Blues — All Formats  

One of the last recordings ever made by Bukka White – recorded in West Memphis in the early 70s, but with a sound that stretches back to the delta decades before! The album features White alone on vocals and acoustic guitar – captured with an up-close quality that's beautiful, and which is especially great to illustrate his creative phrasings on the strings of the steel guitar – ringing out with a rough-handed quality that's extremely powerful. Titles include "Black Crepe Blues", "Gibson Hill", "Sic Em Dogs On", "1936 Triggertoe", "Black Cat Bone Blues", and "Shake My Hand Blues".

A split LP featuring late 60s home recordings of two blues legends – one side of Fred McDowell and another of Furry Lewis! It's pretty wonderful stuff – and literally homemade blues – with each great bluesman honoring their own distinct styles and traditional songcraft at the same time. It's great, intimate material – both sides featuring solo guitar and vocals by McDowell and Lewis. Includes "If You See My Baby", "John Henry", "Louise", "61 Highway", "Big Fat Mama", "Dankin' Farm" and "When I Lay My Burden Down" by McDowell – plus "Beale Street Blues", "Casey Jones", "Every Day In The Week", "Grieve My Mind", and "Harry Furry Blues" by Lewis.

Alan Lomax recordings of the surviving fife and drum music of North Mississippi – much of it recorded in 1969 and 1970 with few recordings from as far back as 1942! The music represents the (then) surviving legacy of earlier African American music of the region, less heard and less celebrated than the blues to come – and fusion of African and western traditional music that was rarely heard outside of the deep south. 19 records including pieces by Otha Turner, Napoleon Strickland, RL Boyce, Sid Hemphill and others.

Tough mid 60s blues from Skip James – recorded by Richard Spottswood – and it's among Skip's best recordings! Greatest Of The Delta Blues Singers features recordings made in 1964 – at a time when James was being celebrated by the folk community – and it’s also a time when he was in ailing health – which adds some incredible depth to the material – as if Skip's bluesy truth would ever be questioned! Includes "Hard Time Killin' Floor Blues", "Sick Bed Blues", "Devil Got My Woman", "Illinois Blues", "All Night Long", "Cherry Ball", "I Don't Want A Woman To Stay Out All Night Long" and more – plus the reissue bonus tracks "Skip's Worried Blues" and "Motherless & Fatherless".