A travel-themed set from Patti Page – and a pretty darn great one at that! Patti nicely shakes off some of cliches here – working with full, jazzy backings, and often hitting sounds that are a bit more mature than on her familiar pop numbers – modes that nicely match the global scenes and locales featured in most of the tunes. And while the gimmick is a relatively common one for 50s vocal dates, the mix of worldly tunes really does wonders with Patti – making the set a real standout in her Mercury catalog. Titles include "Mississippi Mud", "South Of The Border", "April In Paris", "Just A Little Bit South Of North", "Basin Street Blues", "Let's Get Away From It All", and "Under Paris Skies". LP, Vinyl record album

A rare set issued on a tiny label from Arkansas – but a set that's got all the charm, poise, and sparkle of some of the best deep soul on late 70s Columbia Records! Stuckey's got a touch of southern soul in his voice, with a sweet cracking sound – and that honest approach is mixed with some warmer modern soul arrangements – a bit like the style of some of the best Tyrone Davis or Johnnie Taylor records from the time! The blend of southern and modern is wonderful – and handled with a sense of care that really makes you think that the whole thing was done at one of the best studios out on the coast – rather than some tiny outpost west of the Mississippi. A great record – one of those cases where the rarity is matched by the quality – on titles that include "I've Got Plans For You", "Love Of Mine", "If You Want To", "Hold Me Close", and "The First Time". Also features the previously unissued "Just Around The Corner". CD

The funkiest man? Could well be – and this set will more than support that case! By the time of these recordings, Rufus Thomas was already a legendary figure in the Memphis scene – an aging R&B star that also worked on radio and did a fair bit of promotion for other artists, including daughter Carla. At the end of the 60s, Stax brought him into the studio with the idea of pumping up his sound a bit – adding in some of the newer funky styles, which proved to be a perfect fit for Rufus' rough-hewn style of vocals. Tracks on the set feature a number of classic singles from these years, plus a few unissued numbers – with an all funky track list that includes "Funkiest Man Alive", "Give Me The Green Light", "Itch & Scratch", "Turn Your Damper Down", "Funky Hot Grits", "I'm Getting Better", "Sophisticated Sissy", "Funky Mississippi", "Git On Up & Do It", "The Breakdown (part 1)", "Push & Pull (part 1)", "Do The Double Bump", "Funky Robot (part 1)", "Memphis Train 75", and "Funky Bird". LP, Vinyl record album

Really great material from Tony Joe White – a never-issued live album recorded during his early 70s stretch at Warner Brothers – done with a raw, stripped-down vibe that offers up an even grittier take on the territory of his early albums for Monument Records! The group is pretty small on the set, and Tony's mostly playing acoustic guitar – and singing in a way that's every bit as earthy and swampy as before, but much more personal too – kind of like we're getting a chance to see a side of his personality that he'd sometimes keep hidden. Titles include "Mississippi River", "Rainy Night In Georgia", "Roosevelt & Ira Lee", "That On The Road Look", "My Kind Of Woman", "Willie & Laura Mae Jones", and a 10 minute take on "Polk Salad Annie". LP, Vinyl record album

Messed up funky blues from drummer Willie Williams – here leading a Chicago group that includes work by Pinetop Perkins, Eddie Taylor, Roy Lee Johnson, Carel Bell, and Little Mack. There's no all-out funk tracks on the record – but it does have a soulful edge overall, especially in some of Willie's heavy-vamping drum work. Titles include "Detroit Blues", "Hot Pants Woman", "Wine Headed Woman", "38 Woman", and "Back To Mississippi". LP, Vinyl record album

Features tracks by Mama Yancey, Little Brother Montgomery, Henry Benson, and Mississippi Sheik – all recorded in Chicago in 1961! CD

Don't let the BBC put you off – as this is a killer collection of underground blues recorded in the 70s – in Chicago, Mississippi, and Memphis – with work by The Aces, Billy Boy Arnold, Fenton Robinson, Good Rockin Charles, Joe Carter, Little Brother Montgomery, Mose Vinson, Sonny Blake, Joe Willie Wilkins, Houston Stackhouse, Laura Dukes, Booker White, Sam Chatmon, and others! Material is all exclusive to this set – all recorded in 1976. LP, Vinyl record album

