Howlin' Wolf

Album: Sings the Blues
Format: LP
Label/Info: Crown CLP-5240. Later released as the Custom LP "Big City Blues" (CM 2055) and from United Superior, also as "Big City Blues" (7717). 1951-52 recordings for the Modern label and its subsidiary RPM records. Features Willie Johnson on guitar as well as a very young Ike Turner on piano (same lineup as tracks on the Sam Phillips Memphis sessions included earlier on this blog).

Howlin' Wolf

Album: The Legendary Sun Performers
Format: LP
Label/Info: Oxford 3214 (Charly Records, London)

1951 and 1952 Memphis sessions recorded by Sam Phillips. Is this the blues, rock 'n' roll, R&B, or something new altogether? Well, whatever it is, it's some of the most raucous material to come out of the Memphis Recording Service at 706 Union Avenue. [Wolf (Chester Burnett) would soon leave for Chicago and sign with Chess Records, while Phillips would go on to found Sun Records shortly thereafter.] Holy smokes, what a voice. Enough to melt a Shure 55. Also features some wild guitar work by Willie Johnson. If this LP is unavailable, the Bear Family CDs are ok substitutes. See Memphis Days: Definitive Edition, Vol. 1 (Bear Family 15460) and Vol. 2 (Bear Family 15500).

Blind Willie McTell

Album: The Classic Years 1927-1940

Format: CD

Label/Info: JSP7711A-D (4-disc set)

Indispensable American music. Surprisingly, the overall sound quality on this JSP collection is better than the more expensive Document set (DOCD-5677) covering much of the same material with the added bonus of the 1940 John Lomax recordings. Disc 3, with its bawdy hokum ("Let Me Play With Yo' Yo-Yo") and heartfelt spirituals ("Ain't It Grand to Be a Christian") contains some of my favorite sing-a-longs of all time, particularly the gospel duets with wife Kate McTell recorded in Chicago in 1935 for Decca. It so happens that I do a fairly decent Kate McTell impersonation which adds to the fun.

John Lee Hooker

Album: It Serve You Right To Suffer
Format: LP
Label/Info: Impulse AS-9103 (1966). There is also a 180 Gram Speakers Corner reissue available new for around 35 bucks. Too pricey for me, but I bet it sounds great. A perfectly recorded laid-back set with jazz musicians who know how to hold back and let the star of the session shine. John Lee Hooker (voc, g); Dickie Wells (tb); Milt Hinton (b); Barry Galbraith (g); Panama Francis (dr)

(Why did MCA feel the need to change "Serve" to "Serves" on the CD reissue? Leave Mr. Hooker's grammar alone. )

V/A from VA

Grammy-nominated Virginia Traditions series from the Blue Ridge Institute, Ferrum College

Format: LP or CD

While all the BRI releases are worth your while, I'm particularly partial to their blues and African American offerings:

Non-Blues Secular Black Music. BRI LP 001/Global Village CD 1001

Western Piedmont Blues. BRI LP 003/Global Village CD 1003

Tidewater Blues. BRI LP 006/Global Village CD 1006

Southwest Virginia Blues. BRI LP 008/Global Village CD 1008

Granted, this is a highly idiosyncratic blog -- jumping from Q-Tip to Virginia blues -- which I do primarily for my own benefit. I own a lot of blues comps, but these are some of the best regional music collections ever put together. Included are some rare and interesting 78s from the 1920s and '30s, but it is the later stuff -- like the 1970s sessions by Kip Lornell -- that really show off that raggy Piedmont/East Coast style. Contact the good folks at the Blue Ridge Institute & Museum about availability.

Mississippi Fred McDowell

Album: Live at the Gaslight
Format: CD
Label/Info: Grapeshot/Live Archive GRR 1001

Recorded live November 5, 1971, at The Gaslight Cafe, MacDougal Street, Greenwich Village, New York City; also featuring Tom Pomposello on 2nd guitar. The Mississippi Delta legend's last recording featuring his signature bottleneck style on electric guitar.

Junior Wells

Album: "It's My Life, Baby!"

Format: LP

Label/Info: Vanguard VRS-9231 (mono)

Mr. Wells' amazing first solo record for Vanguard features some live performances from Pepper's Lounge on the South Side of Chicago in order "to get the feeling of a blues band working with its blues audience." The studio tracks are amazing as well. Buddy Guy on guitar throughout. Produced by Samuel Charters. Favorite cut: "Stormy Monday"

Junior Kimbrough and the Soul Blues Boys

Album: Sad Days, Lonely Nights
Format: LP
Label/Info: Fat Possum (also available on CD).

Talk about some hypnotic hill-country groove. Recorded live at Kimbrough's juke joint in Chulahoma, MS, in 1993. Produced by writer/music critic Robert Palmer.

Muddy Waters

Album: The Best of Muddy Waters
Format: LP
Label/Info: MCA/Chess Vinyl Reissue; also 180 Gram Speakers Corner Reissue. (I don't normally recommend "Best of"s, but this is an essential collection of early singles.) Recorded between 1948-1954.

Blind Willie McTell

Album: Pig 'n Whistle Red
Format: CD
Label/Info: Biograph 2003 Remaster.
1950 recordings featuring Curley Weaver

Skip James

Album: Complete Early Recordings of
( -1930)
Format: CD
Label/Info: Yazoo Compilation

Blind Willie Johnson

Title: Dark Was the Night
Format: CD
Label/Info: Sony Compilation