Artists: Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, Junior Mance
     Album: Buddy and the Juniors
     Label: Verve
     Year: 1970
     Quality: flac
     Size: 268 mb (with covers)

     The historical details surrounding the recording session that became Buddy & the Juniors are almost as entertaining -- and oddly satisfying -- as the music itself. Released on Blue Thumb in 1970 on multi-colored wax, this session, were it not for a very real economic necessity due to Buddy Guy's feud with Vanguard Records, would never have happened. According to producer Michael Cuscuna's liner notes on the CD reissue, Vanguard wouldn't pick up the tab for Guy to fly to New York to mix an album he'd cut with Junior Mance and Gary Bartz -- also produced by Cuscuna. Being an ever-enterprising genius, Cuscuna pitched the idea for a recording between Guy, Mance, and Junior Wells to Blue Thumb label boss Bob Krasnow; he jumped. The all-acoustic Buddy & the Juniors was recorded on December 18 of 1969, and on December 19 they mixed this album and the Vanguard date! While an acoustic pairing between Guy and Wells is a natural one, adding jazz pianist Mance -- a Chicago native whose early influences were the boogie-woogie recordings of Meade "Lux" Lewis and Albert Ammons -- to the mix was risky in terms of interpersonal dynamics, but in retrospect, proved a brilliant idea. The proceedings are informal and raw with plenty of fireworks. The first two tracks -- "Talkin' 'Bout Women Obviously" and "Riffin' [aka A Motif Is Just a Riff]" -- were the last two recorded. They're blazing, hairy, on-the-spot improvisational duets between Wells and Guy: the former offers lyrics in a back-and-forth extemporaneous style; the latter develops in intensity as it goes on. The playing by Guy and Wells is inspirational. "Buddy's Blues," the first interplay of the trio, has Mance digging deeply into the Otis Spann tradition, just rolling inside it, accenting lines, punching chords, and offering beautiful tags to Wells' harmonica lines. Wells' vocal on "(I'm Your) Hoochie Coochie Man" meets Guy's six-string head-on, with Mance comping and popping a melodic fill underneath each sung phrase. He introduces "Five Long Years" as a piano blues that gets countered in exponential grit by Guy's vocal and Wells' punchy harp; he shuffles, fills, trills, and blows straight at the the keyboard, creating a forceful gale of dialogue. On the slippery boogie-woogie set closer, Wells' "Ain't No Need," the listener grasps the deep communication of this trio. Given how earthy, informal, and joyful this acoustic session is, it conveys everything right about Chicago blues. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide

     Artist: Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee
     Album: Sonny & Brownie
     Label: Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab
     Year: 1973; release: 1995
     Format, bitrate: MP3 @320 CBR (Audiophile LP rip)
     Time: 44:34
     Size:111.71 MB

     In a way, this is the veteran duo's version of Fathers and Sons, a meeting of old black bluesmen with young white admirers that Muddy Waters and Otis Spann cut with Mike Bloomfield and Paul Butterfield. John Mayall and John Hammond, Jr. are among the "youngsters" on this powerful statement that includes a definitive version of Randy Newman's wickedly subtle anti-slavery tune "Sail Away." Sonny Terry's trademark whoops are energizing. The repartee between him and Brownie McGhee might convince you they were fast friends if you didn't know otherwise. ~ Mark Allan, All Music Guide

      Artist: Various Artists
      Album: American Roots Music
      Label: Palm
      Year: 2001
      Format: Flac
      Time: CD 1-52:20; CD 2-52:29; CD 3-46:58; CD 4-62:33
      Size: CD 1-242 MB; CD 2-226 MB; CD 3-242 MB; CD 4-343 MB
      AMG rating:

      The successes of the breakthrough soundtrack from the film O Brother Where Art Thou? and the in-depth PBS television series Ken Burns' Jazz seem to have combined in the 2001 production of Palm Pictures' four-part TV series American Roots Music. The series touches on the development of the distinctly American styles of traditional folk, country, blues, gospel, Western swing, bluegrass, cajun, zydeco, Tejano, and Native American music. Corresponding with the television event, Palm has released a four-CD box set soundtrack with a 48-page booklet covering the styles covered during the show. Much like a broadened version of the amazing Washington Square Memoirs: The Great Urban Folk Boom, 1950-1970 CD set, American Roots Music has pulled together an impressive list of performers, including the Carter Family, Jimmie Rodgers, Bill Monroe, B.B. King, Hank Williams, Robert Johnson, Son House, Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly, the Staple Singers, Clifton Chenier, Flaco Jimenez, and Bob Dylan. The depth of the track selection is impressive, as is the breadth of the performers chosen. The producers have chosen to include some studio recordings, and some audio tracks taken from the film archives, making for a somewhat uneven sound quality. While the previously unreleased nature of these select tracks will appeal to collectors and die-hard fans, those just exploring these styles might be turned off by the rough quality of these performances. The discs span more than eight decades of music, acting as a good overview of these genres for new listeners, while Americana enthusiasts will view it as another great collection of the most influential American roots artists in music history. [Also available from Palm is a 19-song CD sampler entitled American Roots Music: Highlights and a video collection containing the entire television series on DVD and VHS.]

