD.
Vol. 2 starts with four fairly upbeat songs by Sleepy John Estes that are solid but in this company are easily the weakest tracks in the set.
There are several previously unreleased tracks: two by McDowell, one by Lewis, two by Estes and one by White.” (Lang Thompson — Cadence) |
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