V.A. - Rags, Breakdowns, Stomps & Blues: Vintage Mandolin Music (1927-1946)

File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Time: 71:46
Size: 167.7 MB
Released: 2004
Styles: Traditional blues, Appalachian, Piedmont blues
Art: Front

1. Louie Bluie - State Street Rag (2:46)
2. Dallas String Band - Hokum Blues (3:25)
3. Phebel Wright - Lint Head Stomp (2:36)
4. Carolina Peanut Boys - You May Leave, But This Will Bring You Back (3:05)
5. The Blue Boys - Easy Winner (2:54)
6. John Estes - Milk Cow Blues (3:02)
7. John Estes - Watcha Doin' (3:03)
8. Dallas String Band - Dallas Rag (2:56)
9. Gid Tanner & His Skillet Lickers - Flop Eared Mule (2:57)
10. Arizona Dranes & Choir - I Shall Wear A Crown (3:26)
11. Mississippi Mud Steppers - Jackson Stomp (3:09)
12. Ishman Bracey - Brown Mama Blues (3:08)
13. The Two Poor Boys - Two White Horses In A Line (2:51)
14. Scottdale String Band - Carbolic Rag (3:16)
15. King David's Jug Band - Rising Sun Blues (3:09)
16. Johnson Boys - Prater Blues (3:11)
17. Carolina Peanut Boys - You Got Me Rollin' (2:31)
18. Nashville Washboard Band - Arkansas Traveller (2:08)
19. Nashville Washboard Band - Goin' Away To Make Me Lonesome (3:53)
20. Gid Tanner & His Skillet Lickers - Hawkins Rag (2:52)
21. Paul Warmack & His Gully Jumpers - The Little Red Caboose Behind The Train (2:55)
22. Al Miller & His Market Street Boys - Somebody's Been Using That Thing (2:47)
23. Arthur McClain & Joe Evans - Old Hen Cackle (2:43)
24. Blue Ridge Ramblers - Jug Rag (2:51)

This sprightly compilation from Document Records collects 24 vintage 78s recorded between 1927 and 1946 that feature the mandolin in a variety of settings, from blues to gospel, played by an assortment of jug, string, and hokum bands. There's a ton of energy here, and fans of the instrument will love this set, although the casual listener may find it a little repetitive.
Highlights include "State Street Rag" by the great Louie Bluie, a fluid version of "Lint Head Stomp" by Phebel Wright, the classic "Milk Cow Blues" (featuring the mandolin playing of Yank Rachell) by Sleepy John Estes, a jaunty "Jackson Stomp" by the Mississippi Mud Steppers, and the season-hopping "You Got Me Rollin'" by the Carolina Peanut Boys. Another gem is the wonderfully titled "Going Away to Make It Lonesome Here" by the Nashville Washboard Band, which features some particularly odd, cartoonish percussion. In essence Rags, Breakdowns, Stomps and Blues is a capsule history of early American mandolin playing, and the vitality and good humor of this collection should brighten any day. ~ Steve Leggett
Joe Evans & Arthur McClain, Arthur McClain (vocals, guitar, mandolin); Ishman Bracey, Sam Harris (vocals, guitar); Arizona Dranes (vocals, mandolin, piano); Coley Jones, Al Miller , Vol Stevens (vocals, mandolin); Sam Jones (vocals, pipe); Charlie "Bozo" Nickerson (vocals, harmonica); Marco Washington (vocals); Burt Hutcherson, Nap Hayes, Frank Dalton, Junior Morgan, Riley Puckett, Ted Bogan, Bo Carter, Charlie Burse (guitar); Roy Hardison, Gid Tanner (banjo); "Dude", Matthew Prater, James "Yank" Rachel, Charles Hurt, Paul Warmack, James Kelly, Louie Bluie, Phebel Wright (mandolin); Shelby David "Tex" Achinson (violin); Charley Arrington, Gordon Tanner (fiddle); Frank Melrose, Jab Jones (piano).

Rags, Breakdowns, Stomps & Blues: Vintage Mandolin Music (1927-1946)

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Ishman Bracey - Suitcase Full of Blues 1928-1929

File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Time: 63:46
Size: 146.1 MB
Released: 2011
Styles: Delta blues
Art: Front

1. Stranger Blues (3:32)
2. Saturday Blues (3:29)
3. Left Alone Blues (3:32)
4. Leavin' Town Blues (3:29)
5. Leavin' Town Blues (3:31)
6. Brown Mama Blues (3:36)
7. Brown Mama Blues (3:08)
8. Trouble Hearted Blues (3:33)
9. Trouble Hearted Blues (3:24)
10. The Four Day Blues (3:22)
11. The Four Day Blues (3:20)
12. Jake Liquor Blues (3:30)
13. Family Stirving (3:15)
14. Mobile Stomp (3:14)
15. Farish Street Rag (2:57)
16. Woman Woman Blues (3:30)
17. Suitcase Full of Blues (3:05)
18. Bust Up Blues (2:55)
19. Pay Me No Mind (3:15)

