Blues Vinyl 242 Items

Harmonica Frank recorded these tracks for Sun Records in the early '50s! It's definitely blues at the core, but which also has links to Appalachian music.

Ivory Coast isn’t known for country music. But Jess Sah Bi & Peter One’s 1985 recording Our Garden Needs Its Flowers, a massive-selling regional hit, brought a burgeoning interest in folk and Americana into the mainstream and carried two young men to international prominence, culminating in stadium-filling concerts and performances for the first lady of Cote d’Ivoire and dignitaries.

The album was made following a chance introduction via Jess’s nephew, who heard Peter playing for fun around his university dormitory. At the time, Jess Sah Bi (Die Sah Bi) was Ivory Coast’s first political cartoonist, having already published in dozens of magazines and newspapers across West Africa and France. Meanwhile Peter One (Pierre-Evrard Tra) was a university student and soon-to-be high school history teacher. Both musicians had spent time singing and playing guitar and composing songs on their own until they came together to record their independently-released opus.

The music contrasted starkly with the popular sounds of the time, ranging from fast-paced regional dance music genres to ziglibithy to soukous to straight-up funk played by Abidjan’s plethora of bands. Country music and folk-rock weren’t very popular with the general public. But interest was bubbling up within the growing student population, who connected with the protest sentiments expressed by many English and American artists of the era. “It’s very nice music, with very nice harmonies, and it’s different from what you hear every day,” Peter says. “The language was a big barrier though. You had to learn English to understand the songs, and the students were the ones learning English.” Having access to education along with their awareness of social and political inequality and injustice made students the perfect audience for folk music in Ivory Coast.

Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton and Don Williams’ music could be heard on some radio programs around Ivory Coast’s major cities, and some younger people were getting hip to Simon & Garfunkel, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Cat Stevens and Crosby Stills & Nash. The stage was set for Jess Sah Bi & Peter One’s homegrown country music to make a mark on Ivorians’ consciousness. Complete with slide guitar, soaring vocals and anthemic, politically-conscious lyrics in three languages, the recording became ubiquitous across French-speaking West Africa. “We expected the album to be a big success, but we could not have imagined how far it would go,” Peter says.

After Our Garden Needs Its Flowers release, Jess and Peter’s profile lifted rapidly, leading to stadium performances in Togo, Burkina Faso and elsewhere. Their ascent was accompanied by critical acclaim from the local press and television programs, appearances at galas organized by Marie-Thérèse Houphouët-Boigny, the wife of the late Félix Houphouët-Boigny, the first president of the Ivory Coast and even a performance during the 1988 ECOWAS (Economic Coalition of West African States) summit in Yamoussoukro at President Houphouët-Boigny’s request. Jess and Peter’s run lasted until the early 1990s, capped off with the BBC using their song African Chant as theme music the day Nelson Mandela was released from prison.

Jess and Peter now live in San Francisco and Nashville, respectively, and continue to make music on their own. Plans for shows reuniting the duo are in the works for later this year.

“Keeping a Record of It” is the follow-up to Lonnie Holley’s debut album, “Just Before Music.” Guest performers include Cole Alexander from the Black Lips, Bradford Cox from Deerhunter, and visual artist Lillian Blades. “Lonnie Holley sings with an intense, emotional voice and unleashes lyrics without consistent meter or rhyme over gossamer keyboard lines that hang in the ether. His music is a blues nebula, splotched with riffy word jazz that shares in some rappers’ collagist aesthetics as well as the runaway passion of a gospel preacher enlivened by the Spirit.”

The SuperSoul Brothers is the most active soul-funk group in the South-West of France and returns with their new album "By The Way". This is the group"s third album. "By The Way" is a more mature album that explores themes of introspection, loss, sharing, joys, and the passage of time. Each track paints a picture of the group"s journey through life, filled with both moments of happiness and difficulties. This new opus features 12 tracks oscillating between Rock "n" Soul and Nola Funk. Each song is an event in itself, creating its own universe. This combo is a true band, united around their lead, vibrating and composing together. The SuperSoul Brothers formed in Pau at the end of 2015 and since 2021 have been propelled onto stages in France and around the world with the help of the legendary Dixiefrog Records label.

180g vinyl!

