Yonder Come The Blues

Paul Oliver is internationally recognised as being one of the most prolific and authoritive writers of the history and development of blues music. In the early 1970s an excellent series of paperback books were published by Studio Vista known as "Blues Paperbacks". The series covered many aspects of the music and included several biographies including a book on Charley Patton written by John Fahey, Tommy Johnson by Dave Evans and Peetie Wheetstraw by Paul Garon. The series also featured three books which looked at the development of the music; Savannah Syncopators by Paul Oliver, Blacks Whites and Blues by Tony Russell and Recording the Blues by the blues discographer Robert M.W. Dixon. To compliment his book Yonder Come the Blues, based on those three books, Paul Oliver personally invited Document to produce this CD illustrating many musical examples drawn upon in the book. Continued...

Bill Wyman's Blues Odyssey DOUBLE CD

Rags, Breakdowns, Stomps & Blues - Vintage Mandolin Music (1927-1946)

Keith Briggs of Blues & Rhythm Magazine writes; "These days the mandolin is almost exclusively identified with Bluegrass music but for decades it had maintained a regular showing in mainstream old time music, ragtime and blues (both urban and rural). This is illustrated to the dates appended to the title of this CD which refer at one end to Dallas Rag and Carbolic Rag, various display pieces, one each from the black and white traditions, and at the other Lint Head Stomp, a track often considered to be proto-Bluegrass. The mixture is maintained throughout but is weighted in favor of black artists. Care has also been taken to present the mandolin in a supporting role or as a part of an ensemble.

The secret weapon for many a string band was and still is the mandolin. This compilation brings together some wonderful blues, jazz, bluegrass and country performances, built around this small but potent instrument. Continued...

Troubled Hearted Blues - Vintage Guitar Blues (1927 - 1944)

Twenty four tracks of some of the finest blues guitar on record. Includes superb bottleneck guitar playing by Robert Lockwood, Gabriel Brown and Bukka White, stunning finger picking by George Torey, Robert Wilkins and Blind Lemon Jefferson and much more. Features the recently found and incredibly rare copy of Blind Joe Reynolds Cold Woman Blues and Ninety Nine Blues recorded for Paramount. National Steel Guitars, Stella 12-strings and Martins, they're all here. Continued...

Rude Dudes - Part 2 Of Bill Wyman's Blues Odyssey

Banana In Your Fruit Basket, If It Don't Fit Don't Force It and He's Just My Size? Well, no prizes for guessing what they're all about. But what is a Southern Can, who is the Boy in the Boat and why a Man O' War? This excellent double CD, with twelve page full colour booklet, is packed with some of the most intriguing and often humorous Hokum, Blues, Jazz and Boogie-Woogie pieces based on the subject of sex. Outrageous double entendres and curious metaphors are abound. If Bananas, Lollypops, Fish and Jelly be the food of love, then play on! Continued...

Robert Nighthawk - 'Prowling with the Nighthawk' (1937 - 1952)

Robert "Nighthawk" Lee McCoy, vocal, guitar.

Includes contributions by;
Sonny Boy (John Lee) Williamson, harmonica.
Big Joe Williams, guitar.
Walter Davis, piano.
Speckled Red, piano.
Willie Dixon, bass.
Ernest Lane, piano.
Pinetop Perkins, piano.
Ransom Knowling, bass.
And others

Genres; Chicago blues, blues slide guitar, blues piano.
Informative booklet notes by Jeff Harris.
Detailed discography.

Robert Nighthawk was one of the blues premier slide guitarists playing with a subtle elegance and a fluid, crystal clear style that was instantly recognizable. Nighthawk influenced a generation of artists including Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Earl Hooker and Elmore James.

Robert Nighthawk was born Robert Lee McCollum in Helena, Arkansas on November 30th, 1909 and raised in a farming community. Nighthawk came from a musical family as he relates in a 1964 interview:

"Well, all my people played music. Mother and Dad and sister and brother and all. My brother played guitar. My brother helped me in all kinds of ways. (My family)...mostly played dances, parties, picnics and all that."

