Texas Blues – Various Artists / Arhoolie CD-352

Description

CD 352

Classic country blues recorded by Bill Quinn in Houston Texas and originally issued between 1948 and 1952 on Gold Star 78 rpm singles.

Includes all of ARH LP 2006 plus several previously unreleased selections.

1. Gambling Blues – Lil’ Son Jackson
2. Homeless Blues – Lil’ Son Jackson
3. Cairo Blues – Lil’ Son Jackson
4. Evil Blues – Lil’ Son Jackson
5. Back To Santa Fe – Lee Hunter
6. Trying Trying – L.C. Williams
7. You Never Miss The Water – L.C. Williams
8. Cruel Hearted Woman – Thunder Smith
9. Big Stars Are Falling – Thunder Smith
10. Hole In The Wall – L.C. Williams
11. Boogie All The Time – L.C. Williams
12. Rock Island Blues – Leroy Ervin
13. Blue Black And Evil – Leroy Ervin
14. Roberta Blues – Lil’ Son Jackson
15. Freedom Train Blues – Lil’ Son Jackson
16. Ground Hog Blues – Lil’ Son Jackson
17. Bad Whiskey Bad Women – Lil’ Son Jackson
18. Santa Fe Blues – Thunder Smith
19. Black Woman – L.C. Williams
20. Strike Blues – L.C. Williams
21. You Can’t Take It With You – L.C. Williams
22. Jet Black Woman – Buddy Chiles
23. No Money No Love – Lil’ Son Jackson
24. Gone With The Wind – Lil’ Son Jackson
25. I Won’t Be Here Long – L.C. Williams
26. Angel Child – Andy Thomas
27. All The Way From Texas – Perry Cain

REVIEW

“Bill Quinn’s Gold Star Studio was a pioneering postwar recording facility in Houston most famous for waxing the first sides by a young street musician named Lightnin’ Hopkins. The label previously known mainly for hillbilly and Cajun music achieved great success with Hopkins throughout Texas and the Gulf Coast and went on to release blues recordings throughout the late 40s and early 50s. `Texas Blues’ collects the best of these 78 RPM recordings by eight artists primarily friends and acquaintances of Hopkins. (Hopkins himself shows up as accompanist since Arhoolie has two separate volumes of his Gold Star recordings available.) Guitarist Melvin `Lil’ Son’ Jackson perhaps the best-known name here has the lion’s share of the CD’s playing time but also noteworthy are L.C. Williams (sometimes known as Lightning Junior) and pianist Wilson “Thunder’ Smith (originally half of a duet with Hopkins known as Thunder and Lightning). The charm of Texas Blues is the pleasing contrast between the sparse Delta-style blues numbers and the piano-based arrangements and amplified guitar that would pave the way for 50s R&B. The sound quality here is as good as one could expect considering the source material. `Texas Blues’ comes with a Texas-sized recommendation.”

(Dan Peterson — Urban Spelunker)