"Who am I to myself? Just one of my impressions." by F. PessoaThe new album of the Polski Piach trio is titled Anomalia (Anomaly) and is the band"s third album.After Poludnie and Pólnoc (South/Noon and North/Midnight - thematically referring to the time of day and night as well as geographical directions), the band recorded a fully acoustic album, raw but brighter than Pólnoc. The songs contain the title anomalies and are narrative, even cinematic. They flow. The music of Polski Piach is a journey, both through the listener"s imagination and musical styles.The album was recorded live in Piotr Zabrodzki"s analog studio. The music was recorded on tape and mixed in analogue way.The cover was designed by Pawel Ryzko using drawings by Patryk Zakrocki.

The earliest days of blues music has its roots in the deep South region of the United States. It was there that the likes of Robert Johnson, Charley Patton, Big Bill Broonzy, and innumerable other performers cut their teeth, performing and recording largely across the states of Tennessee, Mississippi, and various other deep Southern states, gradually spreading to its most famed hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Oft forgotten in these stories is that of the Carolinas, and the surrounding Atlantic Coast. Frequently overshadowed by their Memphis, Chicago, and Mississippi contemporaries, it's an area that contains some of the blues' oldest traditions. This region was home to major traditional blues players like Blind Blake, Tampa Red, and Sam Butler, among many others, and are collected here in the tracks of Guitar Wizards: 1926-1935.

Like so many other Delta blues musicians of the 1930s and 40s, rock music owes a debt of gratitude to the works of Blind Willie McTell. Considered one of the finest guitarists and vocalists of the era, noteworthy for his then unheard of usage of a 12-string guitar, artists and bands from The Allman Brothers to The White Stripes to Taj Mahal have listed the blind bluesman as a key influence. From the start of his career in 1927, McTell cut numerous singles for Victor Records, and maintained a noteworthy level of popularity in his home of Atlanta, but like many of his contemporaries, his career skidded to a halt during World War II. McTell left music during the 1950s and later passed of a brain hemmorage in 1959. Not long after his passing would come the British blues explosion, which would not only make household names of Eric Clapton and John Mayall, but spark a renewed interest in the material of classic bluesmen like McTell. It wasn't long before innumerable collections of such material came into being. 1927-1935 is one such collection, covering the beginning years of McTell's career, pre-World War II. Many of McTell's earliest recordings for Victor Records are present here, many of which were recorded with his future wife Ruth Day providing duet vocals. Songs such as "Cold Winter Day", "Razor Ball", and "Ticket Agent Blues", which famously would be covered by The White Stripes decades later.

180 gram vinyl!

Volume #12 in this amazing series of slow grinding R&B/Soul/Exotica tunes as they arebeing played in a club in Melbourne/Australia.Around midnight on the last Saturday of every month, an assemblage of juiceheads,grifters, kittens, dandies and derelicts gather in a dimly-lit, smoke-filled room and dancetogether real slow. These are some of the records we dance to... Thanks to all the fluteplayers and backing singers of yore for flavouring these old records up just like we likethem. (Richie1250/Melbourne, 2019)Compilation and liner notes by SGF/mastermind Richie1250.

I Be Trying might be the title of the new record from two-time Grammy nominee Cedric Burnside, but it's also a mission statement in an era when plenty of us have discovered what "the blues" really means. Recorded over three days at Royal Studios in Memphis (the home studio of Al Green and Hi Records in the 60s and 70s), this album is the ultimate statement of purpose for a critically acclaimed artist who has proudly carried the mantle of Mississippi Hill Country blues around the world. Over thirteen tracks, Burnside delivers his bruised but unfettered truth over blistering guitar and deep pocket drums-a sound birthed in his soul but developed and perfected on the road. But no matter how far he travels, the righteous sound he makes could only come from one place. I Be Trying is the sound of modern Mississippi. Produced by second-generation Memphis soul trailblazer Boo Mitchell ("Uptown Funk") and featuring guest appearances from Luther Dickinson (North Mississippi Allstars) and Zac Cockrell (Brittany Howard), I Be Trying takes the sound that Burnside learned from his grandfather, blues legend R.L. Burnside, and reinterprets it into a modern, bold Black American sound that expands the sonic landscape while respecting and honoring its roots.

Muddy Waters was the greatest blues musician ever, and the most influential. He invented electric blues, inspired
the Rolling Stones and created the template for the rock’n’roll band and its wild lifestyle. Enjoy his Chess singles
here on our superb 2LP set.

