Sacramento, California's musically fearless, wildly entertaining and award-winning Rick Estrin & the Nightcats return with another superb collection of blues and roots music full of sharp-witted songs and brilliant musicianship. Celebrated throughout the blues world, the band has twice won the coveted Blues Music Award for Band Of The Year, and Estrin has won BMAs for Song of the Year, Traditional Male Blues Artist and Instrumentalist - Harmonica. The Hits Keep Coming is modern blues at it's most potent, with ten sparkling new originals ranging from from crisp, hooky retro-rock to intense, noir-ish blues, along with sublime interpretations of Muddy Water's "Diamonds At Your Feet" and Leonard Cohen's "Everybody Knows." The songwriting is whip-smart throughout, and the band's ensemble playing is infectious and jaw-dropping.
Lil Green was one of leading female American blues and R&B singers and songwriters of the 1940s, with a sensuous and sinuous soprano voice, and a fine sense of phrasing and timing that made her one of the most distinctive blues song stylists of her day. Born in Mississippi, she was brought up with the music of the Delta, and performed in the juke joints there in her teens before heading to Chicago where she did all her recording. This 51-track 2-CD collection comprises just about all the A & B sides of her career releases on Bluebird, Victor, Aladdin and Atlantic labels. It includes her Top 10 R&B hit "Let's Be Friends" and her classic songs "Romance In The Dark" and "Why Don't You Do Right", with compositions from Big Bill Broonzy, Joe McCoy and other writers alongside her self-penned material and her versions of many well-known blues and jazz standards. It features performances with Champion Jack Dupree, Big Bill Broonzy, Ransom Knowling, Simeon Henry, Budd Johnson and other noted musicians from the Chicago scene. While not being an absolutely complete or definitive anthology, this collection offers a substantial proportion of here career recordings, and is a fine showcase for her highly individual style. This collection offers a substantial proportion of here career recordings
Blind Boy Fuller, born in 1904 in North Carolina, was one of the noted bluesmen of the Piedmont school of blues, alongside the likes of Blind Blake, Josh White and Buddy Moss. A as a songwriter, singer and guitarist with a formidable fingerpicking style he occupies a significant niche in the history of blues during the late 1930s and into the 40/, prior to his untimely demise in 1941, His songs had honesty and integrity, reflecting his poor background, but also with a hokum humour redolent with double entendres. This 51-track 20CD collection comprises selected sides from the releases across his career on the Vocalion and Okeh labels, with tracks taken from as many of his sessions as possible in order to provide as representative an overview of his recorded output as we could, with notable titles featured including Rag Mama Rag, Get Your Ya Yas Out (borrowed by the Rolling Stones for an album title), Lost Lover Blues abd Step It Up And Go. It includes recordings with some of his noted collaborators, including harmonica luminary Sonny Terry, guitarist Brownie McGhee and washboard player Bull City Red (aka George Washington. His music is listenable and entertaining, and this collection is an enlightening showcase for a noted bluesman.
FULL TILT is simply the rawest, truest, most electrifying blues being made today. Wielding his slide like a switchblade, Ed stokes the up-tempo tracks to a white-hot intnensity and the tough, slow blues even hotter. A touch of barrelhouse piano and raucous horns adds to the fun and the Blues Imperials, throttle wide-open, match Ed step for step and push him to the best performance of his career.
Following in the footsteps of our 20th, 25th, 30th and 35th Anniversary Collections, which have scanned a combined 400,000 units, comes this budget-priced double CD release celebrating the 40th anniversary of the worlds premier blues label. Featuring 38 songs (over 157 minutes of music) showcasing 40 years of career-defining recordings by a star-studded Who's Who of American blues and roots artists past and present.
Alligator Records rightfully won raves for this series, arguably the greatest modern blues collections out there. Volume four features Detroit Junior ("Some Nerve," "I Got Money"), Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson ("Somebody Have Mercy," "Look What You Done"), Big Leon Brooks ("Country Boy," "My Life Ain't the Same"), Andrew Brown ("Two Years"), Queen Sylvia Embry ("Going Upstairs")...19 tracks, many maddeningly hard to find! Alligator.
Alligator's Grammy Award winning, best-selling title of all time, remastered on CD with the added bonus track -Something to Remember You By. Universally recognized as one of the greatest blues albums of all time. A celebrated studio "cutting contest" between three legendary blues guitarists. Albert and Johnny are sadly no longer with us, but Robert Cray continues to record and tour, and is one of the best-selling blues artists in history with over 2.3 million career units scanned.
Blind Lemon Jefferson - Complete Releases 1926-29 / Blind Lemon Jefferson was one of the most important, influential and successful of the early bluesmen, a singer, songwriter and guitarist who has been called "The Father Of Texas Blues", and he was one of the earliest and most prominent figures in the blues movement that developed in the Deep Ellum area of Dallas. He was one of the first solo guitarist/vocalists in the commercial recording world, being invited to Chicago in early 1926 to do his first sessions for Paramount. His high-pitched voice and unusual guitar style made him a distinctive performer, writing songs about everyday life and experiences, and his skilful guitar playing and impressive vocal range created opportunities for other solo performers like Charley Patton and Furry Lewis. This substantial and excellent-value 87-track 4-CD collection comprises, as far as we are aware, every recording he made which was commercially released, primarily comprising his releases on Paramount, but also featuring titles he made in a brief foray to the Okeh label, and including a couple of titles he made as a member of the Paramount All Stars. He wrote and recorded many classics of the genre, all of which are featured here, and the collection is a comprehensive and definitive showcase for an innovative blues pioneer.
Tommy Castro plays rockin' soul music fired by razor-sharp guitar work and urgent vocals. In 18 years and eight releases, he has built a huge live following and amassed over 220,000 scans, with his last release, 2007's PAINKILLER, currently over 27,000. HARD BELIEVER is Castro's Alligator debut and with the label's extensive promotional efforts behind him for the first time, he's sure to reach new levels of popularity. Produced by John Porter (Santana, Buddy Guy, Elvis Costello) and showcasing a t on of heart and soul. Six Castro originals, plus tasty Bob Dylan and Wilson Pickett covers.
Get Wild! Signals the return of one of best loved blues bands around, Lil' Ed & the Blues Imperials. Over the course of three previous studio releases, Lil'Ed Williams and the boys developed a reputation for playing the wildest raw-boned Chicago blues in ages. After taking a couple of years off, Ed reformed the original band almost two years ago, and these slide-boogie masters have been back on the road taking their raw rocking sound to venues across the US.
On his second Alligator album (1991), Charlie pairs his masterful harmonica riffs and earthy vocals with a tight rhythm section, horns and-on "Cheatin' on Me"-Mr. John Lee Hooker on vocals and guitar. That joins "Make My Getaway," "Blues Got Me Again," "Me and My Baby and the Blues," ".38 Special" and more! Alligator.