An amazing collection – and one that really lives up to the genius of the original Anthology Of American Folk Music put together by Harry Smith for Folkways Records! That groundbreaking set is the stuff of legend – a package that collected rare blues, folk, string band, hillbilly, and other styles from Smith's own collection of 78rpm singles – then brought together by Folkways with copious notes and a huge amount of detail that opened the door to this lost world of music for listeners over many decades. Here, the collection goes back to further Smith's choices – by offering up the flipside of all the records included in the original set – tracks that are almost always as great as the other sides, given that so many of these artists were getting a brief time in the studio, and really gave their all during the recordings. The package is one of the nicest we've ever seen on Dust To Digital – done with more than enough notes and packaging detail to live up to the spirit of the original – in a set of 84 tracks, with work by Dick Justice, Clarence Ashley, Coley Jones, Bill & Belle Reed, Buell Kazee, Buster Carter & Preston Young, Williamson Brothers & Curry, The Masked Marvel, William & Versey Smith, Carter Family, GB Grayson, Mississippi John Hurt, Uncle Eck Dunford, Uncle Bunt Stephens, Carolina Tar Heels, Furry Lewis, Ernest Phipps, Cannon's Jug Stompers, Richard Rabbit Brown, Rev Moses Mason, Alabama Sacred Harp Singers, Cincinnati Jug Band, Rev JM Gates, Jim Jackson, Breaux Freres, Blind Willie Johnson, Dock Boggs, Bascom Lamar Lunsford, Julius Daniels, Ramblin Thomas, Sleepy John Estes, and many others! CD

Music from Willie Lofton, Tommy Johnson, Willie Harris, Bo Carter, Mississippi Sheiks, Charlie McCoy, Ishman Bracey, Mississippi Mudder, Walter Vincent, Arthur Pettis and more! CD

Includes 30 tracks by the Carter Family, Woody Guthrie, The Kingston Trio, Dave Van Ronk, The Springfields, Mississippi John Hurt, Pete Seeger, Phil Ochs, Fred Neil, and Tim Hardin. CD

Featuring Blind Lemon Jefferson, Dennis McMillon, Tampa Red's Jug Band, Red Nelson, Memphis Jug Band, Johnson's Jug Band, Mississippi John Hurt, Blind Blake, Soldier Boy Houston, Bo Carter, Jim Hill, and Eddie Anthony. LP, Vinyl record album

Lots of raunchy tracks from the early days of 78rpm blues recordings – work from Lil Johnson, Lonnie Johnson, Lucille Bogan, Lillie Mae Kirkman, Barrel House Annie, Bo Carter, Mississippi Shieks, Hunter & Jenkins, Buddy Moss & Bernice Edwards. CD

A great collection of work from the Ace Records label in Mississippi – a few tracks each from Floyd Dixon, Charles Brown, H Bomb Ferguson, and Amos Milburn – including 10 unreleased numbers! Great notes and package too. CD

A really nice overview of Ellington's oeuvre. While it's hard to capture Ellington's essence in 2 LPs, the selected songs are really great and the booklet included has a nice history. Includes "Sweet Mama (Papa's Getting Mad)", "Take It Easy", "Hottentot", "Freeze And Melt", "Mississippi Moan", "Flaming Youth", "I Can't Realize you Love Me", "Blue Mood", "Slippery Horn", "Puerto Rican Chaos", "Scattin At The Cotton Club", "I Fell And Broke My Heart", "I Can't Believe That You're In Love With me", "Vagabonds", "Alla-Bye", "Track 360", "All The Things You Are", "Duke's Place", "Lullaby Of Birdland", "Jingle Bells", "Love You Madly", "Just A-Setting And A-Rocking", and "Tulip Or Turnip". LP, Vinyl record album

United Artists issue of a speech that was originally issued by Sue Records in the mid 60s. The recording was made on December 17th, 1964 – after King returned from Oslo after receiving the Nobel Prize. The first 4 minutes of the record features introductory remarks by Rev Reuben L Speaks of The First AME Zion Church – then King speaks on the topics "Pilots Of The Movement – The Ground Crew & Mississippi" and "Who Is The Least Of These – and I Believe I've Got To Go Back To The Valley". LP, Vinyl record album

