VA - Times is gittin’ hard Rare Blues from the Mississippi 1920s to 1940s (2018)

No one can deny that the Mississippi River has produced the single most important root source of modern popular music- from it’s source to the delta it has flowed with the Blues. The whole region is known for it’s rich soil and the many plantations where the black population toiled in extreme poverty, the music that was born of this environment could only be called ‘the Blues’. With the emergence of new recording technology in the late 1920’s, many upcoming record labels sent their talent scouts south on field trips to make recordings or invite these artists to travel to Northern cities to make ‘race records’ that illustrated forever the endurance and artistry of a subjugated people……Once again the Viper label has unearthed many rare hidden gems that speak as loudly today as back when they were recorded .

Track List:

1. Joe McCoy – When the Levee Breaks
2. Bill Wilber – Greyhound Blues
3. Freddie Spruell – Lets Go Riding
4. Joe Calicott – Fare Thee Well Blues
5. Walter Rhoads – The Crowning Rooster
6. Furry Lewis – Why Dont You Come Home Blues
7. Arthur Petties – That Wont Do
8. Otto Virgial – Little Girl in Rome
9. Mississippi Bracey – Stered Gal
10. Tom Dickson – Death Bell Blues
11. Blind Willie Reynolds – Third Street Women Blues
12. Bogus Ben Covington – Adam and Eve in the Garden
13. Robert Lockwood – Black Spider Blues
14. Jenny Pope – Mr Postman Blues
15. Walter Vineson – Cant Get a Word in Edgeways
16. Cansas Joe – Meat Cutter Blues
17. Willie Harris – Never Drive a Stranger from Yo
18. Robert Wilkins – Old Jim Canans
19. Poor Boy Lofton – Dirty Mistreater
20. Lucius Curtis – Times Is Gittin Hard