Various Artists - Alan Lomax: Blues Songbook (1934 - 1978)

Lots has been written at great length about Alan Lomax elsewhere on this blog, and I'm sure eventually I will write plenty more about the man and his important influence of modern music. However in the interest of not repeating oneself..... 

This 2CD collection is reproduced here in lossless (.flac) quality and is comprised of field recordings made by John and Alan Lomax from 1935-’78, the scope alone of this album is formidable. Many of the acts are obscure even to blues aficionados, yet icons like Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Blind Willie McTell, Son House, Leadbelly, and Mississippi Fred McDowell are peppered throughout the nearly 2 1/2 hour playing time. 

Although the audio quality varies from excellent to primitive, the astounding remastering makes it all able. This is raw, pure, spine-tingling music played with the intense nothing-left-to-lose passion of ordinary people whose impossibly difficult lives are exposed in their voices and performances.

"Alan Lomax is a lifelong fan of blues music, and his efforts to document and promote it have made a profound impact on popular culture. From his earliest audio documentation in 1933 of blues and pre-blues with his father, John A. Lomax, for the library of Congress through his 1985 documentary film, The Land Where the Blues Began, Lomax gathered some of the finest evidence of blues, work songs, hollers, fife and drum music, and other African-American song forms that survived the nineteenth century and prospered in the twentieth. His efforts went far beyond those of the typical musicologist. Lomax not only collected the music for research, but through his radio programs, album releases, books, and concert promotions he presented it to a popular audience. While living in England in the early 1950s he introduced many blues songs to the performers of the skiffle movement, who in quick turn ignited the British rock scene. Lead Belly and other blues artists, interpreted by Lonnie Donegan and Van Morrison, preceded the rock & roll tradition of covering and rewriting blues songs. The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, the Animals, Cream, Jimi Hendrix—all found inspiration from the blues. 

And this is how I came to the blues, as many people have: by way of rock & roll. In the very structure of rock music—and, in fact, -much of popular music—the source is undeniable. My personal journey of exploring the history of blues music is connected by the work of Alan Lomax. I vividly remember the first time I heard Lead Belly's voice on the radio in 1958-I immediately ran up to Sam Goody's to buy the 10" Folkways LP featuring his "C. C. Rider." When I filmed Muddy Waters in 1976 performing "Mannish Boy- for The Last Waltz, I witnessed the success and power of a man who had first been recorded in Stovall, Mississippi, in 1941 by Lomax and John W. Work, III. And when I saw Otha Rimer leading his fife and drum band in The Land Where the Blues Began, I was so struck by its hypnotic force that it became one of the primary musical inspirations for Gangs of New York. 

Alan Lomax: Blues Songbook is the first collection of Lomax blues recordings to encompass his career. I'm sure that his work will continue to inspire and illuminate the minds of future generations. The deep well from which he drew these essential voices of human culture is a treasure for all." 

— Martin Scorsese, York. NE July 2003

"Chilling, mysterious, and even playful--sometimes simultaneously--this collection with 40 pages of detailed history, informative track-by-track notes, and forays into Cajun and spiritual side roads is most recommended to established blues fans wishing to further explore the roots of the genre."

— Hal Horowitz  

Tracklist:

Disc 1:

1. Going Down to the River - Mississippi Fred McDowell, Miles Pratcher
2. Rolled and Tumbled
3. Cherry Ball Blues - Jack Owens,
4. Dust My Broom - Howlin' Wolf, , Hubert Sumlin
5. Boogie Children - Boy Blue, Joe Lee,
6. Stagolee - Lucious Curtis, Willie Ford
7. Stop All the Buses - Cecil Augusta
8. Worried Life Blues - David Honeyboy Edwards
9. Pony Blues - Son House
10. Tangle Eye Blues
11. Trouble So Hard - Vera Hall-Ward, Dock Reed
12. Worried Blues - Sonny Terry
13. Beggin' the Blues - Bessie Jones
14. John Henry - Gabriel Brown
15. Country Blues - Dock Boggs
16. Cherry Ball Blues - Skip James
17. I Hate a Man Like You - Jelly Roll Morton
18. Roll 'Em Pete - Pete Johnson
19. Kokomo - Memphis Jug Band
20. Life Is Like That - Big Bill Broonzy, Memphis Slim, Sonny Boy Williamson

Disc: 2

1. I Could Hear My Name A-Ringin' - Big Bill Broonzy, Memphis Slim, Sonny Boy Williamson
2. Dimples in Your Jaws - Boy Blue, Joe Lee,
3. Catfish Blues - Jack Owens,
4. Kill-It-Kid Bag - Blind Willie McTell
5. You're Gonna Need My Help - Elinor Boyer
6. Army Blues - David Honeyboy Edwards
7. Blues de la Prison - Alphonse "Bois Sec" Ardoin, Canray Fontenot
8. I Been Drinking - Vera Hall-Ward
9. I Been a Bad, Bad Girl (Prisoner Blues) - Ozella Jones
10. I Be's Troubled - Muddy Waters
11. Boogie Instrumental - R.L. Burnside
12. Blind Lemon Blues - Leadbelly
13. Sweet Patootie Blues - Albert Ammons
14. Last Time - Sam Chatmon
15. Shorty George - Smith Casey
16. Desert Blues - Hattie Ellis,
17. Joe Turner - Hobart Smith, Ed Young
18. Joe Turner - Bob Pratcher, Miles Pratcher
19. Joe Turner
20. See That My Grave Is Kept Clean - Hobart Smith
21. How Long Blues - Leadbelly, Brownie McGhee, Sonny Terry

Download Link - Mediafire - CD1

Download Link - Mediafire - CD2