     Artist: Slim Harpo
     Album: The Scratch: Rare & Unissued (Vol.1)
     Label: Excello Records CD 3015
     Release: 1996
     Format: MP3 @320kbps
     Time: 69;48
     Size: 171 MB (Full Artwork)
     AMG Rating:


     A 25-track single-disc compilation loaded with previously unissued sides and alternate takes (the title track is an interesting variant of his hit, "Baby, Scratch My Back"), making it the perfect companion volume to Hip Shakin'. This also has the added bonus of more (and even wilder) live recordings from the infamous 1961 frat party dance in Alabama. Dodgy sound on the live sides, but performances too great to leave in the can either way.~ All Music Guide

      Artist: Howard Wales & Jerry Garcia
      Album: Hooteroll?
      Label: Douglas Records
      Year: 1971
      Format, bitrate: Mp3@256 Kbps
      Time: 35:00
      Size: 64 MB
      AMG rating:


Prior to releasing his first non-Grateful Dead-related solo albums, Jerry Garcia (guitar) teamed up with Howard Wales (keyboards), another Bay Area performer, for the instrumental studio outing Hooteroll? (1971). They had actually been sharing the stage of local clubs -- most notably the Matrix and Keystone Korners -- during Monday night open-jam sessions circa 1968 and 1969. It was these free-form live collaborations that connected the guitarist with future Jerry Garcia Band colleague John Kahn (bass), and the pair maintained a close musical association until Garcia's passing in 1995. The "anything goes" and "no expectations" mentality fuelling those Garcia and Wales gigs likewise translated into the primary motivating force behind this platter. Joining the two are Curly Cook (rhythm guitar), Bill Vitt (drums), Michael Marinelli (drums), Ken Balzall (trumpet), and Martin Fierro (sax/flute). "Morning in Marin" and the funky "South Side Strut" fuse intricate and advanced jazz progressions with soulful and driving rhythms, recalling Miles Davis' (trumpet) late-'60s work and Tony Williams' (drums) subsequent recordings Emergency! (1969) and Turn It Over (1970). "Da Bird Song" -- which bears no relationship to the "Bird Song" that Garcia cut on his 1972 self-titled debut -- provides a nice contrast, as it takes on a gospel flavor. The blend of Fierro's windswept flute, Wales' robust piano inflections, and Garcia's weepy pedal steel guitar licks put the selection in a category all its own. The moody "Up From the Desert" embraces a slightly ethereal air, especially within the quaint baroque introductory passages. "One A.M. Approach" is remarkable in its intimacy between the co-leads. Garcia brings a quality and pure tonality that he would rarely revisit, either on his own or in the context of the Grateful Dead. The original LP included seven tracks -- minus both "Morning in Marin" and "Evening in Marin." The 2004 CD reissue from Evolver inexplicably removed "A Trip to What Next," making the Rykodisc and Grateful Dead Records pressings the most complete available.

     Artist: Johnnie Temple and the Harlem Hamfats (Joe McCoy)
     Album: Johnnie Temple Vol. 1 (1935-38)
     Label: Document
     Year: 1935-38 ; release: 1990s
     Format, bitrate: mp3; VBR
     Time: 1 hour
     Size: 49.2 MB

     Artist: Otis Taylor
     Album: Below The Fold
     Label: Telarc International
     Year: 2005
     Format, bitrate: MP3; 320 kb/s CBR
     Time: 43:24 min.
     Size: 99 mb (Cover)
     AMG rating:

