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Later work from New Orleans legend James Booker – but a set that may well be one of his greatest records ever – a real back to basics effort recorded with a hands-off approach that almost makes you feel like you're catching Booker in some small club down off the Quarter! James plays piano and sings throughout – bringing a special magic to tunes that include a few surprises, mixed with a few of his own numbers too – and half the set features additional backing from Alvin Tyler on tenor, James Singleton on bass, and John Vidacovich on drums. Titles include "Madame X", "Hound Dog", "Classified", "All Around The World", "Bald Head/Tipitina", "Baby Face", and "Three Keys". (Soul, Blues) CD

One of the first-ever Christmas albums in the world of soul and R&B, and a host of vintage Holiday tunes pulled from the 50s LA R&B scene – served up here as a complete album! The set features some of the first great secular soul tracks recorded for the season – tracks that set the scene for all the Motown, James Brown, and other soul music Christmas albums to come! Titles include Charles Brown's classic "Merry Christmas Baby", plus "Lonesome Christmas (parts 1 & 2)" by Lowell Fulsom, "Sleigh Ride" by Lloyd Glenn, "Boogie Woogie Santa Claus" by Mable Scott, "Christmas Everyday" and "Christmas Dreams" by Johnny Moore's Blazers, "Love For Christmas" and "Jingle Bell Hop" by Jackson Trio, and "Christmas Blues" by Jimmy Witherspoon. (Holiday Music, Blues) CD

A really great, but very unusual John Lee Hooker album – one that was recorded in London with backing from later blues rock heroes The Groundhogs – a group who do a really great job here of hanging back, and letting Hook really take the lead! All those raw, gritty charms of Hooker's music are firmly in place – tunes that build with spare but intense guitar, and which have that sort of open, spacious quality of production that makes the core essence of the man himself ring out with all its glory! Later versions of the record added in a few more elements, but this set is the core original recording – with titles that include "Mai Lee", "It's A Crazy Mixed Up World", "Seven Days & Seven Nights", "Bad Luck & Trouble", "Waterfront", and "It's Raining Here". LP, Vinyl record album

A really unique album from the great John Lee Hooker – done for the mostly-soul Wand Records label, and with a feel that's quite different than some of Hooker's other records! There's a distinctly jazzy undercurrent running through the record at times – sometimes with some moody, soulful elements bubbling underneath John's lead vocals and guitar on the mellow tracks – or at other times with a fuller sense of arrangements, a bit like you might find on 60s work on the Duke/Peacock label blues sessions. Hooker's in fine form throughout – and seems to open up nicely in the setting – and a few tracks are a bit more stripped-down, with a slightly rootsy feel. Titles include "Don't Want Nobody Else", "Crazy Mixed Up World", "Little Dreamer", "Seven Days", "Don't Be Messing With My Bread", "Storming On The Deep Blue Sea", and "Lost Everything". CD

A really unusual setting for the legendary T Bone Walker – one of those fantastic records he made while hanging out on the French scene in the late 60s and early 70s – a time when he was able to work in a crossroads of styles that really opened up his sound! That's definitely the case here – as although Walker is very much his strong self on guitar and vocals, he's backed by a wonderfully unusual group – one that features French jazz legend George Arvanitas on piano, delivering some surprisingly bluesy lines – and which also includes tenor sax from the great Hal Singer, another musician who was really able to bridge worlds on the Parisian scene! George's fantastic bassman Jacky Samson is at the core, helping the groove – and titles include "Leaving You Behind", "I Hate To See You Go", "Ain't That Cold Baby", "Late Blues", and "Someone Is Going To Mistreat You". LP, Vinyl record album

Blues recorded in St Louis, but with a sound that's much more rural overall – maybe no surprise, given the countless travel by Big Joe Williams on the highways of the south! The setting is lean enough to be recorded out in the field – Big Joe on these wonderfully expressive vocals and his unique nine string guitar – with support from Ransom Knowling on bass, but at a level that really just helps the tunes get this subtle groove – really letting be the shining star up front! In keeping with the title of the record, many of the tunes have themes of travel in the south – titles that include "Overhaul Your Machine", "45 Blues", "Arkansas Woman", "Four Corners Of The World", "Down In The Bottom", and "Blues Left Texas". CD