Blues — Recently Added

A classic bit of indie blues from the Chicago scene – featuring some great players from the second generation after Chess Records stopped picking up the younger local talents! Magic Sam leads the group on vocals and guitar, and he's working here with Mighty Joe Young on guitar, Odie Payne on ... LP, Vinyl record album

Great work from the Chicago blues underground – rare tracks pulled from a time before labels like Chess and Vee Jay handled most of the big artists, and talents were spread between a handful of much smaller indies! The music here marks that key Chicago transition from rural to urban – ... LP, Vinyl record album

A great early album from Junior Wells – and one that really opens up that more soulful side of his talents that was becoming a Chicago hallmark at the time! The set was produced by Samuel Charters, but has none of the rootsy vibe of his earlier work on Folkways – and instead matches ... LP, Vinyl record album

One of the standout classics from BB King's legendary run at Kent – a classic album with a cool little cover to boot! Arrangements on the set are by Maxwell Davis – who has this great way of bringing out some of the jazzier currents in BB's music – almost the same Memphis blend ... CD

Exactly the kind of a record to show why Skip James was really a cut above most of his contemporaries – a bluesman who works here with a sense of darkness and foreboding that really sets a chill to most of his tunes! There's less of the usual short-term sadness and smaller complaints of ... LP, Vinyl record album

Not the popular ragtime material you'll know from Scott Joplin and 70s revival years – and instead a batch of raw early blues sides, all from the 78rpm generation! Titles include "Have More Faith In Jesus" by Reverend Gary Davis, "Money Never Runs Out" by Cannon's Jug ... LP, Vinyl record album

Gritty work from John Lee Hooker – a set recorded at the end of the 60s in Paris, at a time when that city was playing host to some of the hippest blues work of the decade! The style here is very much like John Lee Hooker of a decade before – simple, stark, and unadorned – with a ... LP, Vinyl record album

Rootsy blues from the great Excello Records – most of it recorded not too far from the Tennessee city in which the label made its home! The southern scene in the 50s was going through plenty of changes – partly because of all the migration northwards that started during the wartime ... CD

A classic album from the great Big Bill Broonzy – issued at the end of the 50s as part of the big book in folk blues – even though Broonzy was one of the few artists keeping that style strong during the earlier postwar years! The album's wonderfully respectful – maybe more in the ... LP, Vinyl record album

A searing live set from Albert Collins – recorded overseas at the start of the 80s, and with an edge that may well beat most of his American records from the time! The well-recorded date captures Collins at his best in all elements – as a guitarist, singer, and even as an entertainer ... CD

If you think Vee Jay and Chess Records were the sole gatekeepers to Chicago blues in the 50s, then think again – because the city was filled with loads of great tiny labels turning out excellent work – such as the trio of imprints featured in this collection! Ace digs really deep this ... CD

Early work from Jimmy Witherspoon – but the kind of sides that show that Jim had something different to offer, even from the start! The music's partly in the hip R&B mode of LA in the postwar years, but there's also a deeper sort of sound too – a bit of jazz swinging amidst the ... CD

Blues 45s – but material that's also pretty close to the funky 45 spirit of the 60s too – given that most of these cuts have a pretty raw groove! The blues element usually comes from a guitar or harmonica element, or a way of vocal phrasing – but much of the background ... CD

Howlin Wolf is really getting into his thing here – tightening it up a bit from his earliest years at Chess, and moving into a groove that would forever make him one of the key artists to record for the label! The raspy, rootsy feel of earlier years is still in place – but the ... LP, Vinyl record album

Deep-burning Chicago blues from Corey Dennison – one of the few contemporary players who can still hold onto the electric fire from that moment when the Windy City scene first broke wide to much larger national appeal! Corey sings with a full, raspy style – and augments his lyrics with ... CD

Doctor Ross is definitely the harmonica boss – one of those key postwar blues musicians who made his instrument as important to the scene as the guitar was back in the 20s and 30s! The music here was all recorded by Sun Records, but is a lot more raw and stripped-down than some of the more ... LP, Vinyl record album

A killer collection of rare blues from the Mamlish label – an imprint who brings the same sort of historical sensitivity that you might now from collections on Yazoo Records! As with that company, the music here is mostly pulled from vintage 78s, and given fresh presentation for a whole new ... LP, Vinyl record album

A great collection of postwar blues – material that springs forth from a wealth of rare 78rpm recordings – and which includes a number of tracks that you may never hear otherwise! The set looks at the sort of records that were pivotal in pushing blues forward in the years after the war ... LP, Vinyl record album

The title might seem a bit all-encompassing – but given the talents of the mighty Ralph Peer, it certainly fits! Peer was one of the most pioneering figures in the early days of the recording industry – a talent scout who would endlessly search the country, especially the south, for ... CD

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Muddy Waters definitely put the "unk" in funk – although back in his day, the word meant something different than in the 70s! This set features some great late Muddy for Chess – produced in conjunction with Ralph Bass, Muddy's longtime associate in the studio, and done with a ... LP, Vinyl record album

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A sharp live set, recorded in 1975 by Trio Records in Tokyo – with Rush on guitar and vocals, Jimmy Johnson on second guitar, Sylvester Boines on bass, and Tyrone Centuray on drums! LP, Vinyl record album

Fuller sings and plays 12 string guitar – and also serves up a bit of washboard, fotdella, harmonica, and kazoo too! LP, Vinyl record album

Less a "best of" than an early full album that brings together some of Muddy Waters' earliest recordings for Chess – a great collection of early singles recorded in Chicago between 1950 and 1954! The work's relatively spare and rootsy overall – a great example of Chicago ... LP, Vinyl record album

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Also features bass from Willie Dixon! LP, Vinyl record album

We love our Buddy Guy here in Chicago – and this set cut for Vanguard, one of his first full solo albums with his own band will always be a favorite! Buddy's late 60s sound was as charismatic as he'd always be, but there's an understated approach to his lead that's really wonderful, and hits ... LP, Vinyl record album