Dave “Snaker” Ray – Fine Soft Land (1966)

Artist: Dave “Snaker” Ray
Title: Fine Soft Land
Year: 1966
Format: LP
Label: Elektra

Dave “Snaker” Ray split his second album about evenly between his own compositions and covers of songs from the likes of Sleepy John Estes, Arthur Crudup, and Leroy Carr. It’s a tribute to Ray’s feel for traditional blues styles that it’s not easy to tell the originals from the covers, though overall it’s just an average, if respectable, album.

He accompanies himself on 12-string guitar on this set of acoustic blues, playing harmonica on his “Tribute” to Sonny Boy Williamson II, piano on the closing “Born to Surrender,” and singing a one-minute s***** of Mose Allison’s “Young Man” a cappella.

The LP usually has a slow, relaxed ambience that sometimes gets a little too low-energy after a few songs at a time. Some of the highlights include his bottleneck guitar on “West Egg Rag” and his unusual, almost raga-tinged guitar work on “Baby Please Don’t Go,” which in spots is rather reminiscent of the approach Davy Graham used in England on “Blue Raga.” Future Rolling Stone editor Paul Nelson produced. (Richie Unterberger)

Track Listing

1. Alabama Women
2. Young Man
3. Crying Shame
4. Got To Love
5. West Egg Rag
6. How You Want Your Rolling Done
7. Highway 51
8. Tribute
9. Baby Please Don’t Go
10. Kid Man Blues
11. Death Valley Blues
12. If I Get Lucky
13. Married Woman Blues
14. Look Over Yonder’s Wall
15. You Can’t Go
16. Born To Surrender
    

Dave “Snaker” Ray – Snaker’s Here! (1965)

Artist: Dave “Snaker” Ray
Title: Snaker’s Here!
Year: 1965
Format: LP
Label: Elektra

Dave “Snaker” Ray got his big break in the ’60s, when his frequent partners “Spider” John Koerner and Tony Glover formed the trio of Koerner, Ray & Glover. They were an important part of the folk music revival of the time, recording five albums for Elektra that mixed ragtime, country blues, and other offbeat genres that gave them a reputation for being incredibly creative.

During the ’70s and ’80s, the trio only reunited occasionally, mostly at special shows and benefits. Ray and Glover maintained their partnership by performing together once a week for years, and the whole band finally reunited for an album in 1996, One Foot in the Grave. Ray continued to release solo albums through Tim/Kerr Records and perform regularly in the Minneapolis area.

Sadly, Ray was diagnosed with lung cancer in May 2002. He died at his Minneapolis home sixth months later at the age of 59. (allmusic)

Track Listing

1. Julie Ann Johnson
2. Go My Bail
3. Rock Me
4. Bull Frog Blues
5. Old Country Rock
6. Rambling On My Mind
7. Broke Down Engine
8. Blind Lemon
9. Last Fair Deal Gone Down
10. Saddle Up My Pony
11. Brownsville Blues
12. Becky Dean
13. Yellow Woman’s Door Bells
14. Killing Me By Degrees
15. ‘Fore Day Worry Blues
16. Rising Sun Blues
17. Need My Help Someday
    

Catfish Hodge – Boogie Man Gonna Get Ya (1972)

Artist: Catfish Hodge
Title: Boogie Man Gonna Get Ya
Year: 1972
Format: LP
Label: Eastbound

Blues rocker Bob “Catfish” Hodge was born and raised in Detroit, and as a teen frequently snuck into Motown Records’ Hitsville studio to catch sessions featuring the Four Tops, the Supremes and others.

At the end of the 1960s he formed the band Catfish, debuting in 1970 with Get Down; after issuing Live Catfish a year later, Hodge mounted a solo career with 1973′s Boogie Man I Gonna Get Ya, relocating to Washington D.C. and becoming a regular opening act for artists including Bonnie Raitt and Little Feat.

After a series of solo LPs including 1974′s Dinosaurs and Alleycats, 1975′s Sop Operas and 1979′s Eyewitness Blues, he toured with the Chicken Legs Band during the early 1980s, relocating to California in 1982 and later forming the Bluesbusters with onetime Little Feat guitarist Paul Barrere.

