Slim Harpo: The Best Of Slim Harpo Here's 16 original classic tracks from James "Slim Harpo" Moore, the Louisiana harpmaster who died in 1970 at the age of 45. You can't listen to these songs, recorded from 1957 to 1966, without wondering what music the man could have made had he lived just a few years longer. This CD is a must-have for the modern blues musician. Why listen to the covers of these songs by the Rolling Stones and other super groups when you can listen to the originals? I set my CD player to "Repeat" and listen to #16, "Baby Scratch My Back," over and over. Ahhhh, I'm itchin', baby, and I don't know where to scratch. / Come here, baby, and scratch my back. / Click the cover art and go to the CD's page at Amazon.com.

Various Artists Atlantic Soul Classics   Check out the songs on this awesome CD. All of them are the original verisions, I must add. If this isn't the perfect CD to liven up a dull party, I don't know what is! Soul Man - Sam And Dave In The Midnight Hour - Wilson Pickett Respect - Aretha Franklin I've Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now) - Otis Redding Green Onions - Booker T & The MG's Sweet Soul Music - Arthur Conley Tighten Up - Archie Bell and The Drells On Broadway - The Drifters Yakety Yak - The Coasters What'd I Say - Ray Charles (The long version.) Just One Look - Doris Troy Make Me Your Baby - Barbara Lewis Stand By Me - Ben E. King When A Man Loves A Woman - Percy Sledge Shake, Rattle And Roll - Joe Turner

MARVA WRIGHT Heartbreakin' Woman I once owned the cassette version of this awesome CD. Evidently a friend liked it more than I did because one night I wanted to play it and it had disappeared. Guess it grew legs and walked to New Orleans. Speaking of New Orleans, that's where you'll find Marva Wright–belting out the blues around town during the week and singing gospel in church on Sunday. Ain't no doubt in my mind that if I lived in the Big Easy, I'd be in that same church every Sunday morning I didn't have a hangover. Check out a RealAudio sound bite of the title song. Believe me, the songs just keep getting better. Marva's version of "St. James Infirmary" is as good or better than the Bobby Blue Bland original. In my humble Delta bum opinion, IMHDBO, you ain't heard a BBBW sing 'til you've heard Marva Wright sing. Check out her website for more information: WWW.MARVAWRIGHT.COM

Hound Dog Taylor Hound Dog Taylor and the Houserockers Good God Gertie what a guitarist!   Man, listening to this album makes me wish for a time machine. I'd set the time for a Saturday night in the late 1940s, and I'd set the place for the Midnight Grill in Tchula, Mississippi. Wow. Think about listening to Elmore James and Hound Dog Taylor on stage together. And in a juke joint! You can hear the influence of Elmore James in every song on this album. If you like your blues with a grinding, get down rock ‘n' roll beat, you'll love Hound Dog's cover of Elmore's "Wild About You Baby." If you like your blues with a crotch grinding, get down and dirty beat, you'll love Hound Dog's cover of Elmore's "Held My Baby Last Night." Me, I love them both. The other 10 songs on this album ain't bad either. Originally released in 1971, this album proves that great music gets better with the passage of time. Or maybe we just appreciate it more.

THE HOLMES BROTHERS JUBILATION Santa Claus brought me this CD. On Christmas Day, 1998, in my house, it played over and over. The album cover calls it "Sublime gospel meets juke-joint blues." In this case, you can believe the album cover. Even if you're an atheist, order this CD for yourself or for a blues-lovin' buddy. It's a perfect example of how blues and gospel are really the same music. If you ain't tapping your toes and clapping your hands to "Do Lord" and "The Power Of The Lord Came Down," then tell somebody to close the casket lid. You're dead for sure. It also contains the most amazing version of "Amazing Grace" you will ever hear.

Junior Wells Hoodoo Man Blues The readers of Living Blues magazine voted this CD 1 of 10 blues CDs to have in case they were marooned on a desert isle. I hereby vote it 1 of 10 CDs to grab if my house burns down. Originally recorded in 1965, it features Junior Wells on vocals and harmonica and Buddy Guy on guitar. It's awesome music, and it would easily make anyone's list of the top 50 blues recordings of all time. If you don't have it, get it.

Junior Wells Everybody's Gettin' Some Believe this Junior when I say this other Junior's CD is a dandy. A friend recently showed up at my place, and he brought a box filled with about 50 or 60 blues CDs, including this one. Well, this one is the only one I wanted to hear over and over. So will you. It contains 13 fine blues songs with Junior Wells on harmonica and vocals, and it also contains duets with Bonnie Raitt and Carlos Santana. In the immortal words of Junior and Janis, Get it while you can.

