Blues from Maxwell Street – Historic Recording from Maxwell Street, Chicago 1960 and 1965
20 tracks
This newly re-released historical set of tunes from Maxwell Street features Daddy Stove Pipe (Johnny Watson), James Brewer, King David, and Blind Arvella Gray. Document Records is located in St Michael’s on Wyre in England and is home to many vintage recordings; they are released on CD with extensive notes and are now also available for download with PDF file notes.
This is truly cool stuff with four cuts from Big Daddy Stovepipe, one from Brewer and five from King David, all from Heritage Records and recorded live. The ten tracks from Bling Arvella Gray included six sides he released on his own Gray label and sold on Maxwell Street. The other four were also from Heritage.
Daddy Stovepipe sings and plays guitar and harmonica on his tracks. His age shows a little bit as he does traditional, Gospel and classic roots tunes. The guitar is a tad out of tune, too, as he goes through “South of the Border,” “Tennessee Waltz,” “Old Time Religion” and “The Monkey and the Baboon.” One gets taken back to the 1930’s with his performances.
Brewer’s lone cut is “I’m So Glad Good Whiskey’s Back” where he sings and plays guitar. He testifies how important it is that he doesn’t have to drink hootch (moonshine) no more. It’s cool.
King David plays harp and sings on “Fannie Mae,” “Sugar Mama,” “Good Mornin’ Little Schoolgirl,” “.38 Pistol” and “.44 Blues.” He plays some mean harp and sings with passion. Three love songs and a couple of love songs about his handguns.
I think the Bling Arvella Gray songs are perhaps the best of the album He opens with “Corrina, Corrina” with some pretty slick guitar licks. “Have Mercy, Mr. Percy” has a couple of versions and he does a couple of railroad work song tracks, too. “Freedom Riders” and “Freedom Bus” are a pair of nice protest songs.
“You Are My Dear” and “Deborah” are two down home love songs he sings and plays with passion. He concludes with “Walking Blues” and showcases his guitar picking skills.
Some of the recordings are imperfect, taken from the street and crude original recordings. This matters little; we have a glimpse back in history from four artists who brought the blues to Chicago that eventually started the urban blues revolution. If you have any sense of music history, I think you’ll enjoy this collection.