After a long absence from the studio, Hodge returned to action in 1994 with Catfish Blues; Like a Big Dog Barkin’ followed a year later, and in 1996 he resurfaced with Adventures at Catfish Pond. (Jason Ankeny)

Track Listing

1. Different Strokes
2. Ghetto
3. Hungry Love
4. I Want You (She’s So Heavy)
5. I’ll Be Gone 2
6. Stop
7. I’m The Man
8. Boogie Man
   

The Dirty Blues Band – The Dirty Blues Band (1967)

Artist: The Dirty Blues Band
Title: The Dirty Blues Band
Year: 1967
Format: LP
Label: ABC Bluesway

The Dirty Blues Band was a white blues outfit best known as the stamping grounds, for a time, for Rod Piazza and Glenn Ross Campbell. The group was spawned in Riverside, CA, from a convergence of members of a handful of notable local outfits their rhythm section, John Millikan (drums) and Les Morrison (bass), were high school classmates who’d previously played in the L-J’s, whence also came keyboard player Pat Moloney.

The L-J’s had started out playing jazz in 1964, but by the end of 1965 had evolved into the Mystics, a much more blues-focused outfit, whose ranks included Bob Sandell on rhythm guitar and Rod Piazza on lead vocals and harp.

Their main influences were such British Invasion bands as Them (whose “Mystic Eyes” had provided their name), the Animals, the Yardbirds, and the Rolling Stones — although nominally a blues band, their sound was really more an amalgam of blues and R&B as done by those groups

That all changed when Piazza and a couple of his bandmates went to a performance by the Byrds at The Trip in Los Angeles, where the opening act was the still mostly unknown Paul Butterfield Blues Band. What they saw and heard that night convinced the Mystics, especially Piazza, that they had to switch over to playing a purer form of blues. They ceased being the Mystics, taking on the name House of DBS (meaning Dirty Blues Sound) in 1966.

There followed a lot of gigs in and around Los Angeles, where they honed their new sound and also lost their original lead guitarist, Jeff Ray — in his place, Piazza recruited a friend of his from a band he’d once hung out with, the Misunderstood, named Glenn Ross Campbell.

The Misunderstood had broken up and he was available and willing, and once he joined, the group’s sound fairly blossomed, as Campbell became known for stretching out on his solos and improvisations for long minutes at their shows.

By the summer of 1967, with the beginnings of a serious rock music press, the House of DBS was getting proper coverage, and by the end of that season, they had a management and production deal with Lee Magid, who was best known in the business at that time as the manager of singer Della Reese.

Magid produced their debut album and sold it to ABC Records, also facilitating a name-change to the Dirty Blues Band. Their self-titled debut album appeared in early 1968 on the ABC imprint Bluesway, and although the members weren’t entirely happy with the results of the two days of rushed recording, they seemed to have a promising future ahead of them.

The military draft then reared its ugly head, and suddenly Millikan, Morrison, and Sandell the group’s whole rhythm section were called up. Campbell exited by choice a little while later, seeing no future for the group.

Ironically, they did carry on, however, with Rick Lunetta (guitar), Greg Anderson (bass), and Dave Miter (drums). That group, augmented by trumpet man Freddie Hill and saxmen Jimmy Forrest and Willie Green, got a second album together, entitled Stone Dirt. But by the end of 1968, even that second lineup had collapsed, and all concerned were pursuing solo and new group projects.

Piazza and Campbell were the most visible alumni and, indeed, their presence in the band accounts for a significant part of the interest in their work, on the part of people who never did get to hear the original albums. (Bruce Eder)

Track Listing

1. Don’t Start Me Talkin’
2. What Is Soul, Babe?
3. Hound Dog
4. New Orleans Woman
5. I’ll Do Anything Babe
6. Checkin’ Up On My Baby
7. Shake It Babe
8. Worry, Worry Blues
9. Born Under A Bad Sign
10. Spoonful
11. Chicken Shack
    

The Dirty Blues Band – Stone Dirt (1968)

Artist: The Dirty Blues Band
Title: Stone Dirt
Year: 1968
Format: LP
Label: ABC Bluesway

For their second album, a revised version of the Dirty Blues Band cut ten excellent numbers in a single session in April of 1968.Rod Piazza is not only in great voice (as is his harmonica) but also seems a lot more comfortable here.