Albert King I'LL PLAY THE BLUES FOR YOU This awesome 1972 Stax album is now available on CD. It contains the original long, studio version (parts 1 and 2) of Albert King's classic "I'll Play The Blues For You." Written by Shreveport, Louisiana native Jerry Beach and as played by Albert King, this song will still be around 1,000 years from now.
In all my years of listening to live blues, I've only heard 2 blues guitarists do justice to Albert King's original version of "I'll Play The Blues For You": Little Milton's lead guitarist and my Greenville, Mississippi blues buddy, John Horton on his right-side-up Flying Vee.

B.B. King (and friends) DUECES WILD This is the best release from B.B. King in years. Y'all here's B.B. in duets with Willie Nelson, Simply Red's Mick Hucknall, Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmore, rapper Heavy D, Tracy Chapman, Joe Cocker, Van Morrison, and even the Rolling Stones! You'll love this CD. Believe me. My favorites are "Night Life" with Willie Nelson and "Please Send Me Someone to Love" with Mick Hucknall.

Stevie Ray Vaughan Texas Flood This is Stevie Ray Vaughan's 1983 debut CD. I credit it and Stevie Ray (and rap music) with the current world-wide blues craze. With Stevie Ray's Tex-Mex looks and attitude, all of a sudden it became cool for rednecks and bikers to like blues. Today there are biker bars all over the world that are nothing more than blues bars with motorcycles parked out front.

Don't believe me? Go inside the next biker bar you see. Even if it's filled with long-haired guys in leather jackets and bra-less women in T-shirts and too-tight jeans, walk up to the jukebox and stick a $5 bill in it. I can guarantee you 3 things: The jukebox is a CD jukebox. It's filled with at least 100 CDs you will love, including Texas Flood. Nobody will bother you unless you make an ass of yourself, especially if you keep putting money in the jukebox. Besides, why fear bikers and biker bars? I have six biker friends. One's a logging contractor, one owns a sign company, one's a dentist, one owns a night club, one's a mechanic, and one is a parole officer. Now if your wife's or your mother's car happened to break down on a lonely road at midnight, who would you hope happened by? Six lawyers in Cadillacs or my six friends on their Harleys? Texas Flood contains, of course, "Texas Flood," which I hereby nominate as 1 of the top 10 blues songs of the modern era.

Etta James Life, Love & the Blues Y'all, Etta James is back, and she's back with a vengeance and sounding just as good as ever. In my opinion, this is the best new blues release since John Lee Hooker's the healer. Wow, is all I can say. Check out the cover. That's what's inside--get down blues.

There's 12 great songs on this CD, but, to me, the best one is Etta's cover of Willie Dixon's "Spoonful." I think what makes the song so great is Etta's awesome voice backed by the wailing harp blowing of some guy named Jimmy Z. He's also blowing harp on my 2nd favorite song on this CD--Willie Dixon's/Muddy Waters's "Hoochie Coochie Gal." Etta, if you read this, sit back and enjoy your success for a month or two, but then, give us some more!

Jimi Hendrix BLUES Tell the truth. You didn't know this CD existed, did you? Thought so. This is Jimi Hendrix, possibly the greatest guitarist who ever lived, returning to his musical roots--the blues. Wait until you hear Jimi Hendrix doing Albert King's "Born Under A Bad Sign." If the thought of hearing that doesn't get your Mojo working, how ‘bout Jimi Hendrix doing Muddy Waters's "Mannish Boy"? Contains 11 songs including "Red House," which gets my vote as 1 of the top 10 blues songs of the modern era.

Various Artists Sissy Man Blues 25 raunchy jewels from the 20s and 30s. Now we know what kind of music Grandpa and Grandma really listened to when they went to town on Saturday night. Some of these are damned good blues songs. For example: "Rollin' Mama Blues" by Ruby Glaze and Blind Willie McTell, "Windy City Blues" by Ruth Ladson, and the title song, "Sissy Man Blues," by Pinewood Tom. It also contains Victoria Spivey's classic "Black Snake Blues." (Don't ask.) Your friends will make you play this one over and over.

Johnny Cash Greatest Hits Vol 1 (Columbia) This 1967 album re-released on CD contains "The Ballad Of Ira Hayes," the Johnny Cash song that me and Tex/Bubba were talking about while sitting at the bar in Greenville's Meeting Place juke joint. The true story of WW II Private Ira Hayes, a Pima Indian, this song will tear your heart out. You can hear the anger and the anguish in Johnny Cash's voice as he sings the last line. He obviously broke down and cried when he finished recording the song.

Among 9 others, this great CD also contains Johnny Cash's classics "I Walk The Line" and "Five Feet High And Rising." At only $9.98 the last time I checked, this CD is a bargain just for "The Ballad Of Ira Hayes."

