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

A collection of later recordings by the Jerry Garcia Band. Tracks include "Second That Emotion", "Russian Lullaby", "Mississippi Moon", "Positively 4th Street", "Midnight Moonlight", and "Everybody Needs Somebody To Love". CD

Two 60s classics from Bobbie Gentry – packaged here with some great bonus tracks too! First up is Ode To Billie Joe – a key late 60s country crossover set, but one that also inspired a fair bit of funk as well! The title cut's a well-known gem – one that's been covered instrumentally in some break-heavy versions, but which sounds even more amazing here in Bobbie's original version – one of the moodiest pop tunes we've ever heard, with lyrics, and a way of presenting them, that still leaves us breathless all these many years later. There's also some other funky bits here too – Gentry's raspy "Mississippi Delta" – an original number that almost seems to unseat Tina Turner for down-home soul – and the groovy "Sunday Best", "Niki Hoeky", "Papa Won't You Let Me Go To Town With You", and "Chickasaw Country Child", all numbers that echo the same lilting acoustic guitar grooves of "Billie Joe". Arranger Jimmie Haskell deserves a good deal of thanks for the perfection of the album's sound – and other cuts include "Hurry Tuesday Child, "Bugs", and the classic "Ode To Billie Joe". Next up is the album Touch Em With Love – a set that features less original music by Bobbie Gentry, but a sound that's still pretty great! The approach is more confidently country than the early days – with arrangements by Don Tweedy and Hank Levine – and vocals from Bobbie that are sometimes quite full, sometimes a bit more laidback and personal. Titles include "Natural To Be Gone", "Seasons Come Seasons Go", "Touch Em With Love", "Where's The Playground Jimmy", and "I Wouldn't Be Satisfied". CD also features 4 great bonus tracks from the Bobbie Gentry & Glenn Campbell album – "The Girl From Cincinnati", "You & Me Together", "Scarlet Ribbons", and "Let It Be Me". CD

A massive 3CD look at the key early years of Elmore James – a package that's overflowing with great work by one of the greatest blues guitarists of the 50s! The set starts way back at James' roots in Mississippi, with some sweetly rough-edged recordings that still sparkle with incredible lines on electric guitar – then it moves deeper into Elmore's years in Chicago, recording with slightly greater clarity, and a sound that had an undeniable influence on the scene in that city at the time. The set's completed by recordings from Culver City, New Orleans, and Chicago again – presented in both master takes and alternates that offer up some equally compelling guitar solos. The set features 71 tracks in all, plus 40 full pages of notes – and titles that include "Dust My Broom", "Hand In Hand", "One More Drink", "I Believe", "Make My Dreams Come True", "Dark & Dreary", "Strange Kinda Feeling", "Early In The Morning", "Happy Home", "So Mean To Me", "Long Tall Woman", "Elmo's Shuffle", "Sho Nuff I Do", "Please Come Back To Me", "Wehre Can My Baby Be", "I May Be Wrong", "Kicking The Blues Around", and "Sinful Woman". CD

Music from Dock Boggs, Fred McDowell, Maybelle Carter, the Stanley Brothers, Hobart Smith, Mississippi John Hurt, Jesse Fuller, Arthur Smith, the Greenbriar boys, Bill Monroe & his Bluegrass Boys, McKinley Peebles, Maybelle Carter, Horton Barker & more. CD

A very cool collection of vintage 78rpm material – 48 tracks, with lots of notes! Music from Daddy Stovepipe & Mississippi Sarah, Lil McClintock, Shorty Godwin, Jim Jackson, Walter Smith, the Allen Brothers, Carolina Tar Heels, the Blue Ridge Mountain Entertainers, Sam McGee, Frank Hutchison & more. CD

Includes recodings by the Memphis Jug Band, Mississippi Sarah, Jack Kelly, Tommy Bradley, Gus Cannon, Jed Davenport, the Cincinnati Jug Band, and others. LP, Vinyl record album

Astoundingly strong early recordings by Mississippi blues hero RL Burnside – with violence-tinged songs performed with a clearer, though no less tough voice than we heard on the songs that made him a bit more famous in 1990s! Includes RL's takes on traditionals played on acoustic guitar and accompanied by little more than foot stomps and handclaps! Really vital stuff, whether you're hearing RL Burnside for the first time, and finding this after more famous later recordings. Includes "Just Like A Bird Without A Feather", "Goin' Down South", "Come On In", "Rollin' And Tumblin'", "Jumper On The Line", "Hobo Blues", "Sat Down On My Bnd And Cried" and more, LP, Vinyl record album

Jammin! For heavy guitars and high-stepping vocals, Mountain couldn't be beat – and this early album was one of the group's best! The set kicks off with their stone classic "Mississippi Queen", then rolls into other heavy numbers like "Theme From An Imaginary Western", "To My Friend", "Sittin On A Rainbow", "Boys In The Band", "Sliver Paper", and "Never In My Life" – all served up with great guitars from Leslie West and heavy bass from Felix Pappalardi. LP, Vinyl record album

Some of the earliest work ever recorded by Muddy Waters – in Mississippi, before he moved to Chicago – captured by the Library Of Congress recordings, and featuring some tracks with Muddy on his own, and some with the Son Sims Four! LP, Vinyl record album

A trio of classic CTI Records albums from tenorist Stanley Turrentine – with bonus tracks too! First up is Cherry – one of the best CTI albums from the early 70s – and one of Stanley Turrentine's funkiest records as well! The album's got a sharper edge than most other Turrentine albums of the time – a quality that goes beyond Stan's already soulful approach to the tenor, and which brings in some tight changes and more pronounced rhythms that really give the best cuts a great groove! The group's a sextet – with Bob James on electric piano, Milt Jackson on vibes, Cornell Dupree on guitar, Ron Carter on bass, and Billy Cobham on drums – and titles include a monster version of Weldon Irvine's "Sister Sanctified" – a great funk tune that's probably best known as the sample for "My Philosophy" by BDP! Other tracks include "Speedball", "Cherry", and "The Revs". On Don't Mess With Mister T, Stanley Turrentine meets Bob James – on a record that's one of the 70s classics on CTI! Bob James handles the arrangements – with that laidback, mellowfunky approach to jazz that he helped pioneer at the time – lots of modal chords in the rhythms, and these wonderfully soulful solos by the great Stan himself! James plays keyboards on the set – and Harold Mabern adds some piano too – and the lineup also includes the mighty Eric Gale on guitar, and Idris Muhammad on drums. Titles include the great title cut – a remake of Marvin Gaye's "Don't Mess With Mister T", plus "Too Blue", "Two For T", and "I Could Never Repay Your Love". Sugar Man is a classic set from Stanley "Sugar Man" Turrentine – a nickname the reedman had at the time, given the success of his famous CTI Records version of "Sugar"! This set follows in that same great mode – jazzy, but a bit funky too – although couched with this gentle sense of soul that's perfect for that spacious style of soloing that Turrentine perfected over the years – a way of blowing openly, and without too much fuss – but managing to hit all the right notes along the way! There's a great glow to the whole record – an excellent easygoing sense of soul – and titles include an incredible reading of "Vera Cruz", done with Deodato on piano, and at a breakaway speed that's just great, and worth the price of the record alone! Other tracks feature piano by Harold Mabern or organ by Butch Cornell – and titles include "The Stretch", "Just As I Am", and "Pieces Of Dreams". Bonus tracks include "The More I See You", "Don't Mess With Mister T (alt)", "Mississippi City", and "Harlem Dawn". 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