Some of the deepest soul to ever come from a Detroit label – a great run of singles cut by Denise LaSalle for the Westbound label – all of them pretty darn wonderful! Denise has roots that start in Mississippi, and she spent plenty of time in Chicago – so by the time she hit Westbound, she had a great interstate approach that really pulled some great styles together! In a way, these sides were crucial in helping push southern soul forward in the 70s – not just in the production, which was tight, but never too smooth – and which helped give her bluesy inflections a hip, modern sort of mode – one that was often well-suited to the subtle gender politics of the tracks too. Ace did a great job with this smoking set – and not only includes all the key singles, both a-sides and b-sides – but even throws in some great notes, and a few rare radio spots too! Titles include "Do Me Right", "Man Sized Job", "Trapped By A Thing Called Love", "Keep It Coming", "Here I Am Again", "My Brand On You", "What Am I Doing Wrong", "Don't Nobody Live Here", and "Your Man & Your Best Friend". CD

A lost Thelonious Monk treasure from the 60s – a really open-ended live set recorded in LA in 1964, but not issued by Columbia until the early 80s – making the package a wonderful re-discover of Monk's genius during these years! The tunes are much more freewheeling than some of the studio work cut by Monk's quartet at the time – stretched out takes on Monkish favorites, played by Thelonious on piano, Charlie Rouse on tenor, Larry Gales on bass, and Ben Riley on drums – all with plenty of room for extended solos. This wonderful 2CD package brings together the complete recordings from the show – offering up many tracks in their full recorded versions, and adding in a few unreleased tracks too – titles that include "Bemsha Swing", "Blue Monk", "Well You Needn't", "Misterioso", "Gallops Gallop", "Teo", "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You", "All The Things You Are", "Blues Five Spot", "Evidence", "Bright Mississippi", and "Nutty". CD

A mind-expanding look at Memphis soul – one that gets way past common cliches about the city and its music! There's a heavy dose of funk in the mix on most numbers here – a gritty, fuzzy approach to the music that seems slightly borrowed from the Detroit scene at the end of the 60s – then mixed with some rougher, rootsier southern soul styles too! But other tracks take on a more sophisticated sound too – some of the righteous elements that hit Stax in the post-1968 period, especially as Isaac Hayes and David Porter were working on their own great solo work. Yet unlike Hayes and Porter, most of the artists here are much lesser-known – singers and groups who never charted big, but who got the chance to record for Memphis labels like XL, Stax, Select-O-Hits, and Sounds Of Memphis. CD features 20 tracks in all – and titles include "Dig It" by The Optimistics, "Mississippi Mud" by Smithsonian, "Two Paces Ahead Of Love" by Willie Walker, "Pullin" by The Minits, "It's Bump Time" by Gene Bowlegs Miller, "Blackrock Yeah Yeah" by Blackrock, "Keep The Faith" by Mel & Tim, "Watch Dog (alt)" by Barbara & The Browns, "Come What May" by John Gary Williams, "Strange Things" by Art Jerry Miller, "Shake" by The Ovations, "Tip Toeing" by Alvin Cash, "The Way Of Me" by Hannon, "Take A Giant Step" by LaCleve Milon, "Papa Killed A Chicken" by Willie Toliver, and "Don't Boom Boom" by Lillian Hale. CD

A mighty sweet album of steel guitar instrumentals – a special Elektra Records session that features five of the greatest talents on the instrument at the start of the 70s – both longtime stalwarts, and key up-and-comers! Sneaky Pete Kleinow joins here with Buddy Emmons, Jay Dee Maness, Red Rhodes, and Rusty Young as a fantastic quintet of string-bending talents – all working with help from a small backup combo – and each getting a turn in the lead from track to track. The differences in tone and phrasing are great, and really come through over the course of the set – which has a vibe that's much hipper than the usual country instrumental albums of the period! Titles include "Yesterday", "Sunshine Of Your Love", "Down On The Corner", "Everybody's Talkin", "Blackbird", "Wichita Lineman", "Muddy Mississippi Line", "Turn Any Corner", and "Prodigal". CD

A pair of wonderful albums from the great John Fahey – back to back on a single CD! First up is Rivers & Religion – a really unique album by John Fahey – issued during a short stretch of initial mainstream approval, and a brief time of recording for Warner Brothers! Some of the album's quite different than the spare, solo Fahey you might know – and mixes his legendary guitar work with more elaborate elements than usual – additional instrumentation that includes bass, banjo, clarinet, piano, trombone, and fiddle – but all used at a level that really supports John's presence, not occludes it. Other tracks return to spare acoustic steel string guitar – creating an evocative balance that's mighty nice. Titles include "Funeral Song For Mississippi John Hurt", "Texas & Pacific Blues", "Dixie Pig Bar B Q Blues", "Lord Have Mercy Song", and "Deep River". After The Ball is a set with a disco ball on the cover, but a record that fits right in with the best early 20th century aesthetic in the work of John Fahey – particularly his way of reiimagining older musical traditions! There's a bit of added instrumentation on the record – two tracks that have some slight trad jazz flourishes – but overall, the album's mostly a solo effort with loads of wonderful guitar work from John – still as creative and as complicated as in his best recordings for Takoma! Other added instrumentation sometimes expands the sound with mandolin or banjo, but again in very sensitive ways – and titles include "Bucktown Stomp", "Om Shanthi Norris", "Beverly", and "Horses". CD

