46 super rarities - classic performances of early blues and old country music from the 1920s and 30s, including 2 never heard before selections by Son House.For anyone who's collected 78-rpm records, enjoyed Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music, or expressed interest in the great missing old-time and blues records of yesteryear, The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of will be the Holy Grail. Whereas it isn't unusual for Yazoo to place a rarity on a new collection by Blind Blake or Blind Lemon Jefferson, this two-disc collection -- all 46 cuts -- is a testament to rarities. Perhaps the best-known (to a general old-time/blues audience) performer here is Son House, and the collection includes recordings of "Mississippi County Farm Blues" and "Clarksdale Moan." Others might be familiar with Dock Boggs ("Old Rub Alcohol Blues"), Ken Maynard ("Sweet Betsey from Pike"), and the Memphis Jug Band ("Jim Strainer Blues"). Incredibly, several of these tracks were recorded as test pressings and never officially released, meaning that as far as the recording industry is concerned, they don't exist. It's probable that all of the fuss made over this collection of rarities will make little sense to folks who don't spend all of their spare money and time hunting down 78-rpm records, and there's a point here. If you don't know that a certain item is rare, you won't value it in the same way a collector might. In this sense, one CD filled with scratchy old recordings is as good as another. But even for those who might not understand why they should be excited by The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of, the collection nonetheless holds up as good old-time folk and blues, and expense-wise, Yazoo always offers lots of quality music for one's money. As an added bonus the cover art and inside cartoon has been put together by none other than Robert Crumb, a record collector and one-time string band performer himself.
CD 1
1. FREENY'S BARN DANCE BAND: Croquet Habits
2. SON HOUSE: Mississippi County Farm Blues
3. GEORGIA POT LICKERS: Up Jumped the Rabbit
4. MEMPHIS MINNIE & JOE McCOY: I'm Going Back Home
5. WILMER WATTS & THE LONELY EAGLES: Fightin' In the War With Spain
6. JOHN BYRD: Old Timbrook Blues
7. ERNEST PHIPPS AND HIS HOLINESS SINGERS: A Little Talk With Jesus
8. TOMMY JOHNSON: Slidin' Delta
9. THE THREE STRIPED GEARS: Alabama Blues
10. JACK GOWDLOCK: Rollin Dough Blues
11. KENTUCKY RAMBLERS: Ginseng Blues
12. OLLIS MARTIN: Police and High Sheriff Come Ridin' Down
13. ROY HARVEY & JESS JOHNSTON AND THE WEST VIRGINIA RAMBLERS: John Hardy Blues
14. LONG "CLEEVE" REED & LITTLE HARVEY HULL - The Down Home Boys: Original Stack O' Lee Blues
15. AMEDIE ARDOIN & DENNIS McGEE: Two Step De La Prairie Soileau
16. ANDREW & JIM BAXTER: Operator Blues
17. J.D. HARRIS: The Grey Eagle
18. MEMPHIS JUG BAND: Jim Strainer Blues
19. GRAYSON COUNTY RAILSPLITTERS: Ain't That Trouble In Mind (unissued)
20. DOCK BOGGS: Old Rub Alcohol Blues
21. JAYBIRD COLEMAN: Mistreatin' Mama
22. HENRY WHITTER: It's a Rough Road to Georgia (unissued)
23. REV. B.L. WIGHTMAN WITH LOTTIE KIMBROUGH & CONGREGATION: Live the Life
CD 2
1. YANK RACHEL WITH SLEEPY JOHN ESTES & JAB JONES: Sweet Mama
2. CROWDER BROTHERS: We All Love Mother (unissued)
3. SON HOUSE: Clarksdale Moan
4. ASHLEY & FOSTER: Bull Dog Sal (unissued)
5. JESSE "BABYFACE" THOMAS: Down In Texas Blues
6. GEORGIA POT LICKERS: Chicken Don't Roost Too High
7. WILLIAM HARRIS: I'm Leavin' Town (But I Sho' Don't Wanna Go)
8. ASA MARTIN & ROY HOBBS: Wild Cat Rag
9. KING SOLOMON HILL: Whoopee Blues (alternate take)
10. CHUBBY PARKER: Davey Crockett
11. GEESHIE WILEY: Skinny Leg Blues
12. SWEET BROTHERS: I'm Gonna Marry That Pretty Little Girl
13. BLIND ROOSEVELT GRAVES & VAROY GRAVES: I Shall Not Be Moved
14. SMITH & IRVINE: Lonesome Road Blues
15. LUKE JORDON: If I Call You Mama
16. GRAYSON & WHITTER: My Mind Is To Marry (unissued)
17. OSEY HELTON: Green River
18. LOTTIE KIMBROUGH: Don't Speak To Me
19. WADE WARD: Married Man's Blues (unissued)
20. KEN MAYNARD: Sweet Betsey From Pike (unissued)
21. JAYBIRD COLEMAN: Boll Weevil
22. BILL SHEPHERD WITH HAYES SHEPHERD & ED WEBB: Bound Steel Blues
23. MIDDLE GEORGIA SINGING CONVENTION NO. 1: Bells Of Love
