Track Listing

1. Rowdy Blues - Kid Bailey
2. Big Fat Mama Blues - Tommy Johnson
3. I Am in the Heavenly Way - Bukka White
4. Future Blues - Willie Brown
5. Brown Mama Blues - Ishman Bracey
6. On the Wall - Louise Johnson
7. Walking Blues [Unissued Test][#] - Son House
8. Canned Heat Blues - Tommy Johnson
9. Promise True and Grand - Bukka White
10. Mississippi Bottom Blues - Kid Bailey
11. Maggie Campbell Blues - Tommy Johnson
12. My Black Mama, Pt. 1 - Son House
13. My Black Mama, Pt. 2 - Son House
14. Yellow Bee - Bertha Lee
15. Long Ways from Home - Louise Johnson
16. M and O Blues - Willie Brown
17. Button Up Shoes [Take 1, Unissued Test][#] - Tommy Johnson
18. Mind Reader Blues - Bertha Lee
19. Lonesome House Blues [Take 1][#] - Tommy Johnson
20. Dry Spells Blues, Pt. 1 - Son House
21. Dry Spell Blues, Pt. 2 - Son House
22. Preachin' the Blues, Pt. 1 - Son House
23. Preachin' the Blues, Pt. 2 - Son House

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #139730 in Music
• Released on: 1991-11-26
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

Furious Bottleneck Growl
The Yazoo label does it again!

This CD is essential for rare inclusion of all six demonic Son House performances originally cut on acetate in 1930. It was these recordings that inspired Alan Lomax to look up House in the early 40's for the Library of Congress Archives.

It is worth mentioning that do to Paramount's inferior treatment of the source material, there is considerable auxilliary noise on those six sides. But Son's guitar and voice still threaten to impale you like a hot skewer.

Son House would have been a preacher, but for the fact that he shot a man dead and was banished from Clarksdale for the rest of his life.

This was the belle epoque of Delta Blues, a time when the legendary rivalry between House and Charlie Patton was at a peak, and when another legend, Robert Johnson, would pick up a couple licks from Son House himself. The way of life that existed in the Delta back then is gone forever, and for all of that progress and new found civility, we shall never be fortunate enough to hear anything like this ever again.

For anyone hoping to hear a mellow country rover picking away on his front porch, Son House will send you to intensive care. This is truly "where the soul of man never dies."

The true roots of the blues
In the late 80`s early 90`s,I began collecting early blues discs.It seemed to me that Yazoo seemed to have the most varied collections so I started there.Charley Patton`s King of the Delta Blues was a very shocking and yet positive discovery for me,then I found this one.Imagine my suprise when I picked this baby up.I was floored....it`s a who`s who of the first wave of counry blues artists that were recorded in the late 20`s and early 30`s - Tommy Johnson,Son House,Willie Brown,Bukka White,Kid Bailey.....just incredible.
My tastes run to all sorts of music but this is what I trully love to listen to,anytime.The true gems are the Son House sides - powerful and frightning with a vocal that I really don`t think have been matched since.An excellent introduction to the blues,the songs exist in those old records and given the technology of cd`s they take some getting used to but the music eventually shines though.Overall,a great disc....friends indeed.

showcase of the blues' greatest strength
Any fan of the blues will appreciate the enormous influence Charley Patton had over the blues players of the delta, and this appreciation can only be increased by the songs presented here.
We see here the greatest strength of the blues-the tendancy to individualism, the taking of another's tune and molding it to one's own style until it became one's own. This Album showcases that beautifully as it includes many varied and superb treatments of classic Patton tunes such as pony blues or maggie. Of particular interest are the Kid Bailey cuts, a mysterious figure who according to the liner notes was identified by Son house as Willie Brown with Patton accompanying. They are my personal favorites, but overall a very good album. A must for anyone interested in the development of the blues, or who just wants something to howl along with.