One of Yusef Lateef's funkier albums for Atlantic – and a record that features some great keyboard work from Kenny Barron! The liner notes indicate a current Lateef fascination with rhythm, and it tries to present this fascination in a way that implies a bigger intellectual approach to the music – but heck, this is just some pretty darn nice 70s jazz funk, and Lateef's angular reed work sounds very nice next to the smoother electric backdrops! In addition to Barron's keyboards, the record also features guitar from Billy Butler, drums from Al Foster, and percussion from Dom Um Romao – plus a bit of Arp from Dana McCurdy, which is mighty nice. Titles include "Hellbound", "The Improvisers", "Mystique", "Technological Homosapien", "Mushmouth", and "Mississippi Mud". LP, Vinyl record album

A killer collection of Barbara Lynn's records for Atlantic – a set that includes many of her 45-only tracks, which weren't on her full album for the label – plus one song that was only first issued in recent years! Lynn's a real standout in 60s soul music – a singer with a style that's as deep and personal as any of the best southern soul artists of the time, but also a way of putting over a tune that's maybe even more forthright and confident – partly because Barbara composed a good deal of her own material! A good deal of the work was produced by Huey P Meux in Mississippi – with a vibe that's both different from more familiar southern styles of the time, and even some of Huey's later material in the 70s – one more quality that really makes the work sound quite fresh. A few more tracks were recorded by the great Spooner Oldham – who brings in some sweet Muscle Shoals elements – and titles include the unreleased "Soul Deep", plus "This Is The Thanks I Get", "He Ain't Gonna Do Right", "You Make Me So Hot", "You'll Lose A Good Thing", "I'm A One Man Woman", "Sufferin City", "Maybe We Can Slip Away", "You're Gonna See A Lot More Of My Leavin", "You're Too Hot To Hold", and "Nice & Easy". LP, Vinyl record album

A much-needed collection of the early 60s work of Chicago soulman McKinley Mitchell – but one that's graced by a later cover photo from the 70s! The set features all the tracks that McKinley recorded for One-Derful records between 1962 and 1964 – really hard-burning soul that had a fair bit of blues at the bottom – echoing McKinley's roots in Mississippi, but done with a hipper sound for the Chicago scene that was his home for many years. Mitchell's style has a warmly raspy approach on the vocals, one that's very much in the best spirit of Bobby Blue Bland's key early sides for Duke – and which, like that work, also has some jazzier inflections that give some numbers a surprisingly sophisticated edge. Essential work from an under-reissued star of the Chicago scene in the 60s – featuring 24 tracks that include "The Town I Live In", "No Love", "It's Spring", "You Know I've Tried", "Watch Over Me", "I'm Ready", "A Bit Of Soul", "Handful Of Sorrows", "Reckless Lover", "I Wonder Do You", and "Uncle Willie". CD

Only the fourth year of this amazing all-star group – and they've already got their own sound so strongly in place, they really make some fresh magic with the music of Thelonious Monk! Arrangements of Monk tunes are by different members of the group – pianist Renee Rosnes, trumpeter Dave Douglas, bassist Matt Penman, drummer Eric Harland, tenorist Joshua Redman, and alto saxophonist Miguel Zenon – who work here alongside the vibes of Bobby Hutcherson in some stunning remakes of "Oska T", "I Mean You", "Ugly Beauty", "Bye Ya", "Criss Cross", "Brilliant Corners", and "Bright Mississippi" – handled by the octet in a style that reminds us of some of Monk's late 50s larger group work on Riverside. The set also features a full dose of original compositions – the long "San Francisco Suite", plus "Union", "Lion's Gate", "Life At The End Of The Tunnel", and "Haast Pass". CD

