Track Listing

1. Make My Getaway - Charlie Musselwhite
2. Have Mercy - Carey Bell, Big Walter Horton
3. Shake the Boogie - Billy Boy Arnold
4. Sonny's Woopin' the Doop - Sonny Terry
5. Broke and Hungry - Billy Branch, Junior Wells
6. Thank You Baby - Delbert McClinton
7. Burn Your Bridges - Cephas & Wiggins, Phil Wiggins
8. Coastin' Hank
9. Superharp - James Cotton
10. Lonesome Stranger - Carey Bell
11. One More Mile to Go
12. Blowin' Like Hell - William Clarke

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16035 in Music
• Released on: 2003-01-21
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

Customer Reviews

Budget-friendly collection of good blues harp
The tracks with Cephas and Wiggins, the harmonica champ Sonny Terry, and Billy Boy Arnold (best known for his work with Bo Diddley) are the standouts here. Among the many good collections of Harmonica music (particularly of the blues variety), this is highly recommended budget-friendly stuff that is for the casual fan of good music as well as the practicing harmonicist.

Blues Harp Doesn't Get Any Better Than This
Various Artists
"Crucial Harmonica Blues"
Alligator Records ALCD 115

Big Walter Horton and Carey Bell continue the protégé and mentor tradition on "Have Mercy". Blues harp doesn't get any better than that. Under-rated Bell appropriately adorns the disc's cover. With one `whew', you will recognize the brown jug, country blues of Sonny Terry on "Sonny's Whoopin' The Doop". Junior Wells could combine funk, grease and sweat like no other. Experience it on "Broke and Hungry". James Cotton's "Superharp" remains one of the best harp-blowin' tunes ever, while fiery Carey Bell shows why he now reigns as best harpist/vocalist on "Lonesome Stranger".

Do these artists and songs qualify as Crucial Harmonica Blues? You're damn right they do.

-- Tim Holek

Must Have Series From Alligator
Alligator Records hit it right on the head when they named this series, "Crucial". As in this is a crucial series that every Blues fan should add to their CD collection. I bought this CD because I'm new to the Blues and wanted to find a few new artists to add to my collection. This CD introduced me to several artists that I have now added to my collection buy purchasing several other CDs. This CD starts out with an up tempo and rousing romp with Charlie Musselwhite's "Make My Getaway" and then moves on to a Harmonica Duet by Big Walter Horton and Carey Bell. The Gems just seem to roll out one after another from there. Among the notables on the CD are Legends like Billy Boy Arnold, Sonny Terry, Junior Wells, Delbert McClinton and James Cotton. I not only recommend this CD from the Crucial Blues series but all of them, especially for new comers to blues material.