After Funk, Soul and Reggae, discover all the Blues hits in the new volume of the Greatest Hits collection.Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, BB King, John Lee Hooker...All the greatest & legendary bluesmen on a nice vinyl 2LP

The Blues is a unique sound that comes from particular times, places, and people. However, that sound is universal in that it can be used to articulate every human emotion. In this album, I invite listeners from all walks of life to the world of The Blues as it is in 2024. I invite people to engage with the ups and downs we all experience, through this music.

The blues was a black-American innovation in our history that had many facets to it. There are technical components to the blues - standards and vocal phrasing. There are also components to the blues that are more abstract, such as history, geography, even intellectual movements. In this album, I endeavored to use those building blocks to articulate the humanity I see around me - past, present, and future - without compromising the quality, the foundation that the blues provides.

These fifteen original songs are my invitation to everyone out there - whether you’re a blues aficionado or just passing through the genre, I hope you find plenty to engage with.

The charm of the blues undoubtedly lies in the roaring vocals filled with emotion! And to convince anyone of that, there's the absolute masterpiece of 1970s Chicago blues, "Spider In My Stew." Under the guidance of producer Willie Dixon, featuring two prominent harmonica players, Carey Bell and Big Walter, the album crafts a rich and creative Chicago blues sound, even more intense than the 1960s. All released as singles in the early 1970s, these tracks gained acclaim in the local Chicago and Southern regions, truly embodying the blues of an era brimming with traditional beauty.

Unnoticed for a long time, the dance number "The Football," now attracting attention even from funk and rare groove fans in the contemporary scene, and the ballad "This Is The Reason," which also takes on Chicago soul elements, were rediscovered from the original master tapes by P-Vine. These tracks have been etched onto vinyl with exquisite sound quality.

In the late 1950s, Earl Hooker emerged as Chicago's premier guitarist, using his expressive playing to summon the blues more eloquently at times than many vocalists. From 1960 to 1963, he led the way for Chicago blues on independent labels such as Chief, Age, Mel-Lon Records. This compilation carefully selects works from that period, including the blues guitar instrumental masterpiece "Blue Guitar," which later became a classic covered by artists like Otis Rush. The album also features the rocking blues instrumental "Universal Rock," where the harmonica of Junior Wells, a frequent collaborator, joins in. Additionally, showcasing the prowess of A.C. Reed, who was not only a master accompanist but also a vocal talent, the collection includes "This Little Voice." This is undeniably the sound of a guitar singing the blues.

The Meters is the debut studio album by the band of the same name. It's an essential album in the funk scene and one that contains a lot of energy and soul.

Grammy-nominated blues, soul and Americana singer is beloved and honored worldwide for her joyful, defiant music and thrillingly soulful performances. Blame It On Eve is another exhilarating Shemekia Copeland showcase, as her rousing vocals bring the heat to an infectious array of muscular rockers, stomping blues, swampy soul, and heartbreaking ballads. Intense, topical new originals make up most of the tracks and soul-soaked versions of songs by Stevie Wonder and her father, Johnny Copeland, fit right into the mix.

This is an in-concert recording made by Johnny Winter with Muddy Waters and James Cotton for the Boston radio station Wbcn, and recorded at the Boston Music Hall, in Boston, Massachusetts, on 26th February 1977. By 1975, Winter had grown tired of working in the rock and roll mainstream and returned to his first musical love – The Blues. Teaming up with Muddy Waters he released the album Hard Again in January 1977 with this concert following shortly after. It is a wonderful, vivid, febrile encapsulation of a Bluesman enjoying his renewed career. With harmonica hero James Cotton on board, along with the bedrock of Waters’ regular touring band, you get value-addedness to gems such Freddie King’s “Hideaway”, before Winter takes the microphone on “Blues With A Feeling”, burnishing the sound with his inimitable lead guitar sizzle. “Mannish Boy” is a gutsy delight with Waters’ laconic vocal topping off the hearty Bluesy crunch in magisterial style.

Celebrated by fans and fellow musicians as being among the blues’ most talented and exciting guitarists, Chris Cain is, according to Living Blues magazine, “turning out the best work of his career.” Good Intentions Gone Bad debuts 13 striking new songs, with Cain delivering top-shelf performances on blistering shuffles, slow-burning blues and joyful soul. Fellow Alligator artist Tommy Castro guests on one track.

