Memphis was the town blues musicians passed through on their way to Chicago. But some of them stayed and the record companies sent their mobile units to record them. Over a three-year period from 1927, an astonishing amount of talent was recorded: local stars like the Memphis Jug Band, Frank Stokes, Cannon’s Jug Stompers, Jim Jackson, Furry Lewis, Robert Wilkins, Bukka White, Memphis Minnie, Joe Callicott and Sleepy John Estes.
It was also where musicians from neighbouring states came to try their luck. Men like Tommy Johnson, Ishman Bracey, Mississippi John Hurt, Lonnie Johnson, Lewis Black, Charlie McCoy, Kid Bailey and Blind Willie Reynolds. All of these musicians are featured on the first CD of this collection, caught at their best, cutting songs that became blues standards, like ‘Big Road Blues’, ‘Cannon Ball Blues’, ‘I’m Wild About My Lovin’’, ‘That’s No Way To Get Along’ (covered by the Rolling Stones as ‘Prodigal Son’), ‘The Girl I Love, She Got Long Curly Hair. In 1950 Sam Phillips set up his Memphis Recording Service and a couple of years later, Sun Records. He took it as his mission to record the wealth of black talent in Memphis that was being ignored.
He gave first recording opportunities to Howlin’ Wolf, Ike Turner, Rosco Gordon, Doctor Ross, Willie Nix, Honeyboy Edwards, Joe Hill Louis, Little Junior Parker, Little Milton, Rufus Thomas and Walter Horton. Once again, standards like ‘Moanin’ At Midnight’, ‘Rocket 88’, ‘Saddle My Pony’, ‘Bear Cat’ and B.B. King’s ‘Three O’Clock Blues’ were laid down in his studio at 708 Union Avenue. But all the time he was looking for a white singer who sounded like a bluesman and in 1954 he found him. Elvis Presley recorded ‘That’s All Right’, ‘Mystery Train’ and others, and history was made. That history is presented over the three CDs in this collection.
Disc 1
01. Memphis Jug Band / Sun Brimmer's Blues [00:03:12]
02. Banjo Joe (Gus Cannon) / Poor Boy, Long Ways From Home [00:03:11]
03. Lewis Black / Corn Liquor Blues [00:02:58]
04. Pearl Dickson / Little Rock Blues [00:03:01]
05. Cannon's Jug Stompers / Springdale Blues [00:03:07]
06. Frank Stokes / Downtown Blues [00:03:14]
07. Tommy Johnson / Big Road Blues [00:03:12]
08. Ishman Bracey / Saturday Blues [00:03:29]
09. Mississippi John Hurt / Frankie [00:03:23]
10. Lonnie Johnson / Away Down In The Alley Blues [00:02:51]
11. Tom Dickson / Death Bell Blues [00:03:12]
12. Jim Jackson / I'm Wild About My Lovin' [00:03:13]
13. Furry Lewis / Cannon Ball Blues [00:03:05]
14. Charlie McCoy / Last Time Blues [00:03:04]
15. Robert Wilkins / That's No Way To Get Along [00:02:54]
16. Garfield Akers / Cottonfield Blues Part 1 [00:02:51]
17. Sleepy John Estes / The Girl I Love She Got Long Curly Hair [00:02:57]
18. Kid Bailey / Rowdy Blues [00:02:59]
19. Noah Lewis / Chickasaw Special [00:03:17]
20. Joe Callicot / Fare Thee Well Blues [00:03:11]
21. Jim Thompkins / Bedside Blues [00:03:06]
22. Memphis Minnie / Bumble Bee [00:03:17]
23. Bukka White / The Panama Limited [00:03:09]
24. Blind Willie Reynolds / Married Man Blues [00:03:17]
25. Allen Shaw / Moanin' The Blues [00:03:01]
Disc 2
01. Memphis Jug Band - Jazzbo Stomp [00:02:59]
02. Robert Wilkins - Old Jim Canaan's [00:02:53]
03. Minnie Wallace - The Cockeyed World [00:02:58]
