A pair of very stripped-down albums from John Lee Hooker – issued together in this 70s set! First up is Country Blues Of John Lee Hooker – featuring the legendary John Lee Hooker, heard here in one of his more obscure recordings from the late 50s – at least in contrast to his famous sides for Vee Jay Records! This set's an unusual date – recorded in Detroit, despite the claim of the title – and featuring Hooker on acoustic guitar and vocals, without any other instrumentation at all – pitched much more towards the growing folk blues scene than some of his more familiar Chicago recordings. Tracks are short, but pack plenty of punch – and titles include "Black Snake", "I Rowed A Little Boat", "Bundle Up & Go", "Behind The Plow", "Water Boy", "Tupelo Blues", and "Pea Vine Special". That's My Story is from 1960, and features great rootsy blues from John Lee Hooker – and an unusual session that has him getting backup help from jazz players Sam Jones on bass and Louis Hayes on drums! Jones and Hayes only play on a handful of tracks, and most of the focus is on Hooker's damn-great vocals, and acoustic guitar – spun out nicely over a set of tracks that includes "I Need Some Money", a controversial clash with early Motown – plus "One Of These Days", "Gonna Use My Rod", "I Want To Talk About You", "Democrat Man", and "I'm Wanderin". LP, Vinyl record album

Great rootsy blues from John Lee Hooker – and an unusual session that has him getting backup help from jazz players Sam Jones on bass and Louis Hayes on drums! Jones and Hayes only play on a handful of tracks, and most of the focus is on Hooker's damn-great vocals, and acoustic guitar – spun out nicely over a set of tracks that includes "I Need Some Money", a controversial clash with early Motown – plus "One Of These Days", "Gonna Use My Rod", "I Want To Talk About You", "Democrat Man", and "I'm Wanderin". LP, Vinyl record album

Three full albums from heavy rocker Bob "Catfish" Hodge – a great underground talent on the Detroit scene of the late 60s and early 70s – and one who recorded for the same Westbound label as Funkadelic! Hodge shares a lot with some of the best Detroit talents of the time – namely a real genre-crossing sound that's very color blind – one that mixes in equal parts blues, rock, and soul – and which sometimes hits some funkier edges too – no surprise, given the Westbound recording style at the time. The guitar is great – often fuzzy, but never too freaky – and nicely focused on the rhythms on most tunes, until it takes off in some sweetly expressive solos. Hodge's vocals have a nice degree of grit, and a quality that's a bit like Dr John – in which he's referencing older modes and styles, but manages to come off without any hoke at all. The 2CD set features all three albums recorded for the Westbound/Eastbound label – Soap Operas, Dinosaurs & Alleycats, and Boogie Man Gonna Get Ya – plus b-sides and a few unreleased tracks too. Titles include "Train To Detroit", "Boogie Man", "Different Strokes", "Ghetto", "Hungry Love", "Big Boss Man", "Oscar Teo", "For Free", "Des Woman", "Sweet Cocaine", and "We Got Love In Our House". (Rock, Blues) CD

About as classic as you can get for the legendary John Lee Hooker – a set of recordings from his early postwar years that perfectly define the special touch and electric genius of his music! The sound here is often as spare as rural acoustic blues from years back – but Hooker's using an electric instrument with a nice current of fuzz, which almost acts like a louder, fuller chorus behind his vocals – often hinting at feedback possibilities, which creates this hypnotic quality to the music – whether or not John's grooving high, or stepping low! And the vocals are something equally wonderful, too – sung and hum at the same time, in that classic Hooker way – again a huge influence on so many others to come. Japanese CD features 24 tracks in all! CD

An incredible late 50s set for King by singer Lula Reed – and a pretty unique blend of R&B and bluer and moodier material – but a lot more upbeat than you'd expect from the title! Lula's voice is a genuine vessel for the bluesy material, but it's also light and lovely, and works even better on more upbeat sounding tunes – and she does both here beautifully. It's almost unbelievable that this is her lone solo album, and it's even harder to belive that it's been so hard to find over the years, given how strong it is! Includes "Watch Dog", "I'll Drown My Tears", "Going Back To Mexico". "Three Men", "Sample Man", "Last Night", "Rock Love", "Bump On A Log", "My Poor Heart", "Every Second" and "Jealous Love". (Soul, Blues) CD

A fantastic document of the first-ever Ann Arbor Blues Festival – the start of a great event that would blossom into other styles of music in the 70s, but which stood as a strong blues-based event in its initial year of 1969! In some ways, the three day series of concerts is a roots answer to Woodstock – which took place just a few weeks before – as the festival featured a great scope of blues talents, from the rootsier sort of artists who were recording for labels like Folkways or Arhoolie, to some of the sharper modern talents rising to the top on Chess or Delmark! The package alone is almost worth the price of admission – beautiful photographs of the event, detailed notes, and the first-ever release of this music – which has sat in the vaults for decades, finally to see the light of day. Titles include "Dirty Mother For You" by Roosevelt Sykes, "So Glad You're Mine" by Arthur Big Boy Crudup, "Everybody Must Suffer/Stone Crazy" by Luther Allison & The Blue Nebulae, "Help Me" by Junior Wells, "I Wonder Why" by Jimmy Dawkins, "Too Much Alcohol" by JB Hutto & His Hawks, "So Many Roads So Many Trains" by Otis Rush, "Long Distance Call" by Muddy Waters, "Off The Wall" by James Cotton Band, "Juanita" by Big Joe Williams, "Jelly Jelly Blues" by Shirley Griffin, "I Feel So Good" by Magic Sam, "Call It Stormy Monday" by T-Bone Walker, "Death Letter Blues" by Son House, "Key To The Highway" by Sam Lay, and "Mojo Hand" by Lightnin Hopkins. CD

A fantastic document of the first-ever Ann Arbor Blues Festival – the start of a great event that would blossom into other styles of music in the 70s, but which stood as a strong blues-based event in its initial year of 1969! In some ways, the three day series of concerts is a roots answer to Woodstock – which took place just a few weeks before – as the festival featured a great scope of blues talents, from the rootsier sort of artists who were recording for labels like Folkways or Arhoolie, to some of the sharper modern talents rising to the top on Chess or Delmark! The package alone is almost worth the price of admission – beautiful photographs of the event, detailed notes, and the first-ever release of this music – which has sat in the vaults for decades, finally to see the light of day. Titles on this second volume include "Long Distance Call" by Muddy Waters, "Off The Wall" by James Cotton Band, "Juanita" by Big Joe Williams, "Jelly Jelly Blues" by Shirley Griffin, "I Feel So Good" by Magic Sam, "Call It Stormy Monday" by T-Bone Walker, "Death Letter Blues" by Son House, "Key To The Highway" by Sam Lay, and "Mojo Hand" by Lightnin Hopkins. LP, Vinyl record album