Masters of Memphis Blues compiles four CDs of performances by Furry Lewis, Beale Street Sheiks, Gus Cannon as Banjo Joe, Frank Stokes, Allen Shaw, Robert Wilkins and Little Buddy Doyle. It's hard to go wrong with these 101 recordings cut between 1927 and 1939. The tracks have been remastered, making the majority of this material sound great. Unlike other packages of this type, the liner notes are informative, listing personnel and dates and providing concise histories without going on ad nauseam. Beale Street in Memphis was Black man's street. Many people came to gamble, to con, to cheat and to have a good time. Beale Street was a joint street, it was never night time. They just stayed open from dawn to dawn. Unregulated mayhem reigned any night of the week in the alleys. The weekly death rate was alarming but musicians mostly avoided joining it. Pianos and guitars played the soundtrack for raucous behaviour in the taverns and bars that catered to the teeming humanity drawn like bees to Beale Streer's honey.
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Source: LL (from CD)
Released: 2004
Styles: Blues
Time: 72:56
Size: 168,6 MB
Covers: Full
(2:55) 1. Everybody's Blues
(2:34) 2. Mr. Furry's Blues
(2:12) 3. Sweet Papa Moan
(2:48) 4. Rock Island Blues
(2:39) 5. Jelly Roll
(2:33) 6. Billy Lyons and Stack O'Lee
(2:52) 7. Good Looking Girl Blues
(2:46) 8. Why Don't You Come Home Blues
(2:50) 9. Falling Down Blues
(2:51) 10. Big Chief Blues
(2:45) 11. Mean Old Bed Bug Blues
(3:15) 12. Furry's Blues
(3:13) 13. I Will Turn Your Money Green
(3:11) 14. I Will Turn Your Money Green
(3:08) 15. Mistreatin' Mama
(3:06) 16. Dry Land Blues
(3:06) 17. Cannon Ball Blues
(3:06) 18. Kassie Jones, Pt. 1
(3:03) 19. Kassie Jones, Pt. 2
(3:06) 20. Judge Harsh Blues
(3:00) 21. Judge Harsh Blues
(2:54) 22. John Henry (The Steel Driving Man), Pt. 1
(3:20) 23. John Henry (The Steel Driving Man), Pt. 2
(2:49) 24. Black Gypsy Blues
(2:40) 25. Creeper's Blues
Tracks 01-25 : Furry Lewis
Furry Lewis was born in Mississippi but grew up in Memphis. As a kid, he made himself a guitar of a cigar box and screen wire. Lewis was good and he got him a Martin guitar. Furry played the streets with a jug band and travelled the South with medicine shows. In 1916 he lost a leg hopping a freight train. In 1923 Lewis worked for the Memphis Sanitation department, cleaning the streets and hauling garbage. In the evening and at night he played parties and taverns. Furry Lewis was a very popular entertainer. In 1925 he joined the Memphis Jug Band with Will Shade, Dewey Thomas and Hambone Lewis. A Vocalion talent scout discovered Lewis and Jim Jackson in 1927 and they recorded their first sides in Chicago. Victor recorded Lewis in Memphis in 1929. Thirty years later Furry Lewis was rediscovered by Sam Charters and made a comeback.
Masters of Memphis Blues Disc A
Masters of Memphis Blues Disc A artwork
Album: Masters of Memphis Blues Disc B
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Source: LL (from CD)
Released: 2004
Styles: Blues
Time: 74:08
Size: 171,4 MB
Covers: Full
(2:49) 1. You Shall
(2:55) 2. It's a Good Thing
(2:55) 3. Sweet to Mama
(2:51) 4. Half Cup of Tea
(2:53) 5. Beale Town Bound
(2:56) 6. Last Go Round
(2:48) 7. Jazzin' the Blues
(2:42) 8. You Shall
(2:58) 9. It's a Good Thing
(2:39) 10. Mr. Crump Don't Like It
(3:06) 11. Chicken You Can Roost Behind the Moon
(2:43) 12. Blues in D
(2:55) 13. Ain't Goin' to Do Like I Used to Do
(3:06) 14. Hunting Blues
(3:11) 15. Rockin' on the Hill Blues
(3:09) 16. Fillin' in Blues, Pt. 1
(3:14) 17. Fillin' in Blues, Pt. 2
(3:08) 18. Wasn't That Doggin' Me
(3:06) 19. Jumpin' on the Hill
(3:10) 20. Jonestown Blues
(3:12) 21. Poor Boy, Long Ways from Home
(2:57) 22. Madison Street Rag
(2:57) 23. Jazz Gypsy Blues
(2:45) 24. Can You Blame the Colored Man
(2:51) 25. My Money Never Runs Out
Tracks 01 - 19 : The Beale Street Sheiks
Tracks 20 - 25 : Banjo Joe (Gus Cannon)
The Beale Street Sheiks are Frank Stokes and Dan Sane. In the summer of 1927 they travelled to Chicago to record. Few of these songs could be categorised as blues: the basic 8- or 16 bar measures were bent out of shape by Stokes adsides of impromptu polyrhytmic excursions. Two more sessions took place, but Stokes also recorded sessions under his own name.
