18 Classic Blues Songs From the 1920's Volume 7

 

More wonderful, acoustic tuneage originating from the 1920's and 30's from Blues Images with classics from superstars from the time period along with previously unreleased numbers and literally the only known copy of the final two songs by Henry Townsend! Blues Images knows how to find rarieties!

Opening with the famous and fantastic Robert Wilkins song, "That's No Way To Get Along" that the Stones adapted for "Prodigal Song" on Beggars Banquet, followed by two parts of "High Water Everywhere" by the legitimate legend, Charley Patton, then the incredible Skip James wows in "Hard Luck Child" and Blind Lemon Jefferson gives one of the (or the?) original performances of "Match Box Blues"! 

Ida Cox's "Mojo Hand Blues" is a piano-driven paean to love troubles and voodoo cures, the Mississippi Sheiks' fiddle shines on "She's Crazy 'Bout Her Lovin"', there's another two-parter in Charlie Turner and Winston Holmes' comedic "The Death of Holmes' Mule", then some brass-fueled Dixieland-ish blues in Ma Rainey's "Slow Driving Moan", followed by more fine guitar work by Blind Blake in "Early Morning Blues". Papa Charlie Jackson's speedily-strummed banjo drives "Coal Man Blues", Ramblin' Thomas does some fine git-playin'n'moanin' in "Sawmill Moan", then we get a sermon from "The Black Billy Sunday", letting us know that "This World's In a Hell Of A Fix" - as if we didn't know!

Fittingly, this is followed by two takes from Frank Palmes of the harmonica-gospel-blues "Ain't Gonna Lay My 'Ligion Down", then sweet-voiced Irene Scruggs is backed by the fab Blind Blake for the Test Takes 2 and 3 of "Married Man Blues" before we get the truly grand (although a bit scratchy, understandably) finale, the previously unheard (at least for 90 or so years!) Henry Townsend playing some fine guitar while singing "Doctor Oh Doctor" and "Jack O'Diamonds - Georgia Rub" - certainly a shame that these songs have been missing for so long as they are truly great performances!

I'm gonna say it with every one of these that I review - get it! If you're a fan of this style then you may (probably) have some of the songs included but you definitely don't have all of them!