It's a long story that is not ready to end than the one embodied by King Biscuit. A new chapter opens with the invitation from Oua-Anou Diarra, griot multi-instrumentalist, to revisit the group's repertoire. A clever mix of traditional instruments with effects pedals and other amplifications, mixed with a century-old guitar, vintage keyboards and 2.0 drums. The moving bodies of the musicians become the conductors of an electrical impulse from which trance music springs.Hypnotic rock tinged with Burkinabé and Gnawa cultures, this is the focus of their new creation: Voltage Diarra.

The Music Maker Relief Foundation, is non-governmental organization. It was founded to preserve the musical traditions of the South by directly supporting the musicians who make it, ensuring their voices will not be silenced by poverty and time. Music Maker will give future generations access to their heritage through documentation and performance programs that build knowledge and appreciation of America’s musical traditions.
Original blues & gospel from Music Maker 's archives, Grotto Session illustrates the true sound of the deep south re-imaginated by three young musicians to celebrate the 25th birthday's foundation. Only released as digital files til now, EALZ! Records have been chosen by MMRF to produce an exclusive physical album.
An inspired, electric & groovy transgenerational project featuring: Captain 'Luke, Cora Fluker, John Dee Holman, Essie Mae Brooks, Rufus McKenzie and more...
Gatefold cover, 12inch vinyl, including a 16-pages booklet with complete liner notes, rare & exclusive Tim Duffy's photographs (Recorded in North Carolina, crafted in Paris, pressed in Normandy, limited edition)

As part of their 20th Anniversary celebrations, Strut present the first new volume in their pioneering ‘Nigeria 70’ series for over 8 years, bringing together rare highlife, Afro-funk and juju from the ‘70s and early ‘80s. Compiled by collector and DJ Duncan Brooker, this new selection of tracks is receiving its first international release outside of Nigeria.

The compilation returns to a fertile heyday in Nigerian music when established styles like highlife and juju became infused with elements of Western jazz, soul and funk and musicians brought a proud new message post-independence. Brooker places the spotlight particularly on some of the incredible Ukwuani musicians from the Delta State region as guitarist Rogana Ottah and Steady Arobby’s International Brothers Band forged their own fluid brand of highlife and soulman Don Bruce drew on the US R&B greats for a series of great albums and explosive stage shows at his residency at Hilton Hotel in Abuja.

Elsewhere, the album explores the close connection between Nigeria and Benin’s music, most famously through Sir Victor Uwaifo, appearing here with a killer mid‘80s ekassa jam, as well as highlife hitmaker Osayamore Joseph on ‘Obonogbozu’ (Joseph made headlines in Nigeria for very different reasons in 2017, surviving a one month kidnapping ordeal).

Other tracks include ‘Sickness’ a 1979 lament on how all countries share troubles by Prince Nico Mbarga, the Nigerian / Camerounian star behind the smash hit ‘Sweet Mother’; reggae singer Felixson Ngasia switches to funk and disco for a heavy workout with potent lyrics around black identity; another major highlife great Etubom Rex Williams unleashes a punchy psych funk gem with ‘Psychedelic Shoes’ and Africa 70 member Pax Nicholas vocals a simmering Afrobeat groove from Jacob Lee’s Saxon Lee & The Shadows International Band.

“Super Super Blues Band” started out merely as “Super Blues”, a conglomerate of blues pillars Bo Diddley, Muddy Waters and Little Walter. When Little Walter bowed out and was replaced by Howlin’ Wolf, they rightfully threw another Super on the name, and went on to release this burning, irreverent and even sometimes hilarious set of drunken, wild-eyed electric blues. Long form jams roll on in a trance as the trio of blues legends flex egos, talking shit to each other, trading off leads and ducking blasts of unexpected wah-wah guitar lines. Songs are peppered with an incredible level of banter between the trio of bandleaders that predicts the call and response sing- talking of early hip hop, laced with random screams in the background that teeter between celebration and danger. That these three ever got into the same room together is a miracle, and that they produced something so intense, energetic and weird is another almost unbelievable feat. The record is special enough as a stand-alone document of this meeting/melting of the minds before you find out the backing band consists of Hubert Sumlin, Otis Spann and freaking Buddy Guy. Lordy. Might have needed one more “super” in there. The record is pressed on limited colored vinyl.