Blues 417 Items

9 tracks

Aaron Thebeaux "T-Bone" Walker was all but destined for performance from the start. After all both of his parents were musicians, who taught him how to play guitar, ukulele, banjo, violin, mandolin, and piano. He was even an early protege of Blind Lemon Jefferson, who was a friend of the family, and often came over to dinner. Walker began performing blues music during the late 1920s and early 1930s, cutting his first singles, while performing as a sideman across the country, often performing alongside Blind Lemon Jefferson himself, as well as contemporaries like Douglas Fernell, Big Jim Wynn, and Charlie Christian. By the 1940s, Walker had begun to perform more frequently as a solo act, recruiting his own backing band, and being among the first to adapt a guitar technique that would change the course of music history: electric amplification.Were it not for Walker leading the charge and pioneering the electric blues sound, contemporary music might have been very different. His sound help set the stage for essential Chicago Blues artists like Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, and Willie Dixon, while providing key influence to the likes of B.B. King, Jimi Hendrix, Chuck Berry, and innumerable others.

Son House was one of the most influential delta blues
singers and was famous for his emotional style of signing
and slide guitar playing. Father of Folk Blues presented
him to the public during the 60s folk revival. The roughness
of his voice and intensity of the metal sounds from his
guitar are prominent on the album. Nine tracks which can
be considered as gems and all telling the story of a hard
working man and the intrigues of life. The blues comes
alive in subjects as women, religion, war and crime. The
album features guitarist and harmonica player Al Wilson,
a founding member of Canned Heat. This release is an
original 1965 re-issue.
During his early 20s Son House turned to the blues after
working as a preacher and pastor. He developed his own
unique playing style, full of emotional layers and rhythmic
melodies. During the American folk music revival he began
performing for young audiences and became known as
the Father of Folk Blues.

Originally released in 1979. Limited to 500.

Originally released in 1976. Limited to 500.

Ivory Coast isn’t known for country music. But Jess Sah Bi & Peter One’s 1985 recording Our Garden Needs Its Flowers, a massive-selling regional hit, brought a burgeoning interest in folk and Americana into the mainstream and carried two young men to international prominence, culminating in stadium-filling concerts and performances for the first lady of Cote d’Ivoire and dignitaries.

The album was made following a chance introduction via Jess’s nephew, who heard Peter playing for fun around his university dormitory. At the time, Jess Sah Bi (Die Sah Bi) was Ivory Coast’s first political cartoonist, having already published in dozens of magazines and newspapers across West Africa and France. Meanwhile Peter One (Pierre-Evrard Tra) was a university student and soon-to-be high school history teacher. Both musicians had spent time singing and playing guitar and composing songs on their own until they came together to record their independently-released opus.

The music contrasted starkly with the popular sounds of the time, ranging from fast-paced regional dance music genres to ziglibithy to soukous to straight-up funk played by Abidjan’s plethora of bands. Country music and folk-rock weren’t very popular with the general public. But interest was bubbling up within the growing student population, who connected with the protest sentiments expressed by many English and American artists of the era. “It’s very nice music, with very nice harmonies, and it’s different from what you hear every day,” Peter says. “The language was a big barrier though. You had to learn English to understand the songs, and the students were the ones learning English.” Having access to education along with their awareness of social and political inequality and injustice made students the perfect audience for folk music in Ivory Coast.

Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton and Don Williams’ music could be heard on some radio programs around Ivory Coast’s major cities, and some younger people were getting hip to Simon & Garfunkel, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Cat Stevens and Crosby Stills & Nash. The stage was set for Jess Sah Bi & Peter One’s homegrown country music to make a mark on Ivorians’ consciousness. Complete with slide guitar, soaring vocals and anthemic, politically-conscious lyrics in three languages, the recording became ubiquitous across French-speaking West Africa. “We expected the album to be a big success, but we could not have imagined how far it would go,” Peter says.

After Our Garden Needs Its Flowers release, Jess and Peter’s profile lifted rapidly, leading to stadium performances in Togo, Burkina Faso and elsewhere. Their ascent was accompanied by critical acclaim from the local press and television programs, appearances at galas organized by Marie-Thérèse Houphouët-Boigny, the wife of the late Félix Houphouët-Boigny, the first president of the Ivory Coast and even a performance during the 1988 ECOWAS (Economic Coalition of West African States) summit in Yamoussoukro at President Houphouët-Boigny’s request. Jess and Peter’s run lasted until the early 1990s, capped off with the BBC using their song African Chant as theme music the day Nelson Mandela was released from prison.

