A top-drawer tour of the musical worlds touched by the blues, hand-picked from the riches of the Mapleshade archive. We go from hard-hitting Delta acoustic blues all the way to swing, '60s soul, Motown R&B, West Texas country and British acoustic rock.
“One of the best acoustic blues albums of the year...” raves Blues Revue. Absolute Sound was unambiguous: “This is as close to live as I’ve heard a recorded trio get...I dare you not to fall in love with this uniquely American music and this firecracker performance.”
This is tassel-twirlin’, butt-shakin’ Texas strip joint blues. Sweetman’s raw, in-your-face tenor sax leads a down-and-dirty Austin R&B band (including veterans of the Fabulous Thunderbirds). A startlingly vivid recording: the kickass electric guitars, trumpet, sax, electric bass, and drums will get your backfield in motion.
Midnight Blue combines urban blues, organ trio jazz, and R&B. Artie and Selena are the soul-drenched singers up front, spicing their tight harmony with salty innuendo, and the band is a who’s who of great R&B sidemen. “Curtis Pope’s trumpet just rips the air at times and the impact of the drums puts you in the front row...great music startlingly well recorded,” says AudioEnz.
Bound For Sound writes: “...red hot southern blues with some of the best sonics this side of perfection. Recording of Exceptional Merit.” From the heart of South Carolina, Drink Small has an amazingly deep bass voice, perfectly recorded here. His sound falls right in between B.B. King and Bo Diddley, but with a little extra deviltry.
Stereophile applauds, “…a recording to die for…R&B and early rock, but with a totally modern sensibility…one hell of a performance.” Whop Frazier's Motown-steeped, bluesy vocals are backed by a vividly raw blues/rock quartet led by wailing electric guitar and raunchy tenor sax.
"An instant classic for the audiophile and non-audiophile alike,” praises Bound For Sound. Willoughby’s authentic swing piano has the most soulful, bluesy sound we’ve heard-matched by a gravelly, boozey voice smack between Tom Waits and Fats Waller.
A mean, gritty sax riding a sweaty organ groove is R&B at its best. That’s the tenor sax sound Joe Stanley pioneered and perfected in the ’50s, leading his hit-making Bill Black Combo (Elvis’ backup band) for over a decade. For this CD, he leads an all-star sextet: two blues drenched electric guitars, muscular bari sax, and soul-steeped Hammond organ up front.
“Superbly recorded blues from the genuine article,” says Hi Fi News. First row seats at live concerts starring two powerful pillars of blues history. Disc 1 features big-voiced Sunnyland Slim, Muddy Waters’ legendary pianist ’40s and a founding father of Chicago barrelhouse. Disc 2 stars John Dee’s relaxed drawl and folksy pickin’, honed for over six decades in the Carolina hills.
Archie’s finger-pickin’ guitar is raw blues mixed with country, ragtime, and spirituals-all heavily influenced by his mentor Mississippi John Hurt. Sing Out! praises, “It isn’t just the song selection that makes this set fantastic. The washboard-sounding bones of Richard Thomas and Slim Harpo-influenced harmonica from veteran Mark Wenner add extra dimension to Edwards’ casual, ultra syncopated rhythms and drawling.”
“Fronted by sultry vocals from chanteuse Marianna Previti alternating with Arthur Gerstein’s gruff and wiggy Prima-esque jiving, the J Street Jumpers execute a perfect fit with their swaggering horn arrangements, lustful lyrics and dance-til-dawn swing beat,”describes CMJ.
