V.A.—It’s The Best Stuff Yet! (Frog, UK), 2-CD

Disc One. Piedmont Come Down To Atlanta

1. Ruth Willis (With Blind Willie McTell), Talkin’to You Wimmin’ About The Blues
2. Ruth Willis, Merciful Blues
3. Blind Willie McTel,l Mamma T’aint Long Fo’ Day
4. Curley Weaver & Eddie Mapp, It’s The Best Stuff Yet
5. Prince Moore, Mississippi Water #2
6. Prince Moore, Market Street Rag #1
7. Ruth Willis, I’m Still Sloppy Drunk
8. Buddy Moss, Red River Blues #2Audio Player
9. Buddy Moss, Hard Time Blues #1
10. Gitfiddle Jim, Rainy Night Blues
11. Gitfiddle Jim, Paddlin’ Blues
12. Barbecue Bob, Jambooger Blues
13. Barbecue Bob, Black Skunk Blues
14. Curly Weaver, Dirty Deal Blues
15. Georgia Boyd, Never Mind Blues
16. Sam Montgomery, Mercy Mercy Blues #2
17. Allison Mathis, You Done Quit Me Good As I Been To You
18. Blind Willie McTell, Delia
19. Blind Blake, West Coast Blues #1
20. Blind Boy Fuller, Rag Mama Rag #1
21. Joshua White, John Henry
22. John Jackson, A Blind Blake Rag
23. John Jackson, Too TightAudio Player
24. Unkown Artists, Squeeze My Lemon
25. Ed Bush, My Husband Just Now Left
26. Josh White, Darktown Strutters** Listener Beware

Disc Two. The COMPLETE 1956 Blind Willie McTell ‘Ed Rhodes Final Session’.

1. Warm Up
2. Baby It Must Be Love
3. Talk About “Dyin’ Crapshooter’s”
4. Dyin’ Crapshooter’s Blues
5. Talk About Early LifeAudio Player
6. Pal Of Mine
7. More About Life
8. Don’t Forget It
9. Talk About “Kill It Kid”
10. Kill It Kid
11. Talk About “That Will Never Happen No More”
12. That Will Never Happen No More
13. A Request For “My Blue Heaven”
14. My Blue Heaven
15. Some Talk “About Drinking”
16. Beedle Um Bum
17. Talk About “Salty Dog”
18. A Married Man’s A FoolAudio Player
19. Talk About “A To Z”
20. A To Z Blues
21. Talk About “New Orleans”
22. Goodbye Blues
23. Basin Street Blues
24. Talk About “People In Room”
25. Salty Dog
26. Talks About “Train Songs”
27. Wabash Cannonball
28. Talks About “St James” & Asks To ‘Snooze’
29. St. James Infirmary
30. Asks For Prison Songs
31. Talk And If I Had The Wings
32. Length And Leadbelly
33. Instrumental (Medley) Kill It Kid (inst) – Weeping Willow (inst)– Wreck of the Old 97 (with vocal) Bonus Interview Edits.
34. Ed rhodes remembers Willie McTell in Conversation with Larry Cohn – part 1.
35. Part 2.

V.A.—It’s The Best Stuff Yet! (Frog, UK), 2-CD

     This collection offers two CD’s devoted to the Piedmont (Virginia through Georgia) blues. The first CD contains tracks from Blind Blake, Buddy Moss, Barbecue Bob and others, sounding much fuller and clearer than previous Yazoo and Document reissues (along with an X-rated private recording of Josh White doing “Darktown Strutters Ball”), but it’s CD two that’s the real revelation here: the complete September 1956 Atlanta session of Blind Willie McTell, in order of performance and with all McTell’s talk between songs and interaction with the small group observing the session.

     Parts of this material were issued on the Prestige Bluesville LP Last Session, but this CD provides what’s essentially an hour-long living-room performance from McTell, his chiming 12-string guitar sounding like it’s three feet away from you. The 58 year old McTell doesn’t sound like he is 29 again (as he was when he made his recording debut in 1927), but his agile, raggy guitar work, his skills as raconteur and storyteller, his upbeat, witty comments, his spirited singing, and his fascinating recall of details (working “sideshows” as a youth before he’d made records, serving as personal assistant to a dying gambler and pimp, etc.) make any criticism of small details irrelevant. At the time, McTell was playing for tips for the diners at a drive-in restaurant, which is where Ed Rhodes, who recorded the session, found him.

    McTell was ill at the time of this recording and his drinking did not help his health. It’s said that he was aware this might be his last opportunity to record, and like an old and infirm actor who pulls it all together when he hits the stage for one last role, McTell’s skills as songster and street musician playing requests give the session a sparkle that will put a smile on the listener’s face. He’s also both playing what he thinks the man recording him wants to hear (and let’s not forget that this is the Deep South in 1956) but also thinking about his own legacy, as he knows these recordings will eventually find release (he asks that they not come out until after his passing). This is a precious and intimate hour with one of the greats of the original guitar-blues artists of the late 1920’s, one who continued to record off-and-on into the early 50’s, but who did not live enough to see the blues revival of the 1960’s. An essential purchase for any blues lover.

BILL SHUTE, originally published in UGLY THINGS magazine in 2019

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and….Be sure to pick up a copy of my newest poetry book…

STATIC STRUT by Bill Shute

KSE #421, 125 pages, 6″ x 9″ perfect bound, softcover, $6.95 cover price

published 2 January 2024

available for immediate order in the USA from https://amzn.to/48GeYC5