Tommy Johnson 1928 - 1929
Tommy Johnson; vocal , guitar. Includes; Charlie McCoy , guitar; Kid Ernest Michall, clarinet, Charley Taylor, piano and others… Genres: Mississippi Blues, Country Blues, Blues guitar. Informative booklet notes by Paul Oliver. Detailed discography. Charley Patton is often considered to be the father of the Mississippi Blues, and the young, ill-fated Robert Johnson epitomised the Mississippi Blues as its most agonised exponent. But there is no doubt that the music of Tommy Johnson epitomised the Mississippi Blues at its most expressive and poetic. Johnson achieved the perfection of a regional vocal and instrumental tradition, while realising its potential for the development of a unique and personal means of communication.

Son House & The Great Delta Blues Singers 1928 - 1930
Tweny-four tracks featuring: SON HOUSE, WILLIE BROWN, KID BAILEY, GARFIELD AKERS, JOE CALICOTT, JIM THOMPKINS, BLIND JOE (WILLIE) REYNOLDS, RUBE LACY. Genres: Mississippi Delta Blues, Country Blues, Country Blues Guitar. Informative booklet notes by Bob Groom. Detailed discography. Have you ever put an album into a player and been shocked as a surge of intensity, both beautiful and at the same time disturbing hits you like nothing before? You're mesmerised, finding it hard to believe that this is a man, relying on little more than his relentless, pounding rhythmic guitar playing and his own dark, rich, voice. These are the first few seconds of Son House's My Black Mama Part 1 recorded for Paramount in 1930 and just a hint to what is to come. This album is not just an album of singers. It is a snapshot of some finest bluesmen to have recorded. This is the blues un-distilled. Raw, hard hitting, being exorcised and torn like a demon from man's tormented soul.

The Greatest Songsters 1927 - 1929
THIS CD IS NOW PERMANENTLY OUT OF STOCK. IT IS NOW AVAILABLE AS DISC 1 OF A 3-CD BOX SET; DOCD-5678. THE BOX SET ALSO INCLUDES DOCD-5045 AND DISC 3 HAS TRACKS BY CEDAR CREEK SHEIK, ROBERT HILL AND VIRGIL CHILDERS.

Furry Lewis 1927 - 1929
Furry Lewis, vocal, guitar, bottleneck-slide guitar. Genres: Memphis blues, Country blues.Country Blues Guitar. Informative booklet notes by Chris Smith. Detailed discography. At his debut session, Walter "Furry" Lewis sang only blues, probably in line with fashion and record company demand, but as well as singing blues, he preserved the songster's repertoire of ballads, and at each of the three sessions he recorded in the 1920s, one each year from 1927 to 1929, he made valuable versions of well known ballads. As a blues singer, he brought to the form a talent for grotesque imagery. But one always feels that he is laughing at some of these images. He never lets his tough guy fantasy obscure the real world of poverty, and of women who are not the compliant beings of his dreams; the homicidal bedbugs of Creeper's Blues are an elaboration of the daily reality of pests, and the same could be said of the fictional Judge Harsh and the real Southern system.

Skip James 1931
Skip James had just one pre-war session and turned out 18 astonishing sides, thirteen with guitar and five with piano, for the Paramount label at their Wisconsin studios. Here, in their entirety are the results of that session including I'm So glad a remarkable masterpiece, later covered by the sixties super group Cream, with its simple lyrics accompanied by incredibly fast and accurate finger-picked guitar.

Blind Willie McTell Vol 1 1927 - 1931
Blind Willie McTell CDs If Robert Johnson can be crowned as the King of the Delta blues then surely Blind Willie McTell was the King of the Georgia blues. Blind Willie McTell possessed one of the truly distinctive voices in the blues and was arguably the most accomplished player of the demanding 12-string guitar. His mastery of the instrument resulted in showpieces of deep blues, exquisite rags and superbly controlled bottleneck slide guitar which can be found throughout the three Document volumes of his early recordings.

