A stunning document of culture in and around the Texas scene of the postwar years – never-heard recordings done by blues enthusiast Robert Mack McCormick, who also photographed most of his subjects as well – a lost legacy that finally gets exposure to the world at large here in a big box set that includes both music and a big book that includes 128 pages of rare photos and other blues artifacts! The whole thing is like discovering a lost side room in the world of postwar field recordings of blues – material from the generation of similar projects by Alan Lomax, Chris Strachwitz, and George Mitchell, but which has never been tapped until now – brought out with a great level of care by the Smithsonian, who currently house McCormick's life's work. The package is almost worth it alone for the book – but you also get 6LPs with 68 tracks in all – music by Bongo Joe Coleman, Lightnin Hopkins, Hop Wilson, Jimmy Womack, Walter Britten, Buster Pickens, Andrew Everett, James Tisdom, Doc Webster, Mance Lipscomb, Leroy Country Johnson, RC Forest, Billy Bizor, and many others. LP, Vinyl record album

With Pete Johnson on piano, JC Heard and Jack Parker on drums, Al Hall and Abe Bolar on bass, Jimmy Shirley on guitar, Albert Nicholas on clarinet, Ben Webster and Budd Johnson on tenor, Hot Lips Page on trumpet, JC Higginbotham and Clyde Bernhardt on trombone, and Don Stovall on alto. (Jazz, Blues) LP, Vinyl record album

With selections by Big Joe Turner, Albinia Jones, St Louis Tommy, Sunnyland Slim, Pleasant Joseph, and Hot Lips Page. LP, Vinyl record album