In many ways Nighthawk went onto become the archetype of the classic bluesman, spending his entire adult life rambling all over the South with frequent trips to the North playing a never ending string of one-nighters punctuated by sporadic recording dates. Nighthawks recording dates brought him only limited success but he remained popular in the South his entire life. It seems that every blues musician of consequence who emerged from the Delta from the 30's through to the 60's recalls running across Nighthawk. Continued...

Johnny Shines - Live In Europe 1975

The snow is falling, the temperature is only just above zero, and a native of the American Deep South is a long, long way from home. Johnny Shines was, in the 1970`s, resident in Holt, Alabama, not far from the city of Tuscaloosa, but often away on tour in the United States and overseas. He was now experiencing the "fairyland" of an Austrian Winter (February 1975), the farthest point east of a European tour, with a series of great performances at the `Jazzland` club in Vienna. Continued...

David Honeyboy Edwards - Blues Blues (1975)

Blues, Blues Christmas 1925 - 1955

Broadcasting The Blues - Compiled and edited by Paul Oliver

Broadcasting The Blues compliments the book of the same name published by Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, (isbn 0415971764). Using studio and field recordings made during the era, including some rare and wonderful interviews made in the field of the artists by Paul, this three CD compilation entwines references to many of Paul's broadcasts whilst at the same time commenting on the history of recorded blues during the era of racial segregation in America. The result is a fascinating documentation on a pioneer of blues writing and broadcasting which inspired countless writers, musicians and music fans. Continued...

Mighty Day - 25 Gospel Greats (1928 - 1958)

Boogie Woogie Pioneers - Compiled and Edited by John Mayall

Legendary British bluesman John Mayall shares his favourite piano tracks for your listening pleasure. Intimate sleeve notes written by John with reminiscences of great Blues figures. 22 hot tracks from 1928-1960.

Barrelhouse piano combined various different proportions of blues, ragtime and dance rhythms in the hands of technically unorthodox players. Jelly Roll Morton spoke of "specialists —each with a tiny repertoire nobody else could play". Bang on! Continued...

James Booker - Manchester '77

Informative booklet notes by Gary Atkinson.

Norman Darwen of Blues Matters magazine review:

New Orleans may be full of eccentrics but James Booker was one of the more eccentric of them! If Professor Longhair's vocals could seem a little wayward, Booker's are completely off the beaten track, always in tune but only because it followed his piano playing, which pursued a similarly untrammelled path. He had enjoyed a big hit in 1960 with his organ instrumental 'Gonzo' and had gone on to play with the likes of Aretha Franklin, Maria Muldaur and Ringo Starr. Continued...

Reverend Gary Davis - Manchester Free Trade Hall 1964

On May 8, 1964 the Rev, on tour with something called the Blues and Gospel Caravan, was recorded in live performance with his Gibson guitar at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester, England. In 2008 Document released a compact disc containing all of the music known to have been taped during that set. Continued...

Blues Blues Christmas Volume 2 - (1926-1958)

The idea of Christmas themed blues and gospel numbers stretches back to the very dawn of the recorded genres. "Hooray for Christmas" exclaims Bessie Smith to kick off her soon to be classic "At The Christmas Ball" , which inaugurated the Christmas blues tradition when it was recorded in November 1925 for Columbia. A year later, circa December 1926, the gospel Christmas tradition was launched when the Elkins-Payne Jubilee Singers recorded Silent Night, Holy Night for Paramount Records. After these recordings it was off to the races with numerous Christmas blues numbers recorded by singers of all stripes, a pace that continued as blues evolved into R&B and then rock and roll. For some reason there are far fewer gospel Christmas songs although there were plenty of Christmas sermons in the 1920s and 1930s when recorded sermons rivalled blues in popularity among black audiences. Continued...

Bankers Blues - A Study In The Effects Of Fiscal Mischief

Barrelhouse Blues - Compiled and Edited by Paul Oliver

Barrelhouse Blues - Location Recordings & The Early Traditions In The Blues

Triple CD with 68 newly re-mastered tracks.

informative 12 page booklet written by Paul Oliver.

Detailed discography.

