So, this is the kind of compilation album you’ll find at your local box store in the bargain bin and, to the degree that there’s no real artistic vision here or any kind of rhyme or reason to the songs collected here, that’s where it belongs. But when it comes to the quality of what is here, it’s better than you’d expect. The sound quality is not bad, given that all of these songs are from the days of vinyl. I mean, it’s not wonderful, but it’s not bad. There are only ten tracks here, so the album is right about thirty minutes long. But it’s got appearances by the classics: Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Willie McTell, Rev. Gary Davis, Mississippi John Hurt, Skip James, Big Bill Broonzy . . . and no Robert Johnson for some reason. Some of them even have the most iconic song from those artists, in particular Charley Patton’s Down the Dirt Road Blues, Skip James’ Devil Got My Woman and Mississippi John Hurt’s Candy Man Blues. Some of the lesser known tracks are great as well though. I particularly liked Robert Wilkins’ That’s No Way to Get Along and Good Liquor Gonna Carry Me Down was a good Bill Broonzy track that I hadn’t heard before. So, this seems to kind of be a more or less randomized selection of old-school acoustic blues and, while it’s no exhaustive exploration of the genre, it’s undeniably a lot of fun and is basically all great music, start to finish. I’m sure all of these tracks are on better compilations and we could argue all day about who’s missing here and such. But, bottom line, these are ten great songs and the album just flies by. Sometimes the bargain bin has a lot to offer. 4 stars.
tl;dr – compilation album is short and features an odd collection of songs with no real artistic vision; but these are ten great songs and the sound quality is surprisingly good, so what can I say? 4 stars.