Source: LL (from CD)
Released: 2003
Styles: Blues
Time: 75:25
Size: 174,3 MB
Covers: Front, CD
(2:49) 1. Sylvester Cotton - When I'm Gone Test
(2:39) 2. Sylvester Cotton - Three Cent Stamp Blues
(2:18) 3. Sylvester Cotton - Sak-Relation Blues
(3:06) 4. Sylvester Cotton - Brown Skin Woman
(2:33) 5. Sylvester Cotton - Big Chested Mama Blues
(2:46) 6. Sylvester Cotton - Thanksgiving Blues
(2:48) 7. Sylvester Cotton - Stranger in Your Town Blues
(2:37) 8. Sylvester Cotton - Watered Down Blues (Waterlee Blues)
(2:45) 9. Sylvester Cotton - I'm Gone Blues
(2:40) 10. Sylvester Cotton - Single Man's Blues
(3:06) 11. Sylvester Cotton - Pay Day Blues
(2:37) 12. Sylvester Cotton - Waitin' Blues (Way Down in Hell)
(2:50) 13. Sylvester Cotton - Wife Lovin Blues
(2:52) 14. Sylvester Cotton - Stormy Weather Blues
(2:58) 15. Sylvester Cotton - Christmas Blues
(2:53) 16. Sylvester Cotton - Cotton Field Blues
(2:36) 17. Sylvester Cotton - Ugly Woman Blues
(2:55) 18. Sylvester Cotton - Sak-Relation Blues
(2:57) 19. Sylvester Cotton - I Tried
(4:53) 20. Sylvester Cotton - She Don't Walk
(2:44) 21. Andrew Dunham - Little Bitty Woman
(3:48) 22. Andrew Dunham - Rocky Mountain
(3:01) 23. Andrew Dunham - Little Bitty Woman
(4:41) 24. Andrew Dunham - I Found Out
(3:24) 25. Andrew Dunham - Corinne
Blues Sensation might be a bit of a stretch, but there's no denying this is a great set of gritty blues from late-'40s Detroit. Both Sylvester Cotton and Andrew Dunham were contemporaries of John Lee Hooker (one of the Cotton sides was actually credited to Hooker when issued), and both performed solo with their guitar. The majority of sides here belong to Cotton, who plays a steel-bodied guitar with a very country chordal playing style with quick fills as opposed to more delicate fingerpickers like Fred McDowell or Skip James. Much of Cotton's output sounds very spontaneous, as though he was making up the songs on the spot like Bukka White did. Cotton's subject matter was sometimes as indelicate as his guitar playing with titles like "Big Chested Mama Blues" and "Sak-Relation Blues," and in "Watered Down Blues" he sings about hitting his baby in the head with a hammer. Five tracks from Dunham finish out the set. The recording quality is a bit rougher here, but still very listenable. Dunham starts with a tune called "Rocky Mountain" that's a raw, manic stomper with bashed-out chords. The next track, "Little Bitty Woman," shows considerably more guitar skill, to the point that it really stands out among the Dunham tracks. This collection should please any fan of raw, early urban blues. -- Allmusic.
Blues Sensation: Detroit Downhome Recordings 1948-1949