Jess and Peter now live in San Francisco and Nashville, respectively, and continue to make music on their own. Plans for shows reuniting the duo are in the works for later this year.

180 gram vinyl!

180 gram pressing!

180 gram vinyl!

Bring 'Em In is the 13th studio album by blues musician Buddy Guy, originally released in 2005.
The album is made up almost entirely of covers and features renditions of songs by artists from Bob Dylan to Otis Redding.
Bring 'Em In features Tracy Chapman, John Mayer, Keb Mo, Keith Richards, Carlos Santana and many more.

Originally released as a 78rpm 10'' shellac in 1953, Muddy Waters and his guitar power through no-frills folk blues A-side on She's All Right, which would later be completely turned on its head incorporating full-on fuzzbox psychedelia on Waters' blockbuster album Electric Mud. Rhythmically, this older version's beat is an opiate, repetitive and soothing, that's gotta be played three times in a row for full effect. The B-side Sad, Sad Day would later be found on the London Muddy Waters Sessions dressed in draping psych, but this original version is a candid and teary-eyed lament complete with perfectly warbling guitar and harmonica interplay.

Originally released as a 78rpm 10'' shellac in 1950, this now-legendary Chicago blues A-side changed the course of Western Music. This one song's influence has been felt all over the world, not to mention its place as the early, primary inspiration for Mick Jagger and company to launch as The Rolling Stones. Anything that made the Stones engage an entire generation of young people can ultimately be traced back to Muddy Waters and this song is ground zero for the rock-n-roll that blew everyone's minds. Walkin' Blues, the B-side, is a standard 12-bar blues song that kicks off with 4 high-pitched staccato strums of the guitar and riffs on the everyday struggle of getting yourself to walk out the door one more time in the morning. This one's straightforward, stirring and maybe even more relatable in the 21st century.

Little Jr. Parker's 1971 full-length 'Blues Man' returns to wax as a fine exact repro reissue.

Danny Offia’s Funk With Me is a prime slab of Nigerian Boogie. Sinewy and urbane, it’s the soundtrack of Lagos in the early eighties. The city was awash with oil money, clubs were booming and every night was a party night – the perfect place for a man with a great voice, a white suit and seductively-clutched packet of B&H Golds. Funk With Me was recorded in London with a crack team of session musicians. Drummer Blair Cunningham was from Memphis and had played with Robert Johnson. Sax player Ray Carless was regarded as the London jazz scene’s best-kept secret. Engineer Duncan Bridgeman would go on to work with Duran Duran. Danny Offia brought the songs and the Lagos attitude. ‘Funk With Me’ is a certified party starter. ’10 Years In Love’ and ‘Weak For You’ are sophisticated groovers. ‘Sat Nite (Is A Party Nite)’ is guaranteed to get any girl on the dancefloor, while ‘Don’t Make Me Cry’ is smooth enough take her home. Funk With Me is Lagos in an album – cosmopolitan, sexy and witty with an energy and spirit, all of its own. - Peter Moore

Not known for his acoustic work, Buddy Guy unplugs for a rare album-length excursion into folk blues. The guitarist gets down and dirty with 12 tracks that sound like they were recorded after hours in his living room or on his back porch.

An exact repro vinyl reissue of this magnificent 1962 vintage blues delivery.

American Epic: The Sessions, soundtrack features: Alabama Shakes, The Americans, Ana Gabriel, Ashley Monroe, The Avett Brothers, Beck, Bettye LaVette, Bobby Ingano, Elton John, Frank Fairfield, Jerron “Blind Boy” Paxton, Los Lobos, Lost Bayou Ramblers, Nas, Pokey LaFarge, Raphael Saadiq, Rhiannon Giddens, Steve Martin and Edie Brickell, Taj Mahal, Jack White, and Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard.

The American Epic Sessions Original Motion Picture Soundtrack features 3 LPs, a trifold jacket with soft touch finish.

Early geniuses of Delta Blues - Robert Johnson, Geeshie Wiley & Elvie Thomas, Son House, Charley Patton and many more have been painstakingly remastered using a mix of analog and digital technology for a hybrid sound that is simultaneously contemporary, immediate but still completely true-to-form.