04. Little Buddy Doyle - Hard Scufflin' Blues [00:02:40]
05. Charlie Burse & His Memphis Mudcats - Beale Street Holiday [00:02:25]
06. James De Berry & His Memphis Playboys - Single Man Blues [00:02:33]
07. Joe Hill Louis - Boogie In The Dark [00:02:46]
08. Walter Horton - Little Boy Blue [00:02:58]
09. Ike Turner - I'm Lonesome Baby [00:03:02]
10. Jackie Brenston - Rocket 88 [00:02:51]
11. Howlin' Wolf - Moanin' At Midnight [00:02:56]
12. B.B. King - She's Dynamite [00:02:32]
13. Billy Love - Juiced [00:02:33]
14. B.B. King - Three O'Clock Blues [00:03:02]
15. Dr. Ross - Dr. Ross Boogie [00:02:39]
16. Rosco Gordon - Booted [00:03:10]
17. Sleepy John Estes - Rats In My Kitchen [00:03:04]
18. Howlin' Wolf - Saddle My Pony [00:02:34]
19. Rosco Gordon - T-Model Boogie [00:02:37]
20. Woodrow Adams - The Last Time [00:02:54]
21. Walter Horton - We All Gotta Go Sometime [00:02:58]
22. Willie Nix - Seems Like A Million Years [00:02:49]
23. Honeyboy Edwards - Sweet Home Chicago [00:03:00]
24. Jimmy De Berry & Walter Horton - Easy [00:03:00]
25. Rufus Thomas - Bear Cat [00:02:51]
Disc 3
01. Charlie Booker / Walked All Night [00:02:45]
02. D.A. Hunt / Greyhound Blues [00:02:37]
03. Little Junior Parker / Feelin' Good [00:02:56]
04. William Stewart / County Farm blues [00:01:56]
05. Rufus Thomas / Tiger Man [00:02:48]
06. Boyd Gilmore / Believe I'll Settle Down [00:03:08]
07. Earl Hooker / Blue Guitar [00:02:47]
08. Pinetop Perkins / Pinetop's Boogie Woogie [00:02:46]
09. Little Milton / Beggin' My Baby [00:02:26]
10. Johnny O'Neal / Ugly Woman [00:02:29]
11. Joe Hill Louis / Hydramatic Woman [00:02:32]
12. Little Junior Parker / Mystery Train [00:02:22]
13. James Cotton / Straighten Up Baby [00:02:20]
14. Coy ''Hot Shot'' Love / Wolf Call Boogie [00:02:36]
15. Kenneth Banks / But High [00:02:34]
16. Billy Love / Way After Midnight [00:02:51]
17. Little Milton / Lookin' For My Baby [00:02:36]
18. James Cotton / Cotton Crop Blues [00:03:02]
19. Elvis Presley / That's All Right [00:01:58]
20. Pat Hare / I'm Gonna Murder My Baby [00:02:56]
21. Elvis Presley / Mystery Train [00:02:26]
22. Billy 'The Kid' Emerson / When It Rains It Pours [00:03:06]
23. Dr. Ross / The Boogie Disease [00:02:36]
24. Sammy Lewis - Willie Johnson / Feel So Worried [00:02:27]
25. Rosco Gordon / Cheese And Crackers [00:02:49]
Warren Haynes is a generation-spanning guitar hero. He wasn't out of grade school when some of his best-known collaborators were at the peak of their fame, but he's earned a powerful reputation for his fiery guitar work steeped in blues and Southern rock traditions, and he's distinguished himself as a songwriter, bandleader, and solo artist as well as a gifted sideman. Haynes was born in Asheville, North Carolina on April 9, 1960 and developed a taste for soul and R&B at an early age after listening to his older brothers' Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, and Smokey Robinson LPs. Haynes would spend hours singing along with their records. When he was 12, he got his first guitar, and by 14 he was playing parties and sitting in with the house band at a local pizza parlor. He became a serious Eric Clapton fan, and studying his work led him deeper into the classic blues sounds that had influenced the British guitar hero.
