Rating:
Genre:
Blues
Release Date: 06/17/2008
Run Time: 0:00
The
Paramount record label of the 1920s and '30s started out as an a side venture of the Paramount Furniture Company in Grafton, WI, a way to sell the company's line of phonograph players by featuring a line of cheaply made 78s to play on them. Luckily, the Southern
blues musicians the company recorded at the time just happened to be pretty vital, and such
country-blues legends as
Charley Patton,
Skip James,
Blind Blake, and
Blind Lemon Jefferson all recorded classic sides for
Paramount, as did dozens of lesser known and obscure figures, many of whose recordings are collected here on this 20-track compilation. There aren't any big
country-blues names here, but there are plenty of little gems, including
Geeshie Wiley's stark and haunting
"Last Kind Words Blues" from 1930,
Ramblin' Thomas' poignant
"So Lonesome" from 1928,
Walter "Buddy Boy" Hawkins'
"Shaggy Dog Blues" from 1927, and
Freddie Spruell's
"Tom Cat Blues" from 1928.
Wiley's
"Last Kind Words Blues" aside, none of these sides is absolutely essential to any
blues collection, but they won't diminish one, either.
~Steve Leggett, All Music Guide
;)
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