The beginnings of the blues are uncertain, shaded by myth and legend. To some this American musical idiom now seems to have emerged fully formed from the genius of a few pioneering innovators in the Mississippi Delta. But the truth is that without the quick and wise intervention of record companies during the 1920s throughout the South, the earliest iterations of the blues would be lost to us. Fired by the runaway success of the first blues records, emissaries from Okeh and Columbia Records lugged primitive recording equipment into makeshift studios in cities like Dallas, Atlanta and New Orleans. To preserve the music they brought in street singers, medicine show performers, pianists from the juke joints and barrelhouses. The music that circulated through the Southern work camps, prison farms and vaudeville shows would have vanished if it hadn’t been captured on location by these performers and their recorders. Continued...

Blues Blues Christmas Vol. 3: 1927 - 1962

Blues, Blues, Hoodoo, Halloween

Various Artists.
Informative booklet notes by Dave Clarke.
Detailed Discography.
Genres: Blues, Pre-war Blues, Post-war Blues, Rhythm & Blues, Jazz

For your spooky pleasure.

Black American music has long been associated with both Hoodoo, and in the Caribbean and parts of Louisiana, Voodoo. There are many references to the Hoodoo Man, or Hoodoo Lady, who would cast a spell for you, or supply you with a ‘Conjure Bag’, a ‘Mojo Hand’ or other charms to do the same. The ‘Black Cat Bone’, the ‘John The Conqueror Root’, or the Voodoo ‘Gris Gris. Sometimes to give you power over money, or other powers, but almost always to give you control of the opposite sex.

With this stuff, you could become The Hoochie Coochie Man!

Blues Blues Christmas Vol. 4 1925-1962

Blues Blues Christmas Volume 4 (1925 - 1926)

Various Artists

Double CD with 40 tracks.
16 page illustrated booklet with informative notes written by Jeff Harris.
Includes detailed discography.

Genres: Blues, Jazz, Gospel, R&B, Doo-Wop, Calypso.

You see before you the fourth double CD set of Blues, Blues Christmas, as we once gain dive deep into the well of Christmas music to gather some holiday gems from decades past. We've gotten progressively more ambitious in our selections, jumping between genres that include blues, gospel, jazz, rock, doo-wop and calypso recorded between the 1920's through the 1960's, many songs which have not been anthologized before. Armed with all four volumes the hours of music will be more than enough to fuel you're next holiday bash.

Seasonal Selection Box Vol.1
Stir-Up Sunday to New Year
A winter festival is enshrined in almost all cultures that have a winter. It is no surprise that these festivals generally take place in December. Santa/Father Christmas is one of the oldest figures in the celebrations. So much could be written about winter festivals and the development of Christmas that it would warrant a book so here we have to content ourselves with the songs that give us an aural hint at the traditions we have carried with us from the dawn of time and that have spread around the world. We start with November’s Stir Up Sunday and finish with the strains of Auld Lang Syne as the old year passes away. Volume 2 will see us through to February’s Mardi Gras when the winter festival is at an end and the light is back. We hope you will enjoy our selection which features seasonal songs and melodies from around the world from such artists as Jean Ritchie, Fresh Creek Dance Band, Leocadio Vizcarrondo and his Assembly, Bob Atcher & The Dinning Sisters,Fiddlin’ John Carson And His Virginia Reelers, Jimmy Shand and his Band and many more.

Blues, Blues Christmas Vol 5
(40 Track Double Album) Includes illustrated notes with detailed discography.

Includes informative, illustrated 24-page booklet notes by Jeff Harris.

Jewel Case format

Available as physical CD or Download as Flac or MP3 complete with liner notes

Prices include tax (where applicable), postage & packaging and worldwide shipping.

Nine Below Zero – The Cold Winter Blues
Nine Below Zero – The Cold Winter Blues (21 Track Album)

Includes illustrated Booklet with detailed discography.

Blues, Blues Christmas Vol. 6
Blues, Blues Christmas Vol. 6 (40 Track double Album) – With 24 Page illustrated booklet & detailed discography.

Double CD 40 Christmas Blues and Jazz and more rarities . Informative, illustrated 24-page booklet notes by Jeff Harris.