Brownie McGhee - 1940 - Not Guilty Blues [320]

Here's an 18-track collection of McGhee's earliest recordings, all of it emanating from sessions held in 1940 and the following year. Brownie's recordings as Blind Boy Fuller #2 are here, as well as the first recordings pairing him with longtime future partner Sonny Terry. His work with washboard player Oh Red and the mysterious Jordan Webb playing harmonica is every bit as effective, though, and tracks like "Picking My Tomatoes" and "Born For Bad Luck" get this set off to a wonderful start; the musical quotient stays high all, the way to the end. Everything is pulled off of old, beat-up 78s, and the quality is up and down on every track, but this as fine an early Brownie McGhee set as you'll come across.

(Full Covers)

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Brownie McGhee - 2004 - The Story Of The Blues [320]

Brownie McGhee's death in 1996 represents an enormous and irreplaceable loss in the blues field. Although he had been semi-retired and suffering from stomach cancer, the guitarist was still the leading Piedmont-style bluesman on the planet, venerated worldwide for his prolific activities both on his own and with his longtime partner, the blind harpist Sonny Terry.Together, McGhee and Terry worked for decades in an acoustic folk-blues bag, singing ancient ditties like "John Henry" and "Pick a Bale of Cotton" for appreciative audiences worldwide.

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Brownie McGhee - 2001 - Back Home Blues [320]

Although he is chiefly known for his long collaboration with blind harmonica player Sonny Terry, guitarist Brownie McGhee made scores of recordings under his own name, including the ones collected here, which are drawn from his three sessions in 1941 for OKeh Records. There is a lively, fun, and refreshing intimacy to these sides, as McGhee, accompanied by Bull City Red on washboard and occasional second guitar from Buddy Moss, delivers a set of folk blues filled with obvious joy. His first pairing with Terry on harmonica, "Workingman's Blues," is here, as well as tracks where Jordan Webb handles the harp duties. McGhee and company deliver a whole lot of whooping and stomping in an endearing street-corner style.

(Full Covers)

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