Desperate Man Blues: Discovering The Roots / (2006)

Product Summary Label: Forced Exposure UPC: 00880226000523 Release Date: 12/5/2006 Buy.com Sku: 203369361 Item#: M39X7R Format:  CD Song Listing Disc 1 Song Title Sample 1. We Live a Long Time To Get Old - Jimmy Murphy ~ Original Soundtrack 2. Cross Road Blues - Robert Johnson ~ Original Soundtrack 3. When I'm Gone - Joe Hill Louis ~ Original Soundtrack 4. Death Valley Is Just Half Way To My Home - Lonnie Johnson ~ Original Soundtrack 5. Whoop 'Em Up, Cindy - Uncle Dave Macon ~ Original Soundtrack 6. Statebro Blues - Blind Willie McTell ~ Original Soundtrack 7. It Won't Be Long - Charley Patton ~ Original Soundtrack 8. Death Letter Blues - Son House ~ Original Soundtrack 9. Hard Times Blues - Lane Hardin ~ Original Soundtrack 10. Indian War Whoop - Floyd Ming & His Steppers ~ Original Soundtrack 11. Paddin' Madeline Blues - Gitfiddle Jim ~ Original Soundtrack 12. Mandolin Blues - Tennesse Messarounders ~ Original Soundtrack 13. Coo-Coo Bird, The - Clarence Ashley ~ Original Soundtrack 14. John Hardy Was a Desperate Little Man - The Carter Family ~ Original Soundtrack 15. Lost Child, The - The Stripling Brothers ~ Original Soundtrack 16. Bugle Call Rag - Billy Banks & His Orchestra ~ Original Soundtrack 17. Sail Away Lady - Uncle Bunt Stephens ~ Original Soundtrack 18. Original Stack O' Lee Blues - "Long Cleve" Reed/Papa Harvey Hull ~ Original Soundtrack 19. Dark Was the Night - Cold Was the Ground - Blind Willie Johnson ~ Original Soundtrack   Album Notes and Credits Notes & Personnel Info Liner Note Authors: Joe Bussard; Bruce Elder. In conjunction with the 2006 DVD documentary of record collector Joe Bussard, Dust-to-Digital released this companion CD, featuring 19 tracks in some of the kind of styles -- rural blues, jazz, and old-timey country music, mostly from the '20s and '30s -- that Bussard loves. Desperate Man Blues: Discovering the Roots of American Music isn't exactly a soundtrack to the documentary, since these records are not featured in their entirety in that film. Rather, it's a survey of some of the highlights of the music in which Bussard specializes, the liner notes featuring track-by-track annotation by Bussard himself. It's an excellent mixture of classics by some of the most esteemed early country and blues giants and the kind of more obscure items that are primarily known only to the type of listeners who covet what Bussard collects. Among the classics are Robert Johnson's "Cross Road Blues," Blind Willie McTell's "Statesboro Blues," Clarence Ashley's "The Coo-Coo Bird," the Carter Family's "John Hardy Was a Desperate Little Man," and the very first version of "Stack O' Lee Blues" ever made (by Cleve Reed and Harvey Hull, in 1927). Other big names on the CD are Son House, Charley Patton, Lonnie Johnson, and Uncle Dave Macon. Yet there are also quite a few tracks by lesser known and little-known artists, like Lane Hardin's "Hard Time Blues" (the only record he made); Jimmy Murphy's "We Live a Long Long Time" (a witty yet wistful 1955 recording that Bussard refers to as the last country record made in Nashville); and the raw one-man electric blues of Joe Hill Louis' "When I'm Gone." Another highlight is Blind Willie Johnson's chillingly haunting, wordlessly sung slide guitar blues "Dark Was the Night," which Bussard describes as "the most incredible record I have ever heard." Of course there are tons more records, and even many other compilations, covering similar ground. But this is a very good anthology for those who want an introduction to this kind of stuff, or those who want compilations that focus on some of the best of it, with sound transfers that eliminate as much of the extraneous noise from these aged recordings as possible. ~ Richie Unterberger Producer: Steven Lance Ledbetter; Steven Lance Ledbetter; Edward Gillan   Associated Artists and Works California Dreams Original Soundtrack Original Soundtrack   Technical Info Release Date : 11/21/2006 Original Release Date : 2006 Catalog ID : 05 Label : Dust-To-Digital Number of Discs : 1 Runtime : 58m : 25s Studio/Live : Studio Mono/Stereo : Stereo SPAR Code : n/a UPC : 00880226000523    Related Videos 500 Days of Summer: Sound...