Prewar Blues: Best Sellers

At four discs and nearly 100 tracks, this is the second installment of Rhythm and Blues Records' ambitious history of R&B, covering the years 1942 to 1952 [more]

With an intricate, delicate guitar style and a soft, gentle voice, Mississippi John Hurt benefited mightily from the recording technology of the day when he recorded 20 [more]

It makes sense to pair Charley Patton and Blind Lemon Jefferson sides together like this, since between them Patton and Jefferson provided the foundation [more]

A collection of 22 mostly blues tracks that either influenced or were covered by Nick Cave, this set works just fine as an anthology even without the Cave connection. And it [more]

Whether or not these two dozen songs inspired the Allman Brothers or not, this would still be a nice collection, and it's surprisingly varied, including not just [more]

The 1920s is perhaps the only time when we hear what America was actually singing of its own accord, and since record companies at [more]

A sort of odds and ends collection that was originally issued on LP in 1987, Mississippi Blues, Vol. 4 gathers several alternate takes from Robert Johnson recorded between [more]

A native of Amory, MS who came up in Birmingham AL, Lucille Bogan sang about life as she knew it in a rough and tumble environment that provided her with plenty of [more]

Although this CD is titled Hokum Blues, all but two of the eight groups actually predate hokum (which came of age in the fall of 1928), although all have some aspects of [more]

Mississippi John Hurt's latter-day recordings after his rediscovery have somewhat obscured the importance of these debut sides -- the ones [more]

This CD is a hodgepodge sampling of blues records featuring mostly pre-war slide guitarists ranging from the simplicity of Barbecue Bob (who was much [more]

A double-disc box set containing everything Robert Johnson ever recorded, The Complete Recordings is essential listening, but it is also slightly problematic. The [more]

Mississippi John Hurt's mid-'60s performances were usually distinctive and sometimes staggering. His guitar work was crisp, attractive and frequently brilliant, although [more]

After being rediscovered by the folk-blues community in the early '60s, Son House rose to the occasion and recorded this magnificent set of [more]