2021

Best of New Orleans Rhythm & Blues [Digipack / 2 CD]

As "The Father Of The British Blues" John Mayall's career has been nothing less than spectacular. Joining Mayall on this album are of course, his (90's) Bluesbreakers featuring CoCo Montoya and the Texan Buddy Whittington. With guest appearances on this album from veteran musicians like the legendary Buddy Guy on the Junior Wells' cover "I Could Cry", Mavis Staples and former Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor on "Wake Up Call" and Taylors contribution on "Not At Home" make this album a great listening experience. 'Silver Tones' features 14 cuts culled from Mayall's three Silvertone albums dating from '93 to '97, and two previously unreleased songs.

The use of slide guitar techniques within blues music is usually taken as a given, although the genesis of the form is not the easiest to trace. It is widely agreed that the roots of slide guitar<br/>playing lie in Africa. There was also another probable route via the Hawaiian Islands, they developed their 'slack key' playing style and began to add the use of metal held along the fretboard. However the story is complicated by the famed composer W.C. Handy who reported witnessing a blues player at a train station using a knife blade along the strings as early as 1903. It's quite likely that all these scenarios fed into the mix, and by the later 1920s blues players were often using the style. Our collection covers a wide period of time from the late 1920s onwards, and features many well known names and highly influential songs.

Ma Rainey: Ma Rainey's black bottom 1924-29 [Digipack / 2 CD]