Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Nappy Head Blues - Bob Grant,
2. Red River Blues - Lottie Beaman
3. Honky Tonk Train Blues - Meade "Lux" Lewis
4. You Can't Keep No Brown - Bo Weavil Jackson
5. Lawdy Lawdy Worried Blues - Teddy Darby
6. No. 29 - Wesley Wallace
7. Outside Woman Blues - Blind Joe Reynolds
8. Old Country Rock - William Moore
9. Keep a Knockin' - James Wiggins
10. Touch Me Light Mama - George "Bullet" Williams
11. Jack of All Trades - Bernice Edwards
12. Come on In (Ain't Nobody Here But Me) - Harum Scarums
13. All Birds Look Like Chicken to Me - Sweet Papa Stovepipe
14. Cotton Field Blues - Charlie "Dad" Nelson
15. Traveling Blues - Ma Rainey
16. Soon This Morning Blues - Charlie Spand
17. Gay Cattin' - Papa Charlie Jackson
18. Whoopee Blues - King Solomon
19. Eagles on a Half - Geeshie Wiley
20. Wasn't It Sad About Lemon - Washboard Hannah
21. Freakish Man Blues - George Hannah
22. Rough Rugged Road Blues - Bumble Bee Slim
23. Mississippi Jail House Groan - Reverend Rubin Lacy
24. Try Me One More Time - Marshall Owens
25. Barrel House Flat Blues - Mary Johnson

Disc 2:

1. I Shall Not Be Moved [Alt. TK] - Charley Patton
2. Walking Blues - Raymond Barrow
3. Guitar Boogie - Blind Roosevelt Graves
4. Black and Evil Blues - Alice Moore
5. New Dirty Dozen - Ben Curry
6. Low-Down Mississippi Bottom Man - Freddie Spruell
7. Vicksburg Blue - Little Brother Montgomery
8. Jack of Diamonds Georgia Rub - Henry Townsend
9. Billy Goat Blues - John Byrd
10. Bunker Hill Blues - Side Wheel Sallie Duffie
11. Number Three Blues - Buddy Boy Hawkins
12. Mamlish Blues - Ed Bell
13. Eastern Chimes Blues - Henry Brown
14. Fetch Your Water - Charlie Spand
15. Lonesome Swamp Rattlesnake - J.D. Short
16. Water Bound Blues - Alice Pearson
17. Broke Down Engine - Lonnie Clark
18. Dying Pickpocket Blues - Barrel House Welch
19. Seven Sister Blues - Edward Thompson
20. Old Timbrook Blues - John Byrd
21. Preacher Must Get Some Sometime - Bob Robinson, Bob Robinson
22. Motherless Child Blues - Elvie Thomas
23. Ducks Yas Yas - Jack O' Diamonds
24. Boodle de Bum Bum - Ben Curry
25. Gotta Shave 'Em Dry - James Wiggins

Disc 3:

1. Some Scream High Yellow - Bo Weavil Jackson
2. Jab Blues - Jabo Williams
3. Raised in the Alley Blues - Freddie Brown
4. Frisco Leaving Birmingham - George "Bullet" Williams
5. Ninety Nine Blues - Blind Joe Reynolds
6. Conjur Man Blues - Roosevelt Sykes
7. Mama's Angel Child - Sweet Papa Stovepipe
8. Honey Blues - Lottie Beaman
9. Lonesome Atlanta Blues - Bob Grant,
10. Fat Greasy Baby - Robert Peeples
11. No Special Rider Blues - Little Brother Montgomery
12. New York Blues - Blind Roosevelt Graves
13. Doctor, Oh Doctor - Henry Townsend
14. I Heard the Voice of a Pork Chop - Ben Covington
15. Red Letter Blues - Ruby Paul
16. Piano Kid Special - Piano Kid Edwards
17. Where Did You Stay Last Night - The Famous Hokum Boys
18. Gone Dead Train - King Solomon
19. Fanny Lee Blues - Wesley Wallace
20. Narrow Face Blues - Washboard Walter
21. Pick Poor Robin Clean - Geeshie Wiley
22. Boy in the Boat - George Hannah
23. Texas Blues - Marshall Owens
24. Evil Woman Blues - James Wiggins
25. Three, Six and Nine - Roosevelt Sykes

Disc 4:

1. Tom Cat Blues - Freddie Spruell
2. Smiling Blues - Jack O' Diamonds
3. Mama, Don't You Think I Know - Papa Charlie Jackson
4. Back to the Woods (Blues) - Charlie Spand
5. Prison Blues - Alice Moore
6. Deep Morgan Blues - Henry Brown
7. My Laona Blues - Teddy Darby
8. Pistol Blues - Bo Weavil Jackson
9. Pratt City Blues - Jabo Williams
10. Telephone Arguin' Blues - J.D. Short
11. Over to My House - Elvie Thomas
12. Hambone Blues - Ed Bell
13. Down in Tennessee - Lonnie Clark
14. Ham Hound Crave - Reverend Rubin Lacy
15. Fire Detective Blues - Roosevelt Sykes
16. Up on the Hill Blues - Edward Thompson
17. Key to the Mountain Blues - Mary Johnson
18. Down on My Bended Knee - King Solomon Hill
19. Red River Blues - Charlie "Dad" Nelson
20. Give Us Another Jug - Piano Kid Edwards
21. Nehi Blues - Blind Joe Reynolds
22. Last Farewell Blues - Ruby Paul
23. Larceny Woman Blues - Barrel House Welch
24. Wicked Devil's Blues - Robert Peeples
25. Raggin' the Blues - William Moore