T-Model Ford Pee-wee Get My Gun. Here's the genuine nitty gritty Delta juke joint Saturday night blues--T-Model Ford, the old Taildragger himself. Get this CD and you can stick your nose in the air and tell your high society friends, "Oh, yes, I've been listening to Delta blues with T-Model on vocals and guitar and Spam on drums."

Bobby Blue Bland Two Steps From the Blues Originally released in 1961, almost 40 years ago, this Bobby Blue Bland classic sits near the top of my list of all-time great albums--of all genres. It's now available in a CD version, and if you buy it, you'll find yourself doing as I do--hitting the "Back" button on your remote and listening to some of these songs again and again. It contains "St. James Infirmary," "Cry Cry Cry," "I Pity the Fool," and many other grab-the-one-you-love-and start-dancin' songs.

Clarence Carter The Best of Clarence Carter: The Dr's Greatest Prescriptions You ain't got a music collection if you don't have this CD. It contains a bunch of good songs, such as "Patches," but it contains a couple of songs that folks will be listening to and dancing to 1,000 years from now--"Stroking" and "Love Me With a Feeling."

Jerry Lee Lewis Jerry Lee's Greatest You'll find this CD on every good honky tonk's CD jukebox. It's the CD form of Jerry Lee's 1961 second LP, originally on Sun Records. It contains the best version of ole Hank's "Cold Cold Heart" you will ever hear, including ole Hank's. It also contains "Great Balls of Fire,"  "What'd I Say" and nine others. Believe me: it's worth twice the $8.47 Amazon.com was asking for it the last time I checked.

Little Milton Little Milton's Greatest Hits (Malaco) I bought my copy of this great CD from the man himself--Little Milton Campbell. Not only that, I bought it just inside the front door of Annie Mae's Cafe. Not only that, Little Milton autographed it for me. So there. Order your copy from Amazon.com. When you get it, play "Annie Mae's Cafe" and try to figure out how you're gonna get to Waterproof, Louisiana, this coming December so you can hear Little Milton sing it to Annie Mae herself.

Roosevelt "Booba" Barnes The Heartbroken Man This is one of my favorite CDs. It contains a damned good version of Slim Harpo's "Scratch My Back" with Booba Barnes on harp. It also contains the best version of "Tin Pan Alley" I've ever heard. The cover photo was shot in front of Booba Barnes's Playboy Club on Nelson Street in Greenville, Mississippi. Alas, the Playboy Club burned in 1990 and Booba died in 1996. This CD will become a classic. If you hang around Junior's Juke Joint very much, you'll recognize several Delta musicians on this CD--James Earl "Blue" Franklin (son of Joseph "Little Blue" Franklin); "Wild" Willie Miller; and James "T-Model" Ford.

Elmore James The Sky Is Crying: The History Of Elmore James The King Of The Slide Guitar backed by legends such as Big Joe Turner, Sonny Boy Williamson, Ike Turner, and Willie Dixon. 21 of the King's best, including "Dust My Broom," "The Sky Is Crying," "Standing At The Crossroads" and "It Hurts Me Too." Listen to the songs that Stevie Ray Vaughan listened to and that Eric Clapton still listens to. If you or someone you love are wannabe blues guitarists, buy this great CD and listen to and learn from the original, not the imitators.

Eric Clapton From The Cradle This is probably the greatest-ever white-boy blues guitar player playing the stuff he played when he was learning how. Among 13 others, it contains EC's version of Lowell Fulson's "Reconsider Baby," Muddy Waters's "Hoochie Coochie Man," and Elmore James's "It Hurts Me Too." Take my word for it--If you don't have this CD, get it.

Willie Dixon I Am The Blues Get this CD and, along with some other goodies, listen to the original versions of some famous songs: "Back Door Man"; "Little Red Rooster"; "Hoochie Coochie Man"; and even the original blues version of the old Johnny Rivers rock 'n' roll classic "Seventh Son." Several folks got rich and famous covering Willie Dixon songs. If I was a wannabe blues star, I'd spend lots of time listening to old Willie Dixon songs. Well, heck, I spend lots of time listening to old Willie Dixon songs anyway.

Marvin Gaye Every Great Motown Hit Here's 15 greats, including my favorites "How Sweet It Is," "I Heard It Through The Grapevine," "What's Going On," "Mercy Mercy Me," and the song I hereby nominate as one of the best slow-dancing songs of all time--"Let's Get It On." Lord, have I done some slow-dancing to that song!

