Mountain Blues: Blues, Ballads & String Bands 1927-1938 CD - Import

Country has been called the white man's blues, but the phrase has probably only been truly accurate when applied to the so-called hillbilly records from the 1920s and 1930s, the period and genre covered by this four-disc, 100-track anthology from JSP. Not that everything here is actually blues (the string band selections in particular are really dance reels that happened to have the word "blues" in the title), and a fair portion of these cuts don't have any real geographical association with the Southern mountains, either, but you have to give a box set a title, so Mountain Blues it is. With hindsight, a lot of these performances seem a bit generic, but there is a lot here, as well, that is startling in its freshness, even at a 75-year distance. Disc A gives us "Blue Grass Twist" (which isn't bluegrass, mind you) by the South Georgia Highballers, featuring some amazing guitar work from Vander Everidge and some stylish, almost pop guitar from Riley Puckett (best known for his work in the Skillet Lickers string band) on "I Get the Blues When It Rains." Disc B presents Slim Smith's jaunty "Bread Line Blues," Clarence Ashley's spooky modal banjo classic "Dark Hollow Blues," and Samantha Bumgarner's fragile singing and strong banjo on "The Worried Blues," a version of "Going Down the Road Feeling Bad." Highlights of the third disc include the steel guitar work of Lemuel Turner on "Way Down Yonder Blues" and "Jake Bottle Blues," and the zither playing of Nonnie Smith (who would enjoy a bit of a mu

Recording information: Atlanta, GA (03/10/1927-08/23/1939); Augusta, GA (03/10/1927-08/23/1939); Birmingham, AL (03/10/1927-08/23/1939); Chicago, IL (03/10/1927-08/23/1939); Columbia, SC (03/10/1927-08/23/1939); Jackson, MS (03/10/1927-08/23/1939); Johnson City, TN (03/10/1927-08/23/1939); Knoxville, TN (03/10/1927-08/23/1939); Memphis, TN (03/10/1927-08/23/1939); New Orleans, LA (03/10/1927-08/23/1939); New York, NY (03/10/1927-08/23/1939); Richmond, IN (03/10/1927-08/23/1939); Richmond, VA (03/10/1927-08/23/1939); San Antonio, TX (03/10/1927-08/23/1939).

Personnel: Clarence Ashley (vocals, guitar, banjo); Bill Cox (vocals, guitar, harmonica); Clarence Green, Dick Justice, Slim Smith, Olfa Crowder, Neil Babb, Cliff Hobbs, Gene Autry, Walter "Joe" Callahan, Henry Chamblie, Homer "Bill" Callahan, Ortize Crowder, Hoke Rice, Larry Hensley, Lonnie Glosson, Riley Puckett, Asa Martin, Byrd Moore (vocals, guitar); Frankie Marvin (vocals, steel guitar); Emmett Bankston, Richard Burnett (vocals, banjo); Nonnie Presson Smith (vocals, zither); Earl Johnson & His Dixie Entertainers , Oscar Ford, Jr., Bud Landress (vocals, fiddle); Dan Hornsby, Hazel J. Lowery, Walter "Kid" Smith (vocals); Garley Foster, Salty Holmes (guitar, harmonica); Dan Pearson, Mahlon B. Overstreet, L.K. Sentell, Hub Mahaffey, Claude Davis, Fred Rumble, Vanessa Edwards, Ben Evans, Robert Carver, Wally Wimbly, Marshall Nations, Ray Barger, Noble "Bozo" Carver, Walter Davis, Melvin Dupree, Norman Woodlief, J. Roberts, Vander Everidge, Dallas Jones, S.W. Smith, Luke Brandon (guitar); Hobart N. Ashley, King Bennie Nawahi, Roy Smeck (steel guitar); Walter Keith, Howard Wyatt, John Patterson, Bill Dubois, Doc Walsh, Leon Cofer, Homer Treat, Oddis Burgher, Jim Wolverton, Wade Ward (banjo); Bert Layne (tenor banjo, fiddle); Carlton Freeny (tenor banjo); Myrtle Vermillion (autoharp); Chick Hurt (mandola); John V. Kelly Sr., Fred Locklear, Rick Mitchell, R. Mosley (mandolin); Clayton McMichen, Ike Reaves, Ira Ellis, Odell Smith, Doc Roberts, J.W. Spangler, Anson Fuller, Leonard Rutherford, Jess Chamblie, Will Gilmer, Jimmy McCarroll, Silas Rodgers, Paul Cofer, Shelton Nations, Billy Altizer, Lowe Stokes, Jesse Johnson's Revue, John Dykes, Prince Albert Hunt's Texas Ramblers, Tex Atchison, W.T. Narmour (fiddle); Chuck Darling, Henry Bone, Gwen Foster, Kyle Wooten, Palmer McAbee (harmonica); K.D. Malone (clarinet); Bunk Lane (piano); Lonnie Reaves (organ).

Liner Note Author: Pat Harrison.