The music surges and flows, mostly the reeds and trumpet are used with admirable restraint where they turn up at all, most successfully on a soaring rendition of “You’ve Got to Love Her with a Feeling.

The highlight of the album is his “Sittin’ Down Wonderin’,” where Piazza and company sound uncannily like Albert King, and Lunetta takes a killer solo around Maloney’s brilliantly understated organ fills.By the end of 1968, even this second lineup had collapsed and Dirty Blues Band was no more. (Allmusic)

Track Listing

1. Bring It On Home
2. It’s My Own Fault
3. I Can’t Quit You Baby
4. Tell Me
5. She’s The One
6. My Baby
7. Sittin Down Wonderin
8. Six Sides
9. You’ve Got To Love Her With A Feeling
10. Gone Too Long
    

T-Bone Walker – Stormy Monday Blues (1968)

Artist: T-Bone Walker
Title: Stormy Monday Blues
Year: 1968
Format: LP
Label: ABC Bluesway

Modern electric blues guitar can be traced directly back to this Texas-born pioneer, who began amplifying his sumptuous lead lines for public consumption circa 1940 and thus initiated a revolution so total that its tremors are still being felt today. Here’s one of two albums he recorded for the ABC Bluesway label in the late sixties. (Howard Hales Broom)

Track Listing

1. I’m Gonna Stop This Nite Life
2. Little Girl, Don’t You Know
3. Every Night I Have To Cry
4. I’m Still In Love With You
5. Cold Hearted Woman
6. Treat Me So Low Down
7. Stormy Monday Blues
8. Confusion Blues
9. I Gotta Break Baby
10. Flower Blues
    

Various Artists – I Asked For Water, She Gave Me… Gasoline (1969)

Artist: Various Artists
Title: I Asked For Water, She Gave Me… Gasoline
Year: 1969
Format: LP
Label: Imperial

Excellent British blues compilation recorded in June 1969 and featuring Jim Pitts, Jim & Raphael, Andy Fernbach Connexion (Andy Fernback (vocal-guitar), J.D. Fanger (guitar), Bob Rowe (bass) and Phillip Crother (drums), Tony McPhee, Jo-Ann Kelly, Brett Marvin & The Thunderbolts (Pete Gibson (vocal-trombone), Graham Hines (vocal-guitar), Jim Pitts (vocal-mandolin-piano), John Randal (washboard) and Keith Truffell (zob stick), Groundhogs (Tony (T.S.) McPhee (guitar), Pete Cruickshank (bass) and Ken Pustelnik (drums) and Graham Hines. (Jack Dominilla)

Track Listing

1. Oh Death [Jo-Ann Kelly & Tony "T.S." McPhee]
2. She’s Gone [Andy Fernbach Connexion]
3. Factory Blues [Graham Hines]
4. Boogie Woman [John Lewis]
5. Nervous [Jim Pitts]
6. Crazy With The Blues [Brett Marvin & The Thunderbolts]
7. Lord I Feel Tired [Jim & Raphael]
8. Gasoline [Tony "T.S." McPhee]
9. Rock Me [Jo-Ann Kelly & The Groundhogs]
10. London’s Got The Blues [John Lewis]
11. Love’s In Vain [Graham Hines]
12. Dust My Blues [Jo-Ann Kelly & Brett Marvin & The Thunderbolts]
13. Built My Hopes Too High [Andy Fernbach]
14. Don’t Pass The Hat Around [Tony "T.S." McPhee]
15. When My Woman Is With Me [Jim & Raphael]
16. I’m So Tired [Brett Marvin & The Thunderbolts]
    

Backwards Sam Firk – The True Blues And Gospel (1968)

Artist: Backwards Sam Firk
Title: The True Blues And Gospel
Year: 1968
Format: LP
Label: Adelphi

Backwards Sam Firk was the tongue-in-cheek alias of next-generation bluesman Mike Stewart, who created the character in homage to fingerpicked guitar pioneer John Fahey and his “Blind Thomas” character. Born September 18, 1943, in North Carolina, Stewart derived his alias from a lifelong nickname: “My dad used to call me Backwards Sam because my initials are MAS,” he later explained.

