Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Writin' Paper Blues
2. Stole Rider Blues
3. Mama, 'Tain't Long Fo' Day
4. Mr. McTell Got the Blues
5. Mr. McTell Got the Blues
6. Three Women Blues
7. Dark Night Blues
8. Statesboro Blues
9. Loving Talking Blues
10. Atlanta Strut
11. Travelin' Blues
12. Come on Around to My House Mama
13. Kind Mama
14. Teasing Brown
15. Drive Away Blues
16. This Is Not the Stove to Brown You Bread
17. Love Changing Blues
18. Talkin' to Myself
19. Razor Ball
20. Southern Can Is Mine
21. Broke Down Engine Blues
22. Stomp Down Rider
23. Scarey Day Blues

Disc 2:

1. Rough Alley Blues
2. Experience Blues
3. Painful Blues
4. Low Rider's Blues
5. Georgia Rag
6. Low Down Blues
7. Rollin' Mama Blues
8. Lonesome Day Blues
9. Mama, Let Me Scoop for You
10. Searching the Desert for the Blues
11. Warm It Up to Me
12. It's Your Time to Worry
13. It's a Good Little Thing
14. You Was Born to Die
15. Lord Have Mercy If You Please
16. Don't You See How This World Made a Change
17. Savannah Mama
18. Broke Down Engine
19. Broke Down Engine, No. 2
20. My Baby's Gone
21. Love-Makin' Mama
22. Death Room Blues
23. Death Cell Blues
24. Lord, Send Me an Angel

Disc 3:

1. B and O Blues, No. 2
2. B and O Blues, No. 2
3. Weary Hearted Blues
4. Bell Street Lightnin'
5. Southern Can Mama
6. Runnin' Me Crazy
7. East St. Louis Blues
8. Ain't It Grand to Be a Christian
9. We Got to Meet Death One Day
10. We Got to Meet Death One Day
11. Don't Let Nobody Turn You Around
12. I Got Religion, I'm So Glad
13. Dying Gambler
14. God Don't Like It
15. Bell Street Blues
16. Let Me Play With Yo' Yo-Yo
17. Lay Some Flowers on My Grave
18. Ticket Agent Blues
19. Cold Winter Day
20. Your Time to Worry
21. Cooling Board Blues
22. Hillbilly Willie's Blues

Disc 4:

1. Just as Well Get Ready, You Got to Die/Climbing High ...
2. Monologue on Accidents
3. Boll Weevil
4. Delia
5. Drying Crapshooter's Blues
6. Will Fox
7. I Got to Cross the River Jordan
8. Monologue on Old Songs: Old Time Religion/Amen
9. Amazing Grace
10. Monologues on: The History of the Blues/Life as Maker of ...
11. King Edward Blues
12. Murderer's Home Blues
13. Kill-It-Kid Rag
14. Chainey
15. I Got to Cross the River of Jordan

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #66444 in Music
• Released on: 2003-06-10
• Number of discs: 4
• Formats: Box set, Original recording remastered

Customer Reviews

Exceptionally thorough box set
William Samuel McTell never had a hit record.
He also didn't make Rolling Stone's list of the 100 greatest guitarists of the twentieth century, but he could have played circles around most of those who did.

Willie McTell was in fact one of the blues' greatest guitarists, and also one of the idiom's finest and most expressive singers ever. Almost every other pre-WW II blues guitarist relied on their instrument as a rhythm instrument, often hitting it, utilizing its resonance, but McTell displayed a nimble, sophisticated slide and finger-picking style that made it sound like more than one guitar at any given moment.

This fine box set offer a lot more value than JSP Records is asking in its retail price, and there is absolutely no reason to view this as a low budget-type compilation (in spite of the slightly cartoonish design).

JSP has somehow managed to assemble a series of generally clean and bright masters going back to the late '20s. Now digitally remastered, they showcase McTell's dazzling finger-picking style on the 12-string guitar, and listeners will swear there's more than one guitarist playing, but there isn't - at least not on the early sides. What Blind Willie McTell gets out of that one guitar makes it sound almost like a trio, covering rhythm as well as lead parts, but without any feeling of artifice.
And when he gets teamed up with fellow blues virtuoso Curley Weaver (who also escaped Rolling Stones' net) on some of the 1930s sessions, it's a collaboration between two geniuses that can spin your head if you listen closely enough to the playing.

Only a few of the mid-'30s sides and the relatively primiive non-commercial Lomax-sides have some surface noise; otherwise the sound quality is very good for 20s and 30s waxings, at least as good as on any pre-war McTell compilation on the market. And all four discs are well annotated, including thorough recording information.

Unlike Catfish's otherwise excellent three-disc compilation "The Definitive Blind Willie McTell", this set includes McTell's religious sides as well as several minutes of very interesting interview snippets conducted by John Lomax during the 1940 session. (Willie McTell sounds strikingly urbane, more so than the 73-year-old John Lomax, who adresses him in a condescending manner, and obviously doesn't understand or appreciate McTell's sophisticated brand of blues.)
And McTell's sides with vocalist Ruth Willis are here as well, making this the definitive overview of the music of Blind Willie McTell at the height of his abilities.

A True Poet of The Blues
Blind Willie McTell was a true poet of the blues and also a master guitar player. Songs like "Statesboro Blues," "Writin' Paper Blues," "Ticket Agent Blues," "Talkin' To Myself," "Love Changin' Blues," "Lay Some Flowers On My Grave" and "Teasin' Brown" are all magnificent highlights of this 4 cd set. The only drawbacks are the lousy vocals of the female singers whom McTell backs on some of the tracks, and the extremely racist views that Lomax holds, and demonstrates on disc 4. Otherwise, this is a wonderful buy.

Brilliant,get it.
I came to this box set having heard nothing of the music of Blind Willie McTell,I just thought I'd take a chance.I do not regret it for one solitary second,the whole set is brilliant.Unlike some more famous blues artists,Mr.McTell sang in a soft voice that displays his regional accent.He sang clear and he sang sweet.His guitar playing is fantastic,it's hard to believe that there is only one player on a lot of these recordings,but's that indeed how it is,and thanks to the clarity of the vast majority of the recordings,I would recommend this set without reserve.