Rating:
Genre:
Blues
Release Date: 03/24/2009
Run Time: 0:00
A collection of 22 mostly
blues tracks that either influenced or were covered by
Nick Cave, this set works just fine as an anthology even without the
Cave connection. And it isn't all
blues, either, with songs like
Screamin' Jay Hawkins' voodoo-tinged
R&B masterpiece
"I Put a Spell on You" and
Hobart Smith's and
Texas Gladden's string band and fiddle-based Appalachian murder ballad
"Down in the Willow Garden" also included. Most of this set, though, is comprised of darkly themed vintage
country blues and
field hollers, and tracks like
Blind Willie Johnson's urgent and harrowing
"John the Revelator," Leadbelly's sparse field shout
"Black Betty," and
Mississippi John Hurt's gentle retold cautionary tale
"Stack O'Lee" are classics by any definition and influenced a whole lot more folks than just
Nick Cave.
Cave took this material, and without changing much at all, brought its dark, desperate vision into a modern format. The original template is here.
~Steve Leggett, All Music Guide
;)
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