Various
Artists | Atlas Blues Explosion
British label Boulevard Vintage’s superlative double-disc
Down Home Blues Classics series also concentrates on the
blues of the mid ’40s to the mid ’50s, but takes
a regional focus; in addition to this West Coast set, other
installments center on New York and the East Coast, Texas,
Chicago, and Memphis and the South. Thankfully, the compilers
have chosen to put the accent on the obscure, and, when featuring
well-known names, always lean toward their rarer cuts. Volume
4: California & the West Coast, however, takes things
to the next level to offer 56 tracks by artists even the
most educated collector may be only vaguely familiar with—you
won’t find any Charles Brown, Lowell Fulson, or other
big names on this set. In fact, the “biggest” name
here is that of KC Douglas, whose “Mercury Boogie” (included)
would be famously covered by David Lindley in 1981. And the “down
home” part of the title is certainly taken to heart:
Instead of the more modern, urban sound of the jump combos
that back the singers on Atlas Blues Explosion, the rural-imported
music here is that of the minimally accompanied singer-guitarists
and-pianists who arrived with the waves of Southern blacks
who came to work in the military plants and shipyards during
World War II. To cater to this rapidly growing audience of
transplants came dozens of tiny, backroom-run independent
labels, now legendary and sought-after imprints like Down
Town, Modern/RPM, Flash, Swing Time/Down Beat, and Recorded
in Hollywood. Thanks to the entrepreneurs who ran these labels—many
of whom were characters as colorful the artists they recorded—the
raw country blues of winners like Jerry Perkins, King Davis,
Little Willie Cotton, and the mysterious Black Diamond (aka
James Butler) found their place in the record racks among
the uptown-leaning sounds of Joe Liggins, Johnny Otis, and
other Central Avenue stars. And now, with this outstandingrelease,
they’ll hopefully find a place in yours.
|