Jimmy McCracklin My Story Here's a CD from the guy who wrote "The Thrill Is Gone." Few people have even heard of Jimmy McCracklin, much less heard him, but, y'all, take my word for it: This is a good CD, especially if you like blues piano. Check out song #7: "After Hours." I play it over and over. This CD even contains a couple of great duets with Jimmy and the "Soul Queen Of New Orleans"--Irma Thomas.

Muddy Waters The Chess Box: 1947-1972 This is a 3-CD set of the good stuff from ole Muddy. But if you can't afford but one CD, when you get to the 3-CD set's page, click on Muddy's name and go to his main page at Amazon.com. When I last checked, there were over 50 Muddy Waters CDs listed, some as low as $4.97.

John Lee Hooker Best Of John Lee Hooker This single CD contains 20 songs, including "Boogie Chillun," "Boom Boom," and "I'm In The mood." If you can afford more than 1 CD, check out the other 84 CDs on the Boogie Man's main Amazon.com page. I suggest 1 of the 2 or 3 CD sets.

John Lee Hooker the healer This is one of the CDs of today that will still be around in whatever the recording media is a thousand years from tomorrow. Our descendant might say, "Computer, play me the greatest blues recording of the late 20th Century." The computer might answer, "Yes, Master. That would be John Lee Hooker's Compact Disc titled the healer."

the healer is an English import which makes the price higher than what you'd expect to pay, so if you can't afford to buy it, put it on your Christmas wish list. No blues collection is complete without this fantastic CD. The CD consists of 10 songs, 7 of which are duets with John Lee Hooker and Carlos Santana, Bonnie Raitt, Robert Cray, Canned Heat, Los Lobos, George Thorogood, and Charlie Musselwhite. Take my word for it: The songs "The Healer" with Carlos Santana and "I'm In The Mood" with Bonnie Raitt are alone worth the admittedly high price of this CD. Take my word for something else: If you have a blues fan on your Christmas gift list and that person doesn't own this CD, well, let's just say that ole Santa knows what to do.

Jimmy Reed The Best Of Jimmy Reed Along with a bunch of other great songs, this CD contains 4 of Jimmy Reed's best: "Baby What`s Wrong"; "You Don't Have To Go"; "Big Boss Man"; and "Baby What You Want Me To Do." As with John Lee and Muddy, check out a CD set on Jimmy's main Amazon.com page.

Ray Charles The Best Of Ray Charles The only way anybody's gonna get my copy of this CD from me is to pry it from my cold dead fingers. Recorded around 1969 and '70, it's all jazz/blues instrumentals with Ray on piano. Y'all, "Rockhouse" and "Sweet Sixteen Bars" will blow off your soxs.

Sam & Dave The Best Of *SAM & DAVE* A few years ago when I was young and foolish, I lived in sin with a dope-smokin' gal who stayed high on smoke and heavy metal at 100 watts per channel, 2 channels. One night we were having a party with about a dozen smokin' folks and you could cut the air with a knife and watch the walls move back and forth with every note Metallica twanged on whatever it is he (she?) twangs. It wasn't my kind of party--everybody just sat there like zombies.

Nobody was paying any attention to me, of course, so I eased over to my 5-disk CD changer and replaced whatever disk was in hole #3 with The Best Of *SAM & DAVE*. Then, the remote control in my hands, I eased into my easy chair and waited for the twanging to end. Finally, it ended. I quickly punched "Disk 3" and "Track 12." Y'all, I never before or since saw anything like what happened next. When "Soul Man" blasted out of those speakers at 200 watts, 12 zombies came to life. People started dancing everywhere. There's 21 great songs on this must-have CD, including "Soul Man"; "Hold On, I'm Coming"; "When Something Is Wrong With My Baby"; "I Thank You"; and "Soul Sister, Brown Sugar."

Ivory Joe Hunter Since I Met You Baby Very few people have heard of Ivory Joe Hunter, but, y'all, believe me: He's one of the all-time great male vocalists. This is some more great slow-dancing or mood music. The CD doesn't contain Ivory Joe's lonesome "City Lights," but along with 22 other goodies, it does contain "I Almost Lost My Mind"; "Since I Met You Baby"; and "Empty Arms." Check it out. "Since I Met You Baby" will blow your mind.

Dinah Washington Unforgettable It's hard for me to find the words to describe this CD. For many years it's been one of my favorite albums, and when I found it on CD at Amazon.com, I jumped with joy and ordered it immediately. If I were having the perfect woman over for dinner tonight, I'd put this CD on the player and I'd program these songs to play over and over: "This Bitter Earth"; "I Understand"; "This Love Of Mine"; "Alone"; "Somewhere Along The Line"; "A Man Only Does (What A Woman Makes Him Do)"; and "When I fall In Love." God, I love this CD.