Country blues (also folk blues, rural blues, backwoods blues, or downhome blues) is one of the earliest forms of blues music. The mainly solo vocal with acoustic fingerstyle guitar accompaniment developed in the rural Southern United States in the early 20th century. Artists such as Blind Lemon Jefferson (Texas), Charley Patton (Mississippi), Blind Willie McTell (Georgia) were among the first to record blues songs in the 1920s. Country blues ran parallel to urban blues, which was popular in cities.
Folklorist Alan Lomax was one of the first to use the term and applied it to a field recording he made of Muddy Waters at the Stovall Plantation, Mississippi, in 1941. In 1959, music historian Samuel Charters wrote The Country Blues, an influential scholarly work on the subject. He also produced an album, also titled The Country Blues, with early recordings by Jefferson, McTell, Sleepy John Estes, Bukka White, and Robert Johnson.
Charters's works helped to introduce the then-nearly forgotten music to the American folk music revival of the late 1950s and 1960s. The acoustic roots-focused movement also gave rise to the terms "folk blues" and "acoustic blues", especially being applied to performances and recordings made around this period. "Country blues" has also been used to describe regional acoustic styles, such as Delta blues, Piedmont blues, or the earliest Chicago, Texas, and Memphis blues.
1-01 Charley Patton– High Water Everywhere, Pt.2 3:07
1-02 Blind Lemon Jefferson– See That My Grave Is Kept Clean 2:56
1-03 Garfield Akers, Joe Calicott*– Cottonfield Blues (Pt.2) 3:18
1-04 Richard "Rabbit" Brown– James Alley Blues 3:10
1-05 Washington Phillips– I Had A Good Father And Mother 3:00
1-06 Blind Willie McTell– Travelin' Blues 3:23
1-07 Tommy Johnson– Canned Heat Blues 3:38
1-08 Cannon's Jug Stompers– Minglewood Blues 3:45
1-09 Bob Grant*– Nappy Head Blues 2:51
1-10 Blind Willie Reynolds– Third Street Woman Blues 2:43
1-11 Son House– My Black Mama, Pt. 1 3:15
1-12 Henry Thomas– Bull-Doze Blues 3:27
1-13 Blind Willie Johnson– Dark Was The Night (Cold Was The Ground) 3:22
1-14 Ishman Bracey– Trouble Hearted Blues 3:25
1-15 Blind Mamie Forehand– Honey In The Rock 2:45
1-16 Mississippi John Hurt– Frankie 3:25
1-17 Jaybird Coleman– Man Trouble Blues 3:08
1-18 Frank Stokes– How Long 3:21
1-19 Willie Brown (2)– Future Blues 3:04
1-20 Walter "Buddy Boy" Hawkins*– Voice Throwin' Blues 2:58
2-01 Skip James– Devil Got My Woman 3:03
2-02 William And Versey Smith– When That Great Ship Went Down 2:56
2-03 Sam Collins– The Jail House Blues 2:33
2-04 George "Bullet" Williams– Touch Me Light, Mama 2:50
2-05 Blind Joe Taggart, Joshua White*– Mother's Love 2:57
2-06 Henry Brown, Charley Jordan– Skin Man Blues 2:54
2-07 Lottie Kimbrough, Winston Holmes– Lost Lover Blues 3:10
2-08 Texas Alexander, Lonnie Johnson (2)– Levee Camp Moan Blues 3:07
2-09 Memphis Jug Band– K.C. Moan 2:34
2-10 Gitfiddle Jim– Paddlin' Madeline Blues 3:21
2-11 Robert Johnson– Preachin' Blues 2:54
2-12 Furry Lewis– Billy Lyons and Stack O'Lee 2:36
2-13 Bessie Tucker, K.D. Johnson– Fryin' Pan Skillet Blues 3:29
2-14 Dallas String Band– Dallas Rag 2:57
2-15 Memphis Minnie, Kansas Joe McCoy*– Crazy Cryin' Blues 3:33
2-16 Roosevelt Graves And Brother– Woke Up This Morning (With My Mind On Jesus) 2:56
2-17 Robert Wilkins– That's No Way To Get Along 3:02
2-18 Palmer McAbee– McAbee's Railroad Piece 3:12
2-19 King Solomon*– The Dead Gone Train 3:21
2-20 Blind Blake, Charlie Spand– Hastings Street 3:13
3-01 Smith Casey– Shorty George 3:19
3-02 Bozie Sturdivant– Ain't No Grave Can Hold My Body Down 3:47
3-03 Muddy Waters– I Be's Troubled 3:06
3-04 Big Bill Broonzy– How You Want It Done? 2:53
3-05 Georgia Cotton Pickers– She's Coming Back Some Cold Rainy Day 3:07
3-06 Bukka White– Sic "Em Dogs On Me 2:24
3-07 Lane Hardin– California Desert Blues 3:20
3-08 Jesse James (3)– Lonesome Day Blues 3:04
3-09 Allen Shaw, Willie Borum– Moanin' The Blues 3:03
3-10 Leroy Carr, Scrapper Blackwell– Midnight Hour Blues 3:12
3-11 Pete Harris (11)– Jack O'Diamonds 2:06
3-12 Elmore James, Sonny Boy Williamson (2), Frock O'Dell, Odie Johnson*– Dust My Broom 2:47
3-13 Kid Bailey– Rowdy Blues 3:02
3-14 Andrew "Smokey" Hogg*– Penitentiary Blues Pt. I And II 5:37
3-15 Dan Pickett– Baby How Long 2:43
3-16 Cliff Bivens, Sonny Boy Williamson (2)– Mighty Long Time 2:57
3-17 Lowell Fulson– River Blues, Pt. 2 2:36
3-18 Rube Lacy– Mississippi Jail House Groan 3:22
3-19 William Harris (2)– Bullfrog Blues 3:10
3-20 Lightnin' Hopkins– Moanin' Blues 2:26