A member of the postwar generation that rediscovered the recordings and eventually the current whereabouts of the veteran bluesmen that spearheaded the music’s golden age, Stewart was a true country-blues guitar purist with a remarkably authentic technique and feel. He cut his first recordings for famed record collector Joe Bussard’s Fonotone imprint, and later collaborated with Fahey as well.

Stewart first attracted wide attention with the release of The True Blues & Gospel of Backwards Sam Firk, a collection of deeply felt blues covers that was the maiden release on Adelphi Records, the label owned in part by the guitarist’s then-wife Carol Rosenthal.

Stewart was also instrumental in Adelphi’s frequent trips across the U.S. in search of the blues greats of an earlier era, and over the years he befriended the likes of Johnny Shines, Sunnyland Slim, David “Honeyboy” Edwards, and Big Joe Williams, sometimes joining his heroes on-stage or in the studio. Most notably, he backed Yank Rachell on a session for the Blue Goose label.

Stewart resumed the Backwards Sam Firk guise for a pair of duet LPs with guitarist Stephan Michelson, aka Delta X. From the 1970s onward, however, he largely turned his back on performing in favor of buying and selling 78s, owning and operating Green River Records, and assembling one of the premier collections of blues, gospel, and world music recordings in the U.S. Stewart suffered a fatal heart attack at his home in Mill Spring, NC, on October 11, 2007. He was 64 years old. (Jason Ankeny)

Track Listing

1. I’m Glad Blues
2. East St. Louis Dry Land Blues
3. Hey Hey Hey
4. Cigarette
5. Candy Man Blues
6. If You Don’t Want Me That Freight Train Whistle’s Gonna Blow, Momma
7. Old Reliable One-Way Gal
8. Be Ready When He Comes
9. Old Country Dump
10. Get Back Old Devil
11. Poor Boy, Long Ways From Home
12. West Side Blues
13. I Be’s Troubled
14. Babe’s Piece
15. Fixin’ To Die
16. The Unbroken Circle
    

The Outlaw Blues Band – Breaking In (1969)

Artist: The Outlaw Blues Band
Title: Breaking In
Year: 1969
Format: LP
Label: ABC Bluesway

The Outlaw Blues Band was one of many Blues revivalist groups from the 1960s. They start off with 3 covers that set a real nice, laid back, electric Blues sound with Plastic Man, Stormy Monday Blues and My Baby’s Left And Gone. The second side sounds totally different because it’s all original material that mixes Pop, Blues, Jazz and Rock. The best tunes are the Latin tinged Jazz-Rock of “Mamo Pano Shhhh” with some strong work on the vibes, and the slow and Funky blues of “Deep Gully” that’s been made famous by De La and Main Source sampling it. (Motown67)

Track Listing

1. Plastic Man
2. Stormy Monday Blues
3. My Baby’s Left And Gone
4. Day Said
5. Mamo Pano Shhhh
6. You’re The Only One
7. Deep Gully
   

West Virginia Slim Electric Blues Band – West Virginia Slim Electric Blues Band (1970)

Artist: West Virginia Slim Electric Blues Band
Title: West Virginia Slim Electric Blues Band
Year: 1970
Format: LP
Label: Kent

West Virginia Slim was born Lucas Johnson in Williamson, West Virginia. The Influence of his mother , a minister in a Williamson church, was strong on Lucas, and at the age of 9 he was singing in her church choir, and also playing harmonica.

At the age of 17, he joined the army and had opportunities to practice his singing and playing. When he was discharged in California, he joined a group which he now calls The Blues Five. He developed his own style of songwriting, singing and playing.

He treats every song as a compact drama, a story to be told in the musical blues idiom. His tales are meaningful. There is nothing trite about his lyrics. Slim puts it on the line when he says “this is where it is. It’s what’s happening. It is a real life. It’s the blues”. (Album Liner)

Track Listing

1. Only Sixteen
2. Somebody’s Scaring Me
3. Gonna Tell How It Feels
4. It Takes Two To Make A Woman Like You
5. Sweet Home Chicago
6. Whole Lots Of Lovin’ For Me
7. You Gonna Be Sorry Baby
8. My Baby’s Just Like A Freeway
9. Hey Y’all
10. I Love You
11. Tell Me Baby
12. My Baby’s Mean