Downhome Blues 1959 contains 46 tracks, spread out over two CDs, tracing the rural blues guitarist Mississippi Fred McDowell’s earliest recordings. The sessions take place on the front porch of his Como, MS farm between September 21-25, 1959 and recorded by folk researcher Alan Lomax with assistance from Shirley Collins. On the first disc, McDowell is heard playing acoustic guitar and is occasionally joined by guitarist Miles Pratcher with Fannie Davis on kazoo and comb, with vocals by McDowell’s wife Annie Mae, James Shorty, Sidney Carter, and Rose Hemphill. The second disc includes one McDowell track, “Shake ‘Em on Down,” with the remaining cuts spotlight other Lomax recordings from the same time by bluesmen Forrest City Joe, Boy Blue, Willie Jones and the fife and drum duo of Ed Young and G.D. Young…

"Mississippi" Fred McDowell played simple, haunting blues with vivid, demonstrative passion and power. He wasn't a great guitarist, but his voicings and backings were always memorable, while his singing never lacked intensity or conviction or failed to hold interest. This 1965 set contains mostly McDowell compositions, with the exception of the set's final number, a nearly seven-minute exposition of Big Bill Broonzy's "Louise." Assisted only at times by his wife Annie, Fred McDowell makes every song entertaining, whether they're humorous, poignant, reflective, or bemused.

2 CD Set Contains Previously Unreleased Performances. JESUS ON THE MAINLINE is drawn from two 1971 concerts; April 14th, 1971 in Tacoma, Washington, and November 5th, 1971 at the Gaslight In New York, which would prove to be the final recording of the Delta Blues legend. The bottleneck guitarist was 67 years old when these tracks were recorded and his passion and conviction seem to have strengthened with the years. At this point in McDowell's career he had shifted to playing electric slide guitar. Accompanying McDowell's gruff voice, the guitar often seems to finish the singer's sentences for him; it's like listening to an old married couple.

Legendary bluesman Mississippi Fred McDowell was one of the most important rural guitarists and songwriters to come out of the 1960s blues revival. He was discovered in 1959 (at age 55), when he was first taped by music historian and folk researcher, Alan Lomax (with assistance from a young Shirley Collins). This newly remastered CD includes those mythical recordings that would launch McDowell’s career as a professional musician, and announce him to a new legion of fans. In addition, this collector’s release contains a bonus track – a live recording of McDowell’s classic number, “You Gotta Move” (later famously covered by The Rolling Stones).

Bessie Jones, John Davis, and the Georgia Sea Island Singers gained wide renown during the 1960s and ‘70s for their powerful performances of traditional songs from the African American Gullah Geechee community on St. Simons Island, Georgia. Most in the group were born and raised on St. Simons, and could trace their ancestry to the enslaved West and Central Africans who worked on the island’s cotton plantations. Throughout the ‘60s, the Georgia Sea Island Singers were prominent voices in the civil rights movement, bringing hundreds of years of Black musical tradition to bear on a pivotal time in American history. This previously unheard recording captures their complete Friends of Old Time Music concert of April 1965, at which they were joined by legendary bluesman Mississippi Fred McDowell, cane fife player Ed Young, and folklorist Alan Lomax, who acted as emcee.

Mississippi Fred McDowell was one of the links between the blues' past (specifically: Blind Willie Johnson, Robert Johnson, and Son House) and the 1960s blues revival, where the music got a whole new young, white audience. Whereas some blues players attempted to modernize their style, McDowell's approach remained firmly rooted in the spacious, slide guitar-driven Delta (or country) blues.
Shake 'Em On Down captures McDowell live and in fine form in New York City in 1971. His voice is hearty, yet high-pitched and eerie, and his slide playing is terse, razor-sharp, and ominous. This reissue contains a respectable mix of classic McDowell tunes including "You Got To Move," covered by the Rolling Stones, and blues standards like "John Henry" and Big Joe Williams's "Baby Please Don't Go."