     Otis Taylor doesn't suffer fools lightly, and his insistent, hard-driving modal songs, full of defiant reclamations of history and tender vignettes of people struggling to survive in hostile cultural territory, are like nothing else on the contemporary blues scene. Imagine John Lee Hooker if he had grown up in the Appalachians and cut his teeth playing with a steam-driven mountain string band, then add in the fierce political commitment of a Peter Tosh, and you begin to get the picture. On Below the Fold, his third release for Telarc Records, Taylor stays well within the seam of his previous work, which is by no means a bad thing, and for the first time he actually adds drums (played by Greg Anton) to a few tracks, which is a bit like shoveling Sterno into the boiler, and cuts like the opening "Feel Like Lightning" literally explode down the track like a string band playing "Reuben's Train" on steroids. He calms things down a bit for the lovely "Boy Plays Mandolin," which features some beautifully spooky trumpet lines from Ron Miles. Arguably the most striking track here, however, is a song co-written with his teenage daughter Cassie Taylor (who plays bass on the album), "Working for the Pullman Company." Cassie came up with the melody and chorus when she was only five years old, and she handles the lead and harmony vocals on the song with impressive and wistful poise. Below the Fold fits easily into Taylor's emerging canon, and it has the same urgent, ragged beauty of his previous albums. He is unlikely to change the way he does things in the future, which is just fine, since his Appalachian griot approach is perfect for his musical and political agenda, and perfect for shaking up the complacency of the contemporary blues scene.

     Artist: Otis Taylor
     Album: Double V
     Label: Telarc International
     Year: 2004
     Format, bitrate: MP3; 320 kb/s CBR
     Time: 43:06 min.
     Size: 98 mb (Cover)

     Otis Taylor's unconventional approach to the blues has made him one of the freshest and most innovative musicians to hit the genre in decades. A multi-instrumentalist, his driving, modal arrangements and defiant, politicized subject matter make most other contemporary blues artists seem like watered-down popsters. Imagine grafting John Lee Hooker and Peter Tosh together into a righteous, fire-breathing hybrid, and you get the picture. But Taylor is more than just a loud challenge to the blues status quo. He is also a striking and intelligent songwriter who knows how to draw on history, when to re-imagine it, and when to dole it out straight, and he drives his points home with the force of a laser-guided jackhammer. On Double V, his second album on Telarc, Taylor has also added a kinder and gentler approach to his arsenal, coming up with songs like the opening track, "Please Come Home Before the Rain," and the closer, "Buy Myself Some Freedom," that make their points with easy, beautiful melodies. The upbeat and breezy "Please Come Home Before the Rain" is nothing short of a modern classic, a love song of sorts, sung by Taylor in a gentle, bemused voice as he tells the story of a sailor reading a letter from his wife. The stark "Plastic Spoon" is a haunting depiction of what happens when poverty and old age converge, as the protagonists in the song are forced to eat dog food with a plastic spoon in order to have enough money for prescription drugs. This is an unlikely subject for a song, certainly, but it works, and it illustrates why Taylor is such a vital and interesting artist. The autobiographical "Mama's Selling Heroin" is another unforgettable track. It isn't subtle, it doesn't wrap things up in a bow, and it is absolutely chilling. Taylor's choice of instrumentation on these songs is as innovative as his subject matter, with an assortment of churning, driving banjos, mandolins and acoustic guitars, little or no percussion, and well-placed cellos, all of which (when you add in his frequent hums, moans, and spoken interjections) combine to make him sound like some postmodern Appalachian griot who wandered into a new age convention and shook the place down. Taylor's 17-year-old daughter, Cassie Taylor, plays bass and adds harmony vocals throughout Double V, and she takes center stage on the album's final track, singing the beautiful and wistful "Buy Myself Some Freedom" with élan, framed by perfectly placed and nuanced trumpet lines from Ron Miles. There is nothing on Double V that hasn't been foreshadowed on Otis Taylor's previous albums, and there are plenty of his patented, piledriving modal blues pieces, but he has also figured out that there are times when nothing can rattle your head like a spoonful of sweetness. ~ Steve Leggett, All Music Guide

     Artist: Otis Taylor
     Album: When Negroes Walked the Earth
     Label: Shoelace Music
     Year: 2000
     Format, bitrate: MP3; 320 kb/s CBR
     Time: 39:35 min.
     Size: 95 Mb (Cover)
     AMG rating:

