The fifth of nine 3 CD Box Sets, released by Fantastic Voyage in the years 2009-2011.
Like Memphis, Tennessee, Atlanta was a staging post for itinerant musicians and like Memphis, it was home to an impressive number of guitarists who established a very distinctive style of playing that became synonymous with the city. It was also the location for the first country blues artist, Ed Andrews, to be recorded. Three years later, Julius Daniels was the first Carolina bluesman to record. Atlanta was also a recording centre for out-of-state artists such as Blind Lemon Jefferson, Bo Carter, the Memphis Jug Band, Blind Willie Johnson and Hambone Willie Newbern. A further school of blues gathered around Peg Leg Howell and Eddie Anthony.
The source of Atlanta’s principal blues style was Curley Weaver’s mother, Savannah Shepard, who also taught the Hicks brothers, Charlie and Robert, known on record as Charlie Lincoln and Barbecue Bob. Her influence is also heard in the music of Willie Baker and George Carter. She didn’t teach Blind Willie McTell but he was probably the inspiration for Riley Puckett’s ‘A Darkey’s Wail’. Weaver and McTell recorded together as the Georgia Cotton Pickers, while Weaver also worked with Fred McMullen and Buddy Moss as the Georgia Browns. Willie McTell also accompanied Weaver and artists such as Harris & Harris and Mary Willis. The wealth of musical talent recorded in Atlanta, included Sloppy Henry, Too Tight Henry, Billy Bird, Lonnie Coleman, Barefoot Bill, Lil McClintock, King David’s Jug Band and the Birmingham Jug Band.
World War II put paid to recording in Atlanta until the end of the 1940s, when record companies returned to the city. McTell and Weaver were still around and other country blues artists like Frank Edwards, David Wylie and Pinetop Slim made their mark. But their music was in decline as rhythm and blues rose in importance. Atlanta’s stars included Billy Wright, Piano Red and Blow Top Lynn, sometimes backed by bands led by tenor-man Fred Jackson. Others included Tommy Brown, Melvin Smith, Zilla Mays, Willie Brown and Joyce Jackson. Most popular of all were Chuck Willis and Little Richard, each went on to greater fame after making impressive recording debuts. They merely underlined once again what a valuable breeding ground for talent Atlanta had continued to be.
trax disc 1:
01. Ed Andrews / Time Ain't Gonna Make Me Stay 02. Julius Daniels / My Mama Was A Sailor 03. Blind Lemon Jefferson / Match Box Blues 04. Barbecue Bob / Barbecue Blues 05. Earl McDonald's Original Louisville Jug Band / Under The Chicken Tree 06. Riley Puckett / A Darkey's Wail 07. Blind Willie McTell / Mama 'Tain't Long Fo' Day 08. Emery Glen / Back Door Blues 09. Memphis Jug Band / Kansas City Blues 10. Will Weldon / Turpentine Blues 11. Vol Stevens / Vol Stevens Blues 12. Charlie Lincoln / Jealous Hearted Blues 13. Peg Leg Howell / Skin Game Blues 14. Bobby Grant / Lonesome Atlanta Blues 15. Pink Anderson and Simmie Dooley / C.C. And O. Blues 16. Henry Williams and Eddie Anthony / Georgia Crawl 17. Nellie Florence / Midnight Weeping Blues 18. Uncle Bud Walker / Look Here Mama Blues 19. Sloppy Henry / Canned Heat Blues 20. Curley Weaver / No No Blues 21. Too Tight Henry / Charleston Contest Pt. 1 22. Billy Bird / Down In The Cemetery 23. Alec Johnson / Miss Meal Cramp Blues 24. Willie Baker / Mama, Don't Rush Me Blues 25. George Carter / Rising River Blues
trax disc 2:
01. Macon Ed and Tampa Joe / Worrying Blues 02. Hambone Willie Newbern / Shelby County Workhouse Blues 03. Lonnie Coleman / Old Rock Island Blues 04. Peg Leg Howell and Jim Hill / Ball And Chain Blues 05. Harris and Harris / This Is Not The Stove To Brown Your Bread 06. Eli Framer / Framer's Blues 07. Barbecue Bob / She Shook Her Gin 08. Pillie Bolling / Brown Skin Woman 09. Barefoot Bill / Snigglin' Blues 10. Blind Willie Johnson / You're Gonna Need Somebody On Your Bond 11. Jaybird Coleman / Coffee Grinder Blues 12. Lil McClintock / Furniture Man 13. Willie Walker / South Carolina Rag 14. Georgia Cotton Pickers / I'm On My Way Down Home 15. Lillie Mae / Buggy Jail House Blues 16. Birmingham Jug Band / Giving It Away 17. King David's Jug Band / What's That Tastes Like Gravy 18. Bo Carter / What Kind Of Scent Is This 19. Mississippi Sheiks / Bed Spring Poker 20. Mary Willis and Blind Willie McTell / Talkin' To You Wimmen About The Blues 21. Fred McMullen / DeKalb Chain Gang 22. Georgia Browns / Decatur Street 81 23. Buddy Moss / Hard Times Blues 24. Chasey Collins / Atlanta Town 25. Blind Willie McTell / Dying Crapshooter's Blues
trax disc 3:
01. Pinetop Slim / Applejack Boogie 02. Curley Weaver / Brown Skin Woman 03. Blind Willie McTell / Love Changin' Blues 04. Frank Edwards / Gotta Get Together 05. David Wylie / You're Gonna Weep And Moan 06. Fred Jackson / Duck Fever 07. Billy Wright / Stacked Deck 08. Blow Top Lynn / Reliefin' Blues 09. Tommy Brown / V-8 Baby 10. Chuck Willis / It Ain't Right To Treat Me Wrong 11. Joyce Jackson / Body Rocking Daddy 12. Waymon Brown / Barefoot Susie 13. Roy Mays Orchestra / Royal Peacock Boogie 14. Willie Brown / Korea Blues 15. Little Richard / Get Rich Quick 16. Piano Red / Hey Good Lookin' 17. Junior Tamplin / Under The Viaduct (In Atlanta, GA) 18. Little Richard / Thinkin' 'Bout My Mother 19. Melvin Smith / Everybody's Got The Blues 20. Zilla Mays and The Blues Caravan / Nite Shift Blues 21. H-Bomb Ferguson / You Made Me Baby 22. Billy Wright / Four Cold, Cold Walls 23. Arthur 'Big Boy' Crudup / If You Ever Been To Georgia 24. Papa Lightfoot / Mean Old Train 25. Piano Red / Wrong Yo-Yo
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