Blues 187 Items

Two ecellent country-blues rockers from 1942 pressed with 78rpm labels on a solid center for that authentic feel. Nice job!

Pride of St. Louis Pokey LaFarge pays homage to his home city on this first single!

Includes two bonus tracks.

High Quality pressing in vintage silk screen sleeve. Surfing on the shores of Java and Casablanca! 2 un-expected tales from the Beat generation.Tony Turpijn and his Evergreens fulfill the dream of every pantropical music lover with a silky instrumental rhythm ’n blues take on the Sundanese love song “Es Lilin” (Ice Lolly). Link Wray meets Mulatu Astatke meets Oslan Husein in Rotterdam, 1965.

Celebrating the 75th anniversary of three top 10 R&B singles - “Hobo Blues”, “Hoogie Boogie” and “Crawlin’ King Snake.” This 4-track EP includes the bonus track, “Hastings Street Boogie,” which is also celebrating its 75th anniversary.

It was sixty years ago, in June 1964, when John Lee Hooker entered the British singles charts for the first time with “Dimples,” peaking at #23. The track had been cut for the Vee-Jay label in America some eight years prior in Chicago. “Boom Boom,” issued in the UK in 1963, had already caught the ears and feet of the nascent mod movement. Both songs became live staples on the British blues scene, with The Animals covering both on their debut UK LP issued later in 1964.

But in 1952, way before the sharp-suited mods were attracted to John Lee Hooker’s equally well-cut look and infectious music, the British Vogue label had issued “Hoogie Boogie,” recorded in 1949, on a 78rpm disc. Blues music was for the aficionado back then, and the four tracks on this EP hark back to those earliest recordings by John Lee Hooker. “Hobo Blues,” “Hoogie Boogie,” and “Crawlin’ King Snake” all went Top 10 in the US R&B chart in 1949.

This is unadorned John Lee Hooker, getting to the heart of his blues and boogie, just guitar, vocal, and tapping foot, 15 years before his music caught the ears of a wider and enthusiastic British audience. Decades may have passed, but the music remains fresh and vital.

This EP is housed in a beautiful period-era sleeve drawn and designed by Niall McCormack.

Gatefold 180g Includes Rare Or Exclusive Artwork Inside

Limited edition for Record Store Day 2015!

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.

Includes four bonus tracks.

Released on a pink 10-inch vinyl platter, as part of the series 'Ten X Ten', here are ten tracks by the legendary Texas soul-blues singer.

Strut is celebrating the holiday season with an exclusive reissue of The Qualities" 1961 single, "It"s Christmas Time" b/w "Happy New Year To You!" Originally released on Sun Ra"s Saturn label, this mysterious harmony group 45 captures a unique moment in music history.

By incorporating all manner of homemade instruments, jug bands were hugely popular in America during the 1920s and early 1930s. With an unparalleled vibrancy this do it yourself and often overlooked approach to music was highly influential in the history of the blues.

Antibalas’ new studio album, Where The Gods Are In Peace, is an epic Afro-Western Trilogy searching for solace from American political opportunism, greed and vengeance. Through its battle cry of resistance against exploitation and displacement, ANTIBALAS’ long-form compositions investigate oppression in 1800s America that eerily mirror the current state of the country. Three explosive original arrangements cultivate an urgent call to heal a broken system. Ultimately, the sonic excursion lands on an island where love is our first instinct. A new ideology is born opening our hearts to the possibilities of living as one unified people, where all gods are equal and together we prevail.

True to traditional form, Where The Gods Are In Peace pays respect to the forefathers of Afrobeat with compositions spanning nine to 15 minutes in length. With a blessing from the Fela Kuti legacy early in the band’s career, ANTIBALAS has long been revered for re-popularizing the classic Afrobeat sound while adding their distinct New York City grit to the mix. Influences of punk rock, free jazz, and hip-hop seep into their expansive works to define a truly 21st century translation of the Afrobeat genre and beyond.

Bassekou Kouyaté is a musician from Mali. His new album is about love, friendship, family and true values in times of crisis. Miri means dream or contemplation in bamana. Miri is a very personal album. It talks about his mother Yakare that passed away. The album also pays hommage to two great Malian singers that have blessed quite a number of Bassekous albums: the one and only Zoumana Tereta & the golden voice of Mali Kassemady Diabate. May they rest in peace. They live on in their music.

Valerie June announces her new album “The Order Of Time”.
Valerie June Hockett (born January 10, 1982), known as Valerie June, is an Americana singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist from Memphis, Tennessee, United States. Her sound encompasses a mixture of folk, blues, gospel, soul, country, Appalachian and bluegrass.

Being back in the prairies after decades away opened up boxes of tightly wrapped insanity, delicate stuff, and bizarre things. The joy and sorrow of the place drives me into the Blues studio to make more art for you. It's made with big heart from way out West, to keep you alive and virile.”

Welcome back. Where's the party at? Son Of Dave's 11th album kicks off with homecoming outbursts. After 26 years in London UK he's back in the Canadian Prairies demanding as much attention as always. Themes of flat Midwest cities, classic-rock lovin' truckers, and a weird call for More Mayonnaise will keep his multitude of international fans chuckling. The usual Son Of Dave bag of tricks colours the album: Blues-harmonica, beat-box, cheap electric guitar, and that voice that shouts and croons his own brand of Blues infused old-school R&B.

As always, he messes with different rhythms: Funk, Boogaloo, Rock-Steady, or Techno, always doing it his own way. How do you categorize a Son of Dave album? He's become his own style, loved and shared by millions of fans worldwide. That's why you'll find his music in the Breaking Bad soundtrack and many more. You'll hear it on college radio or boomer generation blues radio programs from Switzerland to Argentina. A true maverick Bluesman.

Most of the record is done completely himself. All writing, instruments, editing, recording, mixing and artwork. You're welcome. Three exceptions are “Where's The Party At” , produced by long-time collaborator Tim Gordine in London, and two recorded on Vancouver Island by Zac Cohen at lovely Woodshop Studios, “Yahoos” and “I Told You All I Know”. The album will be released on July 12th. Four singles will lead up. Plenty of videos and fun coming. Shows and tours forthcoming.

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.