Rating:
Genre:
R&B
Release Date: 02/24/2004
Issued to coincide with the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum's historic exhibit of the same name, this two-CD set is a treasure-trove of hits, misses, rarities, and smoking grooves. Certainly Nash Vegas is the capital of
country music, but in its day it also boasted a wealth of stomping
rhythm and blues music that flourished in the city for the better part of three decades, until the bulldozers of "urban renewal" destroyed much of its cultural base and forced it from its terrain. With 35 tracks, plus a pair of bonus tracks that are commercials, this set is an affordable, indispensable introduction to a nearly forgotten part of American musical history. The labels represented here are a cross-section of the great regional independents that were so numerous n the '40s, '50s and '60s. Imprints such as
Do-Ra-Mi, who recorded
Audrey Bryant,
Excello,
Champion,
Sun,
Hickory,
Bullet,
Dial,
A-Bet,
Elf, and
Sound Stage recorded both luminaries and nobodies. Here are early sides by
Hank Crawford when he was in a jump band, the wild and wooly
Esquerita,
Joe Tex,
Arthur Alexander,
Roscoe Shelton,
Joe Simon,
Etta James,
Johnny Adams, and
Christine Kittrell. And there are cuts by cats like
Johnny Jones, Nashville's premier
blues guitar slinger,
Audrey Bryant, the city's
Sarah Vaughan, and others who scored big on Nashville radio and jukeboxes, such as
Peggy Scott and
Jo Jo Benson,
Clifford Curry, and
Robert Knight. While some of these names might not mean much to causal listeners of old
rhythm and blues and
soul, connoisseurs will be delighted to find these sides, many of them on CD for the first time. However, the appeal of this collection should not be limited to aficionados, as virtually every track is crackling with energy, verve, and raw immediate
soul. Sound is better than decent, the selection is impeccable, and the track notes by
Michael Gray are top-notch.
~Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
;)
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