Single LP with single pocket tip-on jacket with soft touch finish

Texas slide guitarist and gospel bluesman Blind Willie Johnson recorded only 30 songs over the course of his life as a preacher and street performer. Even so, the savvy combination of his gritty and powerful “chest voice” singing style coupled with his mastery of slide guitar (some report he regularly used a knife as a slide) has given him a notably influential legacy, specifically with later bluesmen Howlin’ Wolf and Robert Johnson. His tune “Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground” was selected for Carl Sagan’s Voyager probe Golden Record, the Library of Congress as well as the National Recording Registry.

Single LP with single pocket tip-on jacket with soft touch finish

Released on a pink 10-inch vinyl platter, as part of the series 'Ten X Ten', here are ten tracks by the legendary Texas soul-blues singer.

An exact repro vinyl reissue of T-Bone Walker's magnificent 1968 LP 'The Truth'.

An exact repro vinyl reissue of this 1972 album by blues giant John Lee Hooker, featuring guest appearances from Van Morrison, Steve Miller, Elvin Bishop and others.

On the second full-length the band continues its journey to the heart of the rhythm, a journey to the center of the best roots music, investigating and growing at every turn of the road.

Harmonica Frank recorded these tracks for Sun Records in the early '50s! It's definitely blues at the core, but which also has links to Appalachian music.

Still more adventures in the sleazy world of popcorn noir. Welcome once more to Slow Grind Fever, the soundtrack to Melbourne’s smokiest slow dance party, where they play moody mid-century slow burners for the indolent and the aroused. Listening to the albums is nice, but when you’re up there all wrapped up in the smoke and the smells and the sizzle of the records, there’s nothing quite like it. Slow Grind Fever Vol. 6 was compiled by guest DJ Simon Laxton.. Expect the best in Slow Dance! It features Little Jimmy Scott, Bo Diddley, Malcom Dodds, Donnie Elbert and more

Sonthaya Kalasin was the male lead singer in in the molam section of legendary producer/impresario Surin Paksiri's beloved musical troupe Tidso Lam Phloen; his female counterpart was Phairin Phonphibun.
These recordings, the very best of Kalasin's work with Paksiri, cover the period from the mid-70s to the early 80s and showcase Kalasin's mastery of the traditional male molam lower vocal range. Also highlighted here are Paksiri's production skills and his penchant for pushing the boundaries of standard molam arrangements and instrumentation, always trying to fuse new ideas with tradition. An uncredited Phairin Phonphibun makes an appearance on a few tracks here, giving lucky listeners a glimpse of the singers' Tidso Lam Phloen dynamism: Paksiri's genius, a long-standing backing band, and simpatico vocal styles honed in the crucible of performance. This is the first CD release of any music from Sonthaya's years with Surin Paksiri and as such represent a valuable document, with accompanying English lyric translations; but more than a document, "Grade A Guy" is grade A music.

A reissue of a great New Orleans rhythm and blues single, originally released in 1957.

Mastered from an original 78 copy and not from the over EQ'd 'complete' CD, this is probably the second best way to hear the master strutting his stuff on one of his feature releases. Killer two sides from this legendary blues man. This 45 is pressed with a solid center and original looking 78 labels. Excellent!

Two ecellent country-blues rockers from 1942 pressed with 78rpm labels on a solid center for that authentic feel. Nice job!

“Super Super Blues Band” started out merely as “Super Blues”, a conglomerate of blues pillars Bo Diddley, Muddy Waters and Little Walter. When Little Walter bowed out and was replaced by Howlin’ Wolf, they rightfully threw another Super on the name, and went on to release this burning, irreverent and even sometimes hilarious set of drunken, wild-eyed electric blues. Long form jams roll on in a trance as the trio of blues legends flex egos, talking shit to each other, trading off leads and ducking blasts of unexpected wah-wah guitar lines. Songs are peppered with an incredible level of banter between the trio of bandleaders that predicts the call and response sing- talking of early hip hop, laced with random screams in the background that teeter between celebration and danger. That these three ever got into the same room together is a miracle, and that they produced something so intense, energetic and weird is another almost unbelievable feat. The record is special enough as a stand-alone document of this meeting/melting of the minds before you find out the backing band consists of Hubert Sumlin, Otis Spann and freaking Buddy Guy. Lordy. Might have needed one more “super” in there. The record is pressed on limited colored vinyl.

