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***Memphis musician/producer Jim Dickinson is a legend in his own right (having played keyboards on the Rolling Stones' "Wild Horses," performed on Bob Dylan albums, produced Big Star and Alex Chilton albums, etc., etc.) and he definitely knows a thing or two about blues roots and field recordings of legendary and should-be-legendary blues artists from the south. Dickinson captures raw and spontaneous performances from some of the most important blues artists in the Memphis / Mississippi area on these exclusive recordings by Furry Lewis, Sleepy John Estes (whose performances feature the guitar work of Ry Cooder), Otha Turner, Mose Vinson, Johnny Woods and Alec Teal. These pure examples of Delta blues were committed to tape at Sam Phillips studios, Ardent studios, the Orpheum Theater, and various fields in and around the Memphis area. Raw, gritty and real - just how the blues should be heard. 
Dickinson says, "The Blues is … a musical tradition born from the dark prison of slavery. Torn from family and homeland, separated from custom and culture, the call and response of the African work song took on new emotional depth. A lonesome sound in the darkness - a howling dog or passing train - echoed by harmonica or guitar became a raw, powerful statement of hard times, long work, and fast pleasure; a voice in the southern night complaining about the human condition. 
 
"The fleeting nature of the present creates in man the desire to capture the moment. The movement of time compels us to record. The record becomes a totem, a pageant with a potential for recurring cultural impact, a sacrament between artist and audience, an unique event preserved and repeatable." 
 
Track listing 
1. Otha Turner & the Rising Star Fife and Drum Band 'My Babe' 
2. Mose Vinson 'Old Blue Jumped a Rabbit' 
3. Walter "Furry" Lewis 'Furry's Blues' 
4. Sleepy John Estes 'Broke and Hungry' 
5. Alec Teal and Butter Biscuit 'Roll Me Over Slow' 
6. Johnny Woods 'So Many Cold Mornings' 
7. Walter "Furry" Lewis 'Turkey in the Straw' 
8. Sleepy John Estes with Ry Cooder and Jim Dickinson 'Floating Bridge' 
9. Johnny Woods 'Lonesome Feelin'' 
10. Mose Vinson 'Barrel House Blues / Cryin' Won't Make Me Stay' 
11. Sleepy John Estes with Hammy Nixon, Ry Cooder, Jim Dickinson 'Race that You Don't Run' 
12. Tate County Singers featuring Otha Turner and the Afrossippi Allstars 'Jesus is on the Mainline' 
 
* Includes several artists featured in Martin Scorsese's PBS documentary film series The Blues 
 
* Curated by Jim Dickinson 
 
* Essential archival releases indispensable to blues fans of all stripes