     Otis Taylor earned acclaim in 2001 when his White African release got picked up for national distribution, but this previous disc could just as easily have been the one to bring him into the spotlight: It was every bit as deep, ambitious, and listenable as White African. Listening to the independently issued When Negroes Walked the Earth reveals that Taylor was already one of the most fully developed voices in contemporary blues -- an artist in the true sense of the word, intent on crafting his ideas into sharply realized songs and then into a full-fledged album. Everything seems purposeful; the skeletal arrangements lend emotional resonance to chilling songs like "500 Roses" and "12 String Mile," and the remarkable variety in Taylor's droning, single-chord structures rivals even that of John Lee Hooker. And lest anyone wonder whether a drumless trio can keep a groove, hearing album highlight "Cold at Midnight," driven to the brink of oblivion by bassist Kenny Passarelli's heartbeat pulse, should put all fears to rest. Taylor would return to many of the same lyrical themes later in his career -- references to violence, death, and the paradoxes of African-American history are frequent -- but When Negroes Walked the Earth covered these topics just as powerfully as his subsequent, more widely distributed work.

     Artist: Otis Taylor
     Album: White African
     Label: Northern Blues
     Year: 2001
     Format, bitrate: MP3; 320 kb/s CBR
     Time: 40:17 min.
     Size: 95 mb

     As he did on his previous releases, the multitalented Otis Taylor has reached deep into the roots of acoustic blues and hauled them into the daylight, in the form of an album that's hauntingly beautiful. Everything about white african is stellar - the execution, the musical interpretation, the pacing, the songs themselves -- to the extent that one can hardly avoid describing it in superlatives. Even background sounds, like the barely heard sound of a child wailing on '3 Days and 3 Nights' are entirely appropriate and never devolve into cheesiness or silliness."
     That song's by far the most heart-breaking on the album; it's so tenderly performed that it's worth the price of the CD alone. Fortunately, it's followed by the harmonica-driven "Round and Round" and the shuffling "Stick on You," which calls to mind early John Lee Hooker. This kind of balance and counterbalance exists all over white african; the very first song, "My Soul's in Louisiana", features a steady beat accented by a repeated pedal tone on the guitar, only to be followed by the much slower "Resurrection Blues". This maintains a nice pace throughout the album, so that the closing "Hungry Blues" about as slow and sad as the title suggests, contains as much energy and tension as the uptempo "Lost My Horse," which has all the drive of a train at full speed"
     "It's worth mentioning at this point that there are songs on white african that sound as though Taylor dug them out of a dusty Alan Lomax recording. Not so; all the songs were written by Taylor himself, proof positive that he's got a solid handle on the spirit of the genre. As if this weren't enough, Taylor plays just about everything except for the kitchen sink, from acoustic guitar to electric banjo, and does it all with expressiveness and aplomb. Then, again, we shouldn't expect anything less from a man who's played with everyone from Muddy Waters to Jimi Hendrix and who has been at this for decades. White African is one of the first releases from NorthernBlues, a new Toronto-based label; if it's any indication, we should expect a lot of good music from them.

     Artists: Mississippi Fred McDowell and Johnny Woods
     Album: Mamma Says I'm Crazy
     Label: Fat Possum Records
     Year: 1967; release: 2002
     Format, bitrate mp3; vbr
     Size: 38,26
     AMG rating:

     Since no one could copyright "Mississippi," two major blues performers, Fred McDowell and John Hurt, adopted the state as part of their name. To confuse matters more, both performers made comebacks during the late '50s/early '60s and both specialized in prewar acoustic blues. While a blues novice might find such similarities confusing, the two men's singing and guitar styles are polar opposites. Whereas Hurt's smooth, deep vocals and Piedmont fingerpicking made him easily accessible to the folk revival crowd, McDowell's soulful vocals and forcefully rhythmic guitar represented something more primitive. In 1967, producer George Mitchell brought together McDowell and harp player Johnny Woods for an off-the-cuff session not unlike what one might have heard at a Como, MS, house party. Interestingly, the two men hadn't played together in eight years, but on songs like "Standing at the Backdoor" and the title track, one would never guess it. This isn't a polite affair, with one player holding back while the other solos. Instead, McDowell and Woods trade notes, overlap, and rush forward on "Long Haired Doney" and "Shake Em' on Down" as though they had an unlimited supply of energy. While McDowell's vocals and slashing guitar propel "Goin' Away" and "I Got a Woman" forward, Woods' harp adds pizzazz. Acoustic blues fans will warmly embrace Mama Says I'm Crazy and be thankful that Mitchell went to the trouble required to track down Woods for this earthy set.

     Artist: Tom Shaw
     Album: Blind Lemon's Buddy
     Label: Blue Goose Records
     Year: 1972
     Format, bitrate: MP3, 320 kbps
     Time: 42:03
     Size: 96.3 MB

     Tom Shaw (b. 1908 in Brenham, Texas; d. 1977 in San Diego, California) was a disciple of both Blind Lemon Jefferson and Blind Willie Johnson.