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13069 in Music
• Released on: 2004-06-01
• Number of discs: 4
• Format: Box set

Customer Reviews

5 stars - and a nobel prize
Wow! JSP certainly deserves some sort of award for making this historic collection available. If you're reading this, I assume you already know about the Paramount label, which recorded some of the greatest "race" (as they were called at the time) records ever. Superstars on Paramount included Blind Lemon Jefferson, Charlie Patton, and Blind Blake. The set collects many of the lesser known artists who recorded sides for the label. Someone more expert than me would have to verify this, but I imagine that some of these sides are being issued on CD for the first time ever. What's amazing is the consistency of quality and the originality and charisma of even the most obscure artists here. The variety makes this one of the most entertaining box sets I own. This is old-time blues of every kind: barrelhouse, delta, hokum, jazzy, gutbucket, you name it. I know it's saying a lot, but this belongs on your shelf not far from the immortal "Anthology of American Folk Muisc," and unlike that set you won't have to take out a loan to make the purchase. I have a very minor complaint that the notes jump from factoid to factoid and are somewhat confusedly written: a more well-written, thorough, and sequential history of the label and some of these artists would have been appreciated. But JSP did a great job with the music, and that's what counts. Superb!

Much More than I Expected
Of all these JSP box-sets I own, none has been a bigger surprise to me than this one. I bought this one as a curiosity but it is much more. Going by the tracklist there were a handful of people I knew, but most were new to me. If this exact same box had been released by another label and was more along the lines of $40 to $60 I would have never purchased it. Knowing JSPs reputation for quality transfers and low prices I just decided to go for it, hoping along the way that there would at least be 2 discs worth of stuff I enjoyed. "At least" certainly came true!

This may be the singlemost entertaining JSP box I own (given what they have released so far)! The sheer number and diversity of artists and styles presented here makes it possible to sit down and listen to this whole box in one sitting and all the way feel like you don't know what's coming next.

From songs you've never heard of (and may never hear elsewhere again), to songs with familiar themes, to a handful of tunes that are straight-up rip-offs of tunes by famous musicians, it's all here. King Solomon Hill's "Whoopee Blues" is probably my favorite rip-off tune here. It being Lonnie Johnson's "She's Making Whoopee In Hell Tonight". I say rip-off because I have to assume that Lonnie didn't see a penny worth of royalties from this cover of his tune.

That will be my only mention of specific tunes/musicians. The magic of this box is that it is about no one and everyone. There are a couple relative stars here (in the eyes of history), but for the most part these are musicians whose voices and work have been forgotten by time. You listen to this box-set and you'll be wondering why. More than being about any one person or any one style, this box is a tribute to an era and a culture. An era where music was like the work of that era itself... you made it your own self and you did it with your own two hands. A culture that made the most out of a horrendous situation that should have never existed in the first place.

As for the technical sonic quality, it is everything that is Paramount. Most of the sides contained here are in that "average to very good" range. A couple of them are cleaner than any other Paramount sides I have ever heard, and there are only a couple that could be considered in that "Wow even bad by Paramount standards!" range. If you already own a substantial amount of Paramount sides you have absolutely heard alot of things that sound alot worse than the majority of what is here. JSP has done another wonderful job with the transfers. I hope every single person at that label is proud of this box! Another thing that must be said is that if you like some pre-war stomp-down blues piano, this box is definitely for you.

If you've been eyeing this one and "Should I or shouldn't I??"... you should. You really should. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised, to say the least.

One Mother of a Collection
This is the Motherlode of pre-war blues reissues. It is likely JSP's finest release to date. Paramount started business in Wisconsin as a furniture manufacturer in the late 1800's but figured that the demand for record playing machines ensconced in wood cabinets would create a new market for shellac and vinyl records as well. In spite of their hamfisted business practices (Paramount was bankrupt by the 1930's), they managed to get a whole lot of fabulous Afro-American talent to record for their label (thanks to talent scout J. Mayo Williams), the likes of Charley Patton, Meade Lux Lewis, Bo Weevil Jackson, Bumble Bee Slim, Moanin' Bernice Edwards, Little Brother Montgomery, Roosevelt Sykes, Charlie Spand, Papa Charlie Jackson, and of course, the peerless Geeshie (Geechie) Wiley. If you've never heard her "Eagles on a Half", you deserve to listen to it now. This set has 100 titles of some of the rarest blues ever recorded for just $25. Some of the 78's from which this collection was dubbed, sell on the collector's market for hundreds, even thousands of dollars a shot. In spite of the poor quality shellac that Paramount pressed their music on, the virtuosity of this music still comes through some 80 years later. Get it. You won't regret it. Similar material worthy of this set is contained on Yazoo Records "The Stuff that Dreams are Made Of", and Revenant Records "American Primitive, Vols 1 and 2".