Ishman Bracey was an original amongst originals, as all bluesmen were in a way Outlaws among Outlaws, as no two played the same song the same way twice. But Ishman was lucky to have had such a rare kindred spirit in bluesdom in his bestest friend and lifelong inspirational partner Tommy Johnson. Two Old Crow's if ever there were two regulars hanging for life in the same ancient tree or seated at the same bar stools reserved exclusively for each. Telling that these two local cronies spent near everyday of their lives at each other's side yet their music is wholly singularly each's own and expressive of each's spirit. Those were days when if one played a traditional song note for note of someone else's accomplishment it only showed you were not a real musician and had no right to steal, or worse, forge a fakery and mock another...thus no song was played the same way twice in a music who has no equivalent in America today as far as spontaneous purity goes. There is no place on the planet where a music as versatile and divers as that of the entire state of Mississippi is where some unknown night only the dog star shone there rose out of a soil as dark as coffeegrounds a 100 bogey's hollerin’ the blues everywhere two roads crossed one another. A state that boasts a delta valley that only the Nile in Egypt can compare to for sheer size and grandiose beauty, as well as the richest soil in the world! The Jester Ruthless purports with abundant evidence a meteor landed in the vicinity of Clarksdale, in the very heart of the delta around 1926, and that explains why the Devil's got no dice on Mississippi Bluesmen, and could relax whenever he made his way down from Memphis all the way to Jackson, the unholy capitol of rough and lowdown juke joints where Tommy and "IshY" hung out before and after their glorified return from up north in the deltalands where Tommy's Brother tells he use to boast the devil hisself sat down and learned him how to play the git-fiddle a year ago he could barely keep tuned rightly! ~Anita Fix/Amazon

Suitcase Full of Blues 1928-1929

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Tommy Johnson, Ishman Bracey - Canned Heat Blues

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 43:30
Size: 99.6 MB
Styles: Acoustic delta blues
Year: 1969/2014
Art: Front

[3:23] 1. Tommy Johnson - Cool Drink Of Water Blues
[3:09] 2. Tommy Johnson - Big Bad Road
[3:01] 3. Tommy Johnson - Bye Bye Blues
[3:29] 4. Tommy Johnson - Maggie Campbell Blues
[3:36] 5. Tommy Johnson - Canned Heat Blues
[3:14] 6. Tommy Johnson - Lonesome Home Blues (Take 2)
[3:15] 7. Tommy Johnson - Big Fat Mama Blues
[3:26] 8. Ishman Bracey - Saturday Blues
[3:27] 9. Ishman Bracey - Left Alone Blues
[3:26] 10. Ishman Bracey - Leavin' Town Blues (Take 2)
[3:07] 11. Ishman Bracey - Brown Mama Blues (Take 2)
[3:34] 12. Ishman Bracey - Trouble Hearted Blues (Take 1)
[3:19] 13. Ishman Bracey - The Four Day Blues (Take 1)

After a break of over 25 years, JSP re-enter the vinyl album market and they start with a peach - the historic, hugely influential and still majestic Tommy Johnson recordings from 1928.

While only totalling seven songs, each of these was to prove somehow pivotal in creating the template, repertoire and standard that Mississippi delta blues was to follow. In doing this, he was second perhaps only to Charlie Patton in influence, though in terms of ‘dealing with the devil' myth-making and dissolute life-style he created the path that Robert Johnson was to follow nearly a decade later. And, while other Tommy Johnson recordings were later discovered, it is these few that established the reputation.

Side 2 is given over to six sides from friend, musical accomplice and travelling partner, Ishman Bracey. These are all exemplary delta blues numbers. Bracey was reputedly a better musician than Johnson (as outlined in Neil Slaven's excellent new liner notes to this LP) but somehow was never afforded the legendary status that posterity has gifted to Johnson.

If, like me, you already have these titles on an old Roots LP (RL330), with the same running order and even an additional alternate take from both Johnson and Bracey, you might well question whether you need to buy this again. Quite simply, this new version, on high quality 180g vinyl has a much superior sound. The re-mastered versions used here by JSP have successfully removed much of the surface noise that earlier generations of LPs did not have the advanced technology to deliver. If you do want these titles on vinyl therefore, they have never sounded better than here. (This is a review on the vinyl release.)

Canned Heat Blues mc
Canned Heat Blues zippy

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