     Artist: Tommy McClennan
     Albums: Whiskey Head Woman, Vol. 1/Cross Cut Saw Blues, Vol. 2
     Label: Document
     Year: 1939-40; release: 1997
     Format, bitrate: Mp3, 320 kbps
     Size: 83,42Mb + 91,04 Mb

     McClennan would work in the cotton fields by day and in the evenings he would play on the streets of Greenwood, MS. Later he worked in juke joints and for dance parties, playing both the guitar and the piano. McClennan was a small man, standing just 4 feet 10, but this in no way negated the powerful voice that he possessed. His voice was rough, hoarse and loud. Loud enough to be heard over the hubbub in a Mississippi juke joint on a Saturday night. Honeyboy Edwards tells of Tommy's habit of standing in front of a mirror talking to himself. It was a trick he carried forward into his act; as he sang a number he would supply a second voice to offer himself advice, admonitions and praise, sometimes laughing as if he recognised the absurdity of what he was doing. He sounded ferocious, unstable, big and mean. However throughout his life McClennan was an ill man, suffering from tuberculosis, and an addiction to alcohol. In 1939 McClennan was 'discovered' by Lester Melrose of Bluebird Records and recorded the first of 5 sessions for him. Three of these sessions are featured on this Document Records CD. After the recording of these sessions, Melrose decided to release McClennan from the label due to his unreliability and alcoholism. McClennan then 'disappeared', only playing occasionally here and there in the Chicago clubs. Honeyboy Edwards tried to resurrect McClennan's career in 1962, by which time Tommy was destitute and living in a truck trailer he had converted into a makeshift house. Edwards tried to bring McClennan back to the stage but his constant desire for alcohol and unreliability ended this second opportunity of fame. McClennan returned to his life in the slums and shortly afterwards died alone and penniless.

     Artist: Various Artists
     Album: Backwood Blues 1926-1935
     Label: Document records
     Year: 1926-1935; release: 1996
     Format, bitrate: mp3, 320 kps
     Time: 69:39
     Size: 153 MB

Profound music by 3(4) of the best wailers of the early blues to be recorded.

     Backwood Blues 1926-1935 contains a selection of material from the early country-blues singers. The best-known name is Bo Weavil Jackson, who has the best cuts on this 18-track collection; Bobby Grant, King Solomon Hill and Lane Hardin are the other singers here. While the Jackson cuts are uniformly interesting, much of the music here is only appealing to specialists and academics. For anyone else, the exacting chronological sequencing, poor fidelity (everything was transferred from acetates and 78s) and uneven performances make this collection of marginal interest.

     Artist: Buddy Moss
     Album: The George Mitchell Collection
     Label: Fat Possum
     Year: 1963; release: 2006
     Format, bitrate: mp3;VBR
     Time: 21 mins
     Size: 36,28 mb

     The folk-blues revival of the early 1960s brought newfound fame and riches to ”rediscovered” prewar musicians such as Mississippi John Hurt, Son House, and Rev. Gary Davis. In the spring of 1963 George Mitchell found and recorded Buddy Moss in Atlanta. These tracks, released on the CD Buddy Moss: The George Mitchell Collection, reveal that Moss had retained much of his skill as a guitarist and singer, especially on “Hey Lawdy Mama” and “Cold Rainy Day.” On other songs, such as Blind Blake’s “That Will Never Happen No More,” he was less on target. The Atlanta Folk Music Society sponsored him in a series of concerts, and he recorded a session for Columbia Records, but this was not issued during his lifetime. Songs from his June 1966 concert in Washington, D.C., were issued on the Biograph LP Atlanta Blues Legend, and he appeared at the 1969 Newport Folk Festival. ~ jasobrecht.com

     Artist: Pink Anderson
     Album:Medicine Show Man Vol. 2
     Label: OBC/Prestige Bluesville BV 1051
     Year: 1961; release: 1999
     Format, bitrate: mp3@320kbps
     Time: 39:34
     Size: 75 MB
     AMG Rating:

     Like volume one and three of the series of LPs Anderson did for Bluesville, this was recorded in 1961 (though it was recorded in New York City whereas the others were recorded in Spartanburg, SC). Volumes one and three were mostly traditional songs; these are all traditional songs in the public domain. It follows that if you liked volumes one and three, you'd probably like this too; if you want to choose just one, you're about as well off with any of the individual volumes. If you had to split hairs, it seems that Anderson sounds a bit more comfortable in the studio/recording setting on this one than on the others, and a tad less countrified and more urbane. The tone is cheerful and easygoing, like that of a well-loved man entertaining his neighbors. Which is not to say this is a throwaway; the phrasing and rhythms are crisp, and the ragtime-speckled folk/blues guitar accomplished.

