Home | About Us | Contact | Shopping Cart | Checkout

Released September 14, 2004

This two-disc collection assembles some 40 of Georgia bluesman Blind Willie McTell's early 78s recorded for the Victor, Columbia, Okeh, Vocalion, and Decca labels between 1927 and 1935 into a two-disc set, including the magnificent "Statesboro Blues." These recordings feature the early McTell, when his voice was still a high and expressive tenor. Toward the end of his life, McTell's voice deepened and grew rougher (no doubt from the effects of years of singing on the streets), the songs slowed down and became much more world-weary, and since he recorded his standards several times over, it is interesting to compare early and later versions of songs like "Broke Down Engine Blues." Mr. McTell Got the Blues is a passable introduction to this unique bluesman, but the absence of one of his finest songs, "Dying Crapshooter's Blues," a thoroughly modern composition in a cut-and-paste narrative style, is a minor complaint. ~ Steve Leggett, All Music Guide

TRACKS

1. Writin' Paper Blues
2. Stole Rider Blues
3. Mama, 'Tain't Long Fo' Day
4. Mr. McTell Got the Blues
5. Three Women Blues
6. Statesboro Blues
7. Atlanta Strut
8. Travelin' Blues
9. Kind Mama
10. Drive Away Blues
11. Love Changing Blues
12. Razor Ball
13. Broke Down Engine Blues
14. Scarey Day Blues
15. Rough Alley Blues
16. Low Rider's Blues
17. Georgia Rag
18. Rollin' Mama Blues
19. Lonesome Day Blues
20. Searchign the Desert for the Blues

DISC 2

21. Warm It Up to Me
22. It's a Good Little Thing
23. Lord Have Mercy If You Please
24. Don't You See How This World Made a Change
25. Savannah Mama
26. Broke Down Engine
27. My Baby's Gone
28. Love-Makin' Mama
29. Death Room Blues
30. Lord, Send Me an Angel
31. B and O Blues No. 2
32. Weary Hearted Blues
33. Southern Can Mama
34. East St. Louis Blues
35. We Got to Meet Death One Day
36. I Got Religion, I'm So Glad
37. Bell Street Blues
38. Lay Some Flowers on My Grave
39. Cold Winter Day
40. Cooling Board Blues

:: Back to Blind Willie McTell

:: View more Georgia blues artists.