Blind Willie McTell Vol 2 1931 - 1933
Blind Willie McTell CDs If Robert Johnson can be crowned as the King of the Delta blues then surely Blind Willie McTell was the King of the Georgia blues. Blind Willie McTell possessed one of the truly distinctive voices in the blues and was arguably the most accomplished player of the demanding 12-string guitar. His mastery of the instrument resulted in showpieces of deep blues, exquisite rags and superbly controlled bottleneck slide guitar which can be found throughout the three Document volumes of his early recordings.

Blind Willie McTell Vol 3 1933 - 1935
Blind Willie McTell CDs If Robert Johnson can be crowned as the King of the Delta blues then surely Blind Willie McTell was the King of the Georgia blues. Blind Willie McTell possessed one of the truly distinctive voices in the blues and was arguably the most accomplished player of the demanding 12-string guitar. His mastery of the instrument resulted in showpieces of deep blues, exquisite rags and superbly controlled bottleneck slide guitar which can be found throughout the three Document volumes of his early recordings.

Charley Patton Vol 1 1929
Charley Patton, vocal, guitar, bottleneck slide-guitar. Includes performances by Henry Sims. Genres: Mississippi Country Blues, Delta Blues, Country Blues Guitar. Extensive, detailed booklet notes by Bob Groom. Detailed discography. Charlie Patton is considered, with some justification, to be the archetypal, Mississippi Delta blues singer / guitarist. His guitar playing, including his bottleneck slide guitar technique, coupled with his gritty vocal delivery created a mixture of some of the most primitive yet sublime recordings to be made in the “pre-war blues” era. Many of his recorded performances are so powerful as to be unsurpassed within the genre. At the same time he had an overpowering presence that embodied the very essence of the Mississippi Blues.

Charley Patton Vol 2 1929
Charley Patton, vocal, guitar, bottleneck slide-guitar. Includes performances by Henry Sims. Genres: Mississippi Country Blues, Delta Blues, Country Blues Guitar. Extensive, detailed booklet notes by Bob Groom. Detailed discography. Charlie Patton is considered, with some justification, to be the archetypal, Mississippi Delta blues singer / guitarist. His guitar playing, including his bottleneck slide guitar technique, coupled with his gritty vocal delivery created a mixture of some of the most primitive yet sublime recordings to be made in the “pre-war blues” era. Many of his recorded performances are so powerful as to be unsurpassed within the genre. At the same time he had an overpowering presence that embodied the very essence of the Mississippi Blues.

Charley Patton Vol 3 1929 - 1934
Charley Patton, vocal, guitar, bottleneck slide-guitar. Includes performances by; Henry Sims, vocal, violin; Bertha Lee, vocal; Willie Brown, guitar. Genres: Mississippi Country Blues, Delta Blues, Country Blues Guitar Extensive, detailed booklet notes by Bob Groom. Detailed discography Charlie Patton is considered, with some justification, to be the archetypal, Mississippi Delta blues singer / guitarist. His guitar playing, including his bottleneck slide guitar technique, coupled with his gritty vocal deliver created a mixture of some of the most primitive yet sublime recordings to be made in the “pre-war blues” era. Many of his recorded performances are so powerful as to be unsurpassed within the genre. Truly, Charley Patton was a “man amongst men”, one of many blues singers. At the same time he had an overpowering presence that embodied the very essence of the Mississippi blues.

The Beale Street Sheiks (Stokes & Sane) 1927 -1929
Frank Stokes, vocal, guitar. Dan Sane, vocal, guitar. Genres: Memphis Blues, Country Blues, Country Blues Guitar. Informative booklet notes by Chris Smith. Includes detailed discography. It was in 1927 that Frank Stokes and Dan Sane made their first recordings for Paramount, by which time they were one of the tightest guitar duos in blues, with Sane’s flat-picked embellishments sliding through Stokes’ strong but nimble rhythms like fish through the sea. The music of the Beale Street Sheiks is regarded as a pure delight and a wonderful insight into blues carried forward by two older men who were there at the beginning.