Before the formation of Cannon's Jug Stompers, Gus Cannon was known as Banjo Joe, travelling with many medicine shows. All of his 10 brothers played an instrument and Gus played the banjo. Cannon worked for a while on steamboats. In Tennessee he met Noah Lewis and they travelled to Memphis. A Paramount talent scout noticed Cannon in Chicago and offered him a recording contract to cut six sides; on all but one of which he was accompanied by Blind Blake.
Masters of Memphis Blues Disc B
Masters of Memphis Blues Disc B artwork
Album: Masters of Memphis Blues Disc C
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Source: LL (from CD)
Released: 2004
Styles: Blues
Time: 77:14
Size: 178,3 MB
Covers: Full
(3:10) 1. Downtown Blues
(3:14) 2. Downtown Blues
(2:58) 3. Bedtime Blues
(3:01) 4. What's the Matter Blues
(3:14) 5. Mistreatin' Blues
(3:03) 6. It Won't Be Long
(3:24) 7. It Won't Be Long
(3:06) 8. Nehi Mamma Blues
(3:00) 9. I Got Mine
(3:18) 10. Stomp That Thing
(3:10) 11. 'Tain't Nobody's Bizness If I Do, Pt. 1
(3:17) 12. 'Tain't Nobody's Bizness If I Do, Pt. 2
(3:16) 13. 'Tain't Nobody's Bizness If I Do, Pt. 2
(3:11) 14. Take Me Back
(3:12) 15. How Long
(2:56) 16. South Memphis Blues
(2:55) 17. Bunker Hill Blues
(3:07) 18. Right Now Blues
(3:07) 19. Shiney Town Blues
(2:47) 20. I'm Going Away Blues
(2:47) 21. Old Sometime Blues
(2:54) 22. Frank Stokes' Dream
(2:49) 23. Memphis Rounders Blues
(3:06) 24. I Couldn't Help It
(3:02) 25. Moanin' the Blues
Tracks 01 - 23 : Frank Stokes
Tracks 24 - 25 : Allen Shaw
Frank Stokes was Memphis favorite blues musician and he knew he was the better guitar player. He also set a fashion for musicians: a cap, suspenders and tweed pants. His solo recordings were made in 1928 and 1929. His Beale Street Sheik partner Dan Sane accompanied him on guitar and violin.
Guitarist Allen Shaw was well known around Memphis but spend most of his time traveling between communities of Western Tennessee. In his younger days he played also with Noah Lewis. While playing in Memphis, he performed with singer Hattie Hart. In september 1934, Shaw travelled with Hart and Willie Borum to New York to record. Allen Shaw got the chance to record for himself and two songs were issued.
Masters of Memphis Blues Disc C
Masters of Memphis Blues Disc C artwork
Album: Masters of Memphis Blues Disc D
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Source: LL (from CD)
Released: 2004
Styles: Blues
Time: 77:14
Size: 178,4 MB
Covers: Full
(2:55) 1. Rolling Stone, Pt. 1
(3:30) 2. Rolling Stone, Pt. 2
(3:33) 3. Jail House Blues
(3:38) 4. I Do Blues
(2:54) 5. That's No Way to Get Along
(2:38) 6. Alabama Blues
(3:07) 7. Long Train Blues
(2:39) 8. Falling Down Blues
(3:24) 9. Nashville Stonewall Blues
(3:03) 10. Police Sergeant Blues
(3:33) 11. Get Away Blues
(3:07) 12. I'll Go With Her Blues
(3:15) 13. Dirty Deal Blues
(2:52) 14. Black Rat Blues
(2:58) 15. New Stock Yard Blues
(2:53) 16. Old Jim Canaan's
(3:11) 17. Losin' Out Blues
(2:40) 18. Hard Scufflin' Blues
(2:37) 19. Grief Will Kill You
(2:38) 20. Slick Capers Blues
(2:32) 21. Renewed Love Blues
(2:34) 22. Bad in Mind Blues
(2:53) 23. Three-Sixty-Nine Blues
(2:36) 24. She's Got Good Dry Goods
(2:42) 25. Lost Baby Blues
(2:40) 26. Sweet Man Blues
Tracks 01 - 17 : Robert Wilkins
Tracks 18 - 26 : Little Buddy Doyle
Robert Wilkins learned to play guitar as a teenager, watching others play. After a year Wilkins was the leading songster and blues player in Hernando. In 1915 he moved to Memphis and moved in with an older sister. In the mid 1920s Wilkins worked for Pullman, traveling the whole country. After he met Joe Lawlars he took up music again. They recorded some songs in a furniture store on Third and Beale. "Rolling Stone" was pressed and on sale and made them in-demand performers. A session for Brunswick followed. In 1935 Wilkins recorded with Son Joe and Kid Spoons for Vocalion. Wilkins married to raise a family and quit music in 1936.
Little Buddy Doyle recorded 10 songs at two sessions for Okeh and Vocalion in 1939. Most of the time he played the streets of Memphis and in Beale Street Park. He worked with Frank Stokes, Furry Lewis, Walter Horton and Homesick James.
Masters of Memphis Blues Disc D
Masters of Memphis Blues Disc D artwork