The reissues of some old blues recordings in the past couple of months are great reminders of just how good this music has been — and still is.
Why, you may ask, should I focus on “old” music when there’s so much fine new music around?
Well, as far as I know, classical music fans still play Mozart, and despite Chuck Berry, Beethoven hasn’t rolled over yet. And jazz afficionados probably still visit the legendary music of Miles Davis or John Coltrane.
And there’s so much great older blues material, it would a shame, and probably our loss, not to give it the occasional enjoyment it deserves.
The first of this “new” music comes from the fine Delmark label on the 70th anniversary of its existence, having been founded by the late Bob Koester as Delmar Records.
Delmark claims the title of the oldest independent jazz and blues record label in the world, with a catalog of more than 12,000 recordings by a virtual who’s who of jazz and blues. As part of its 70th birthday celebration, the label has pulled together an album of classic cuts and artists from its vintage blues cellar.
The artists and songs include the following:
Junior Wells with Buddy Guy on “Snatch It Back And Hold It,” Magic Sam with “All Of Your Love,” Otis Rush on “All Your Love (I Miss Loving),” Jimmy Dawkins with Otis Rush & Big Voice Odom on “All For Business,” Dinah Washington on “Blues For A Day,” T-Bone Walker on “I Want A Little Girl,” Big Time Sarah on “Long Tall Daddy,” Little Walter with Muddy Waters on “I Just Keep Loving Her,” Memphis Slim with Matt Guitar Murphy on “Memphis Slim U.S.A.,” and Jimmy Johnson on “Ashes In My Ashtray.”
I like that the label included one seeming outlier here, surrounded by tough guitar-driven blues. That’s “Blues for a Day,” by Dinah Washington, a gently swinging blues with a jazzy combo behind her expert vocals. But her spot here is richly deserved.
The other five albums, all from Alligator Records, are reissues, but with a twist. They’re all on vinyl. Why vinyl?
Well, for the turntable-enabled among us, sales of vinyl records have been on the rise since they began a comeback somewhere around 2006, and according to the Recording Industry Association of America’s 2022 year-end revenue report for the music industry, record sales hit a new high last year with 41.3 million EPs/LPs sold in the U.S. last year, up more than 45 times since 2006. And for the first time since 1987, unit sales of vinyl albums outpaced those of CDs. Of course, CD sales aren’t what they used to be either, thanks largely to streaming. But they’re still nowhere near the 300 million LPs and EPs sold in a single year in the 1970s.
Here are the five classics that Alligator has chosen for a vinyl revival:
Johnny Winter’s “Guitar Slinger,” Roy Buchanan’s “When A Guitar Plays the Blues,” Delbert McClinton’s “Live From Austin,” Lonnie Mack’s “Strike Like Lightning,” and Fenton Robinson’s “Somebody Loan Me a Dime.”
Winter’s effort was the first of three he recorded for Alligator starting in 1984, when he arguably made the purest blues records of his career. Buchanan became known as “The Best Unknown Guitar Player In The World,” and this was one of the guitar wizard’s finest. This was McClinton’s first live album, helping to define his career as a rocking roadhouse spitfire.
Originally released in 1974, and only Alligator’s fifth album, “Somebody Loan Me A Dime” featured Robinson at his finest, with his unique vocals and guitar stylings. Hard-driving Lonnie Mack revived his career in 1984 with “Strike Like Lightning,” another classic.
All of the above are excellent albums, featuring great blues and a few other artists in their prime. Give them a spin if you have a record spinner (turntable), or check out the music where you can. It’s well worth the effort.
Here’s just a sample from this list, and one of my favorites — Fenton Robinson with “Somebody Loan Me a Dime”:
Blues Roadhouse 