An unusual 70s release of work from Lightnin Hopkins – one with a cryptic photo of Hopkins behind bars! The material is most likely from earlier years, though – and it captures Lightnin at his best folk blues mode – just vocals and acoustic guitar on most numbers, the latter carrying equal duties on rhythm and some great solo inflections that break out between the lyrics! Titles include "Shiny Moon", "Big Mama Jump", "Rollin Woman Blues", "Automobile Blues", "Cairo Blues", and "Bad Whiskey". LP, Vinyl record album

Boogie, indeed – as the tracks here are filled with the kind of skittish guitar lines that made John Lee Hooker one of the real standouts of the 50s scene – maybe one of the most rhythmic bluesmen of his generation, next to Bo Diddley! Like Diddley's classic records for Chess, most of these tracks are filled with deft work from Hooker on guitar – chuggingly rhythmic, but often breaking out into great solo moments too – the roots of electric modes that would break bigger in the 60s, handled here by one of the early masters! Titles include "Hoogie Boogie", "Boogie Chillen 2", "House Rent Boogie", "Jump Me", "Huckle Up Baby", "Shake Holler & Run", "Momma Poppa Boogie", and "Hastings Street Boogie". LP, Vinyl record album

A great document of the early genius of BB King – a set that brings together material recorded just over the space of a decade for the RPM/Kent label in LA – the company who gave BB a wonderful showcase in the years before he hopped over to a larger label and bigger fame! The material here is fantastic – and often has that light touch of jazz that would come when BB was working with like-minded players – mixing his own raw touches on guitar with sweet piano and tenor lines, the topping the whole thing with that vocal approach that really helped blues evolve more than a few notches, thanks to material like this! The set features 16 tracks in all – and titles include "Woke Up This Morning", "My Own Fault", "Whole Lotta Love", "You Upset Me Baby", "The Jungle", "Your Fool", "You're Breaking My Heart", "3 O'Clock Blues", "My Sometime Baby", and "Sweet Little Angel". CD