16 Classic Blues Songs From The 1920's [Remaster]

Performer: Various Artists
Distributor: City Hall

Notes: Audio Remasterer: Richard Nevins. Recording information: Birmingham, AL (11/??/1926-04/02/1937); Chicago, IL (11/??/1926-04/02/1937); Grafton, WI (11/??/1926-04/02/1937); Memphis, TN (11/??/1926-04/02/1937); New York, NY (11/??/1926-04/02/1937); Richmond, IN (11/??/1926-04/02/1937). Each year Blues Images releases a calendar that matches vintage artwork from 1920s and '30s 78-rpm record sleeves with a month of the year, and then includes an accompanying CD of the songs themselves (plus a few bonus tracks to fill things out). It's hard to say which is more revealing, the artwork or the songs, since both afford a glimpse back at a world that has long since faded into the realm of collectors, archivists and historians. The CDs themselves, by virtue of the month-by-month matching process (which means that Leroy Carr's classic "Christmas in Jail" is awarded the month of December here on the disc for 2005's calendar), are necessarily varied, and the end result is that these brief compilations make very cool temporal mix sequences. This installment begins and ends with a pair of haunting Skip James sides recorded in 1931, "Devil Got My Woman" and "Cypress Grove Blues," and also includes rare gems like Willie Brown's fine "M&O Blues" from 1930 and Mattie Delaney's striking variation on the "High Water Rising" theme called "Tallahatchie River Blues," also from 1930. Although hardly exhaustive as a stand-alone compilation, taken in conjunction with the calendar artwork, Blues Image Presents...16 Classic Blues Songs from the 1920s, Vol. 3 offers a rare chance to revisit the past while arranging one's affairs for the future, which is a really neat trick. ~ Steve Leggett For the past few years, Blues Images of Oregon has put out a blues calendar featuring the original sleeve artwork from vintage 1920s blues 78s, accompanied by a CD of the songs selected. This 2006 installment has 16 songs (no sleeve art has survived for four of the songs), including a pair of Skip James gems, "Devil Got My Woman" and "Cypress Grove Blues"; Leroy Carr's classic "Christmas in Jail" (guess which month features this song...); and King Solomon Hill's odd "The Gone Dead Train"; among others. The month-by-month artwork of the calendar itself opens a window on the cultural marketing of these 78s, as well as the contemporary perception of the artists who recorded them, while the disc functions as a varied introduction to the world of 1920s commercial country blues. ~ Steve Leggett Each year Blues Images releases a calendar that matches vintage artwork from 1920s and '30s 78-rpm record sleeves with a month of the year, and then includes an accompanying CD of the songs themselves (plus a few bonus tracks to fill things out). It's hard to say which is more revealing, the artwork or the songs, since both afford a glimpse back at a world that has long since faded into the realm of collectors, archivists and historians. The CDs themselves, by virtue of the month-by-month matching process (which means that Leroy Carr's classic "Christmas in Jail" is awarded the month of December here on the disc for 2005's calendar), are necessarily varied, and the end result is that these brief compilations make very cool temporal mix sequences. This installment begins and ends with a pair of haunting Skip James sides recorded in 1931, "Devil Got My Woman" and "Cypress Grove Blues," and also includes rare gems like Willie Brown's fine "M&O Blues" from 1930 and Mattie Delaney's striking variation on the "High Water Rising" theme called "Tallahatchie River Blues," also from 1930. Although hardly exhaustive as a stand-alone compilation, taken in conjunction with the calendar artwork, Blues Image Presents...16 Classic Blues Songs from the 1920s, Vol. 3 offers a rare chance to revisit the past while arranging one's affairs for the future, which is a really neat trick. ~ Steve Leggett

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