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328 Part VI: The Part of Tens Masters of the Delta Blues:
Friends of Charlie Patton
Yazoo, 1991. This album is named for Charlie Patton — one of the earliest
and most influential acoustic country blues figures, known as “The Father of
Delta Blues.” Featured performers on this album include Bukka White, House,
and Tommy Johnson. Especially interesting are the six cuts of House from
1930. It was these very recordings that Alan Lomax heard, and that inspired
the archivist to seek out and record the powerhouse for the Library of
Congress in the early 1940s.
Mean Old World: The Blues
from 1940 to 1994
Smithsonian, 1996. This four-CD, 80-song boxed set covers more than 50
years of the blues and is a great introduction to the major blues guitar figures,
especially in the period between 1940 and 1970. Mean Old World is a
good single-source reference for the many styles and personalities that make
up guitar-based blues.
Chicago: The Blues Today
Vanguard, 1999. This anthology has been remastered with improved fidelity.
A great encapsulation of the vibrant mid-’60s blues scene as it was in Chicago,
this set is noteworthy because it isn’t a mere compilation of unrelated tracks
but a series of closely spaced sessions produced by blues scholar and producer
Samuel Charters.
TEAM LinG