Various Artists - Blues Masters Sampler (1993)

A compilation that I quickly snatched from a used bin for the following three reasons:

1. Blues Masters
2. essential collection sampler
3. 1990's Rhino compilation

Excellent liner notes by blues expert and radio personality Barry Hansen (a.k.a. Dr. Demento). This disc is a "specially priced sampler" from an extensive blues series of releases from Rhino. A blues primer with plenty of variety within the genre; I like the thing and with a running time of about 49 minutes, the length is absolutely perfect for my tastes as well as my ever-dwindling attention span.

Interestingly (to a former educator and blues novice - i.e., me), Rhino's blues series allegedly spawned an educational CD-ROM about the blues:

Billboard, September 4, 1993, p. 19

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks:

Song	Artist	Year
Shake Your Money-Maker	The Paul Butterfield Blues Band	1965
Juke	Little Walter And His Night Cats	1952
You Need Love	Muddy Waters	1962
T-Bone Blues	T-Bone Walker	1959
The Freeze	Albert Collins And His Rhythm Rockers	1958
Bright Lights, Big City	Jimmy Reed	1961
Candy Man	Mississippi John Hurt	1964
Bumble Bee	Kansas Joe & Memphis Minnie	1930
Crosscut Saw	Albert King	1966
Pride And Joy	Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble	1983
Every Day (Parts I & II)	Count Basie & His Orchestra with Joe Williams	1955
Shake, Rattle, And Roll	Joe Turner	1954
Wild Wild Young Men	Ruth Brown	1953
Stormy Blues	Billie Holiday	1955
Go Down Old Hannah	Texas Prison Camp Work Gang	1956

There's acoustic, there's electric, there's vocals, there's instrumentals, some tracks lean R&B, some lean R&R, plus there's a bluesy big band jazz piece and a historical recording of a prison chain gang singing one of their traditional work songs. I started to pick favorites but that effort quickly proved futile.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I feel I should listen to blues music more than I do, especially since I'm a native of the Mississippi delta, born not even 40 miles away from the legendary crossroads in Clarksdale. Obtaining this sampler didn't immediately lead to further blues CD purchases, but ya never know what the future holds.