     Artist: Hugh Laurie
     Album: Let them talk
     Release date: May 6, 2011
     Label: Warner Bros UK
     Quality: mp3@320 kbps
     Size: 130 mb

     Hugh Laurie will release his debut album 'Let Them Talk' on May 9th 2011 on Warner Bros Records. A glorious celebration of New Orleans blues, 'Let Them Talk' unites Laurie's musical talent with a very personal selection of standards and lost blues classics performed with his band of renowned musicians and some very special guest stars. Produced by Joe Henry and recorded at sessions in Los Angeles and New Orleans, 'Let Them Talk' sees Laurie on vocals and piano heading a team of musicians whose previous collective credits include work with artists as varied as Greg Allman, Solomon Burke, Robert Plant, kd lang, T-Bone Burnett, Alison Krause and John Legend. Together, they interpret and revive songs originally recorded by NOLA blues legends such as Lead Belly, Robert Johnson, Ray Charles and Memphis Slim. 'Let Them Talk' also features collaborations with the Soul Queen of New Orleans Irma Thomas and Sir Tom Jones on the little known 'Baby, please Make A Change'. Thomas also leads the vocals on 'John Henry', while Laurie's lifelong hero Dr. John provides a momentous collaboration on 'After You've Gone'. Another legend, the producer, musician and songwriter Allen Toussaint, contributes horn arrangements throughout.

     Artist: John Lee Hooker
     Album: Born In Mississippi, Raised Up In Tennessee
     Year: 1971
     Label: ABC
     Format: Mp3
     Quality: 320Kbps
     Total Time: 43:04
     Total Size: 102.35 MB


     Pretty straight blues material from Hooker, with less of the funk of some of his other albums at the time – but done with a good mix of west coast jazz and funk players, in that laidback stoned-out sound of the crossover blues scene of the early 70s. Players include Sugarcane Harris, Clifford Coulter, Michael White, George Bohannon, Oscar Brashear, and John Klemmer – and titles include "Younger Stud", "King Of The World", "Tell Me You Love Me", and "Going Down".

     Artist: Roosevelt Sykes
     Album: Roosevelt Sykes Sings the Blues
     Label: Diablo
     Year: 1962, release: 1998
     Quality: /Type-Mp3 320 Kbps
     Size: 57.3 Mbs
     Time: 25:07


     An immensely enjoyable set of low key Chicago blues, recorded in 1962 and featuring "The Honeydripper" in fine fettle. Sykes' backing musicians on this small group date include the great Willie Dixon on bass, alongside renowned tenor man Sax Mallard, Lee Jackson on guitar and drummer Armand "Jump" Jackson. Remastered from the original stereo production masters and, being part of Ace's "Hip Pocket" series, reissued as a facsimile of the original Crown album release. Sykes is a genuine blues legend, with more than 35 years of recording history to his credit very little of which is currently available on CD. This mid priced release will therefore be welcomed as an important addition to a catalogue that deserves to be more widely heard. ~ worldsrecords.com

     Artist: C.W. Stoneking
     Album: Jungle Blues
     Label: King Hokum Records
     Year: 2008, release: 2010
     Format: MP3 167-237kps (VBR)
     Time: 41 minutes
     Size: 55.9mb


     C W Stoneking is a one-off eccentric of the first order, a 21st-century Australian white man who presents himself, colouration excepted, as a black American minstrel from a century earlier.

     White men singing the blues is no new thing, of course, but Stoneking delves deeper than most, singing in a whiskery growl-cum-yodel that's equal parts Satchmo and Skip James, and adding to his nimble guitar vamps some of the most authentic New Orleans minstrel-band horns you'll hear this side of George Lewis's Eureka Brass Band, a louche syncopation that brings vivid atmosphere to the title-track of this debut album. Elsewhere, "Talkin' Lion Blues" is a drolly punning tall story about an encounter with a conversational cat, while "Brave Son of America" offers a calypso tribute to General MacArthur in the style of Van Dyke Parks's Discover America. ~ Andy Gill, The Independent