By Autumn '66 the Spencer Davis Group was at the very pinnacle of its success, burning up the charts with self-penned originals like 'Somebody Help Me' and 'When I Get Home'. However, this album also paid homage to the (mostly American) musicians, like Elmore James and Elvis Presley, who had so inspired these young lads from Birmingham, propelling them to international stardom. Bonus tracks include their number one smash hit 'I'm A Man', plus 'Stevie's Groove' (featured in the 1966 film, The Ghost Goes Gear, a musical comedy featuring the Spencer Davis Group and a plot about a haunted house, yes you read that correctly), 1967's 'Waltz For Lumumba', and 'I Can't Get Enough Of It'. Limited edition of 500 copies on 180 gram clear vinyl.

In July 1965, when Their First LP was originally released, the Spencer Davis Group - the band that launched Steve Winwood's career - was just one of the many aspiring young groups on the British beat scene. But that would soon change when their single - a version of Jamaican singer Jackie Edwards' 'Keep On Running' - shot to the No. 1 spot on the British charts. Featuring 5 bonus tracks, including Otis Redding's 'She Put The Hurt On Me', Etta James' 'I'll Drown In My Own Tears', 'I'm Getting Better' and 'Goodbye Stevie', all from their 1965 EP, plus 'Stevie's Blues', the B side to their 1966 single 'Somebody Help Me'. Limited edition of 500 copies on 180 gram clear vinyl.

The delta guitar legend’s 1949 recordings originally on Regal, rereleased on Biograph in the 1970s. This is mid-period McTell, finding the bluesman at his best with a pronounced guitar playing that conveys a sense of masterful urgency. Features a classic Biograph cover. Liner Notes by Down Beat’s Chris Albertson and produced by Arnold Caplin. Limited edition gold vinyl.

Howlin' Wolf is the third studio album from Chicago blues singer/guitarist/harmonica player Howlin' Wolf. It is a collection of six singles previously released by the Chess label from 1960 through 1962. Because of the illustration on its sleeve, the album is often called The Rockin' Chair Album, which was eventually adopted on subsequent pressings.

180g vinyl.

Compilation of top notch gospel and blues recorded between 1927 and 1967. A mix of very well known artists such as Blind Lemon Jefferson, Gary Davis and Robert Wilkins and more obscure folks like John Lee and Charles White. A record filled with some of Mississippi Records' favorite recordings, ripping guitar work outs, soulful ballads, loping drunken jug bands and more. All songs are on the theme of travel, death and transcendence. Got an existential crisis? This may be the record for you.

Includes two bonus tracks.

Two club classics on 7-inch!

A moody, intense and hypnotic blues two sider.

Two hot sides, one dancer and one homage to 'Fever'.

On their first full-length Limboos sharpen and expand on the sound defined on their single debut. That release presented a mixture of R&B and Latin rhythms, aptly described as "exotic Rhythm and Blues", which continues to prevail here. However, these twelve songs stretch out into deeper territory, including old school New Orleans second line, or gutbucket '50s Texas Blues ('Rockin'') combined with Cuban rhythms (the title track) or Brazilian Cumbia ('Brownie'). All beautifully thrown into a blender, making it the national cocktail of a place you would damn sure want to live, if that place even existed.

Her voice was all Saturday night, delivered on a Sunday morning. Patsy on Jesus. Elvis without the pelvis. Fern Jones' only album, released by Dot Records in 1959, captured 36-year-old Sister Fern as she anointed church music with the same untamed energy that younger white Southerners were bringing to their rock 'n' roll. Produced by Mac Wiseman and showcasing crack Nashville session players Hank "Sugarfoot" Garland, Floyd Cramer, Joe Zinkan, and Buddy Harman fresh off their June 1958 session with The Pelvis, Singing A Happy Song should've taken Jones from dusty canvas big tops to the Opry's storied stage. But with no 45 to flog, Jones instead sold nary a record and never did hear herself on the radio. Her fiery rockabilly gospel was a few shades too radical for the conservative, traditional, near puritanical public she played to anyway. Fern Jones: The Glory Road collects her Singing A Happy Song LP and cuts including "Didn't It Rain," from her The Joneses Sing album, into one rousing package, rich with the details and imagery of a brief career spent tethered to the hard ground and gazing skyward. The Glory Road's sound gnaws at the bit and stands in reverence, a runaway rockabilly tent show without a single drop of rain on the horizon.

A classic blues cut, b/w 'Hard Working Hana'.