A rare set issued on a tiny label from Arkansas – but a set that's got all the charm, poise, and sparkle of some of the best deep soul on late 70s Columbia Records! Stuckey's got a touch of southern soul in his voice, with a sweet cracking sound – and that honest approach is mixed with some warmer modern soul arrangements – a bit like the style of some of the best Tyrone Davis or Johnnie Taylor records from the time! The blend of southern and modern is wonderful – and handled with a sense of care that really makes you think that the whole thing was done at one of the best studios out on the coast – rather than some tiny outpost west of the Mississippi. A great record – one of those cases where the rarity is matched by the quality – on titles that include "I've Got Plans For You", "Love Of Mine", "If You Want To", "Hold Me Close", and "The First Time". Also features the previously unissued "Just Around The Corner". LP, Vinyl record album

A nice collection of work from Alabama – a state that sometimes gets short shrift in song, next to bigger neighbors Tennessee and Mississippi – but which has a surprisingly big legacy in this collection of songs! Like other excellent titles in this Bear Family postcard series, the work here is heavy on country, but also includes some other mid century styles too – and while not all the artists may have roots in Alabama, they certainly do a great job of singing its praises in song! 25 tracks in all – and titles include "Montgomery Alabama" by Hank Davis, "Big Daddy's Alabama Bound" by John D Loudermilk, "Birmingham Jail" by Slim Whitman, "Alabama Jubilee" by Red Foley, "Alabam" by Cowboy Copas, "Birmingham" by Ella Mae Morse, "Down In Old Alabama" by Rex Griffin, "Alabama" by The Louvin Brothers, and "Alabama Jail House" by Rod Morris. CD

Nothing too stylish here – as Designer Records is a small indie gospel imprint, home to a surprisingly great batch of work! The collection reminds us a lot of some of the titles we've been loving from Mississippi Records – as it features gospel work that goes past the usual, often with bluesy undertones, and recorded with a very soulful edge. Arrangements are often full, but the production quality is nice and raw – and titles include "Eternal Life" and "The Life I Enjoy" by The Mosby Family Singers, "Somebody Help Me" and "Service For The Lord" by Madam Andres & The Heavenly Echoes, "New Burying Ground" and "If You Miss Me From Singing" by Union Gospel Singers, and "Beautiful Thought" and "Will The Lord Be With Me" by The Jubilee Hummingbirds. LP, Vinyl record album

Rare Mississippi blues from Ranie Burnette – recorded in the early 80s, but with a timeless style that takes us right back to the delta! The approach here is similar to some of the best Georgia rural blues of the time – very spare and stripped-down, with mostly just guitar and vocals from Ranie, often with some folksy undercurrents – and some occasional harmonica on two tracks from Abe Keg Young. There's no attempt to modernize the music at all, and the quality of Ranie's gritty guitar comes through beautifully in the space of the recording – on titles that include "Lonesome Moon Blues", "Gone Dead On You", "One String Baby", "Yonder Goes My Baby", "Shake Em On Down", and "Dough Roller Blues". LP, Vinyl record album

Really great material from Tony Joe White – a never-issued live album recorded during his early 70s stretch at Warner Brothers – done with a raw, stripped-down vibe that offers up an even grittier take on the territory of his early albums for Monument Records! The group is pretty small on the set, and Tony's mostly playing acoustic guitar – and singing in a way that's every bit as earthy and swampy as before, but much more personal too – kind of like we're getting a chance to see a side of his personality that he'd sometimes keep hidden. Titles include "Mississippi River", "Rainy Night In Georgia", "Roosevelt & Ira Lee", "That On The Road Look", "My Kind Of Woman", "Willie & Laura Mae Jones", and a 10 minute take on "Polk Salad Annie". CD

Wonderful recordings of this obscure western Mississippi blues singer – recorded as part of the legendary George Mitchell series in the late 60s, and maybe one of the best of the bunch! Teddy Williams plays guitar alongside his voice – but it's the latter that really grabs us, as it's full of lively power that really blows us away – waves of inflections that are completely hypnotic, no matter what the subject matter – of a sort that really blows away most bigger names in the field. Titles include "Shaggy Hound", "The Swing Blues", "Catfish Blues #2", "Hard Time Blues", "Sun Don't Shine", "You See Me Laughing", "Going Away Blues", and "Black Mattie". LP, Vinyl record album

Includes tracks by Mississippi John Hurt, Rev Gary Davis, Skip James, Robert Pete Williams, John Hammond, Dave Van Ronk, and Jesse Fuller. CD