Cargo Records

The History of Rhythm & Blues Boxset

The Volume One Boxset - The Pre-War Years, 1925 - 1942 taking the story up to the eve of the American entry into the Second World War. A 4CD box set DVD box-size complete with 32 page booklet including comprehensive track by track analysis of all 97 songs.

Rhythm & Blues has become one of the most identifiable art-forms of the C20th, with an enormous influence on the development of both the sound and attitude of modern music. But it wasn't always that way. The History of Rhythm and Blues investigates the accidental synthesis of jazz, gospel, blues, ragtime, country and pop into a definable form of black music, which in turn would influence pretty well all popular music from the 1950s to the present. The end of the 19th century was a period of major social upheaval for the black population in America. Musicians who had previously been maintained on plantations were no longer required, and took to the road begging, as the abolition of slavery led to huge numbers of itinerant workers. The hardships of segregation caused by the ensuing Jim Crow laws caused a cultural revolution within Afro-American society. New forms of music arose: spirituals, ragtime, barrelhouse, jazz, black ballad form. Over the years, these distinctive sounds would come to merge into a recognisably “new” musical style. From its humble rural beginnings in the early 1900s as a method of self-expression in the southern states, the blues gradually became a form of public entertainment, initially for workers and drinkers, in lumber camps, barbeques and juke joints, picking up dance rhythms along the way. The blues, originally a slow dance, only evolved into the form we know today after the introduction of sound recording - the first blues record, Mamie Smith’s Crazy Blues, was released in 1921. Over the course of 4 thematically arranged CDs, The History of Rhythm and Blues illustrates how these dramatic social and economic upheavals were reflected in the congruence of different musical styles into a form that became recognisable both in terms of sound and marketing. Old songs were turned into new. Cow Cow Blues mutated into Ray Charles’ Mess Around. Little Richard appropriated Keep a Knockin’ from an old hillbilly tune via Louis Jordan. A new form of commercial dance music was born from these many disparate sources, few of which survived in its original form. The History of Rhythm and Blues Part One takes the story up to the eve of the American entry into the Second World War. It will appeal to anyone interested in the evolution of the blues, or simply curious as to how the sounds of today continue to be shaped and forged by the aural fusions and experiments of the early decades of the C20th.The first-ever attempt to chronicle from a historical perspective, the rise of Rhythm & Blues - the accidental synthesis of jazz, gospel, blues, country and pop - into a definable form of black popular music, by showcasing the most important and influential records.

Track Listing

Disc One - Blues From The Delta To The City - Country Blues And Spirituals, Jug Bands And Hokum /

1 My Soul Is A Witness- Austin Coleman
2 It's Nobody's Fault But Mine- Blind Willie Johnson
3 The Crucifixion Of Christ- Jessie May Hill
4 Shake That Thing- Papa Charlie Jackson
5 Outside Woman Blues- Blind Joe Reynolds
6 It's A Good Thing- Frank Stokes/Beale Street Sheiks
7 Minglewood Blues- Gus Cannon's Jug Stompers
8 Match Box Blues- Blind Lemon Jefferson
9 Diddie Wah Diddie- Blind Blake
10 Milk Cow Blues- Sleepy John Estes
11 Ease It To Me Blues- Barbecue Bob
12 No No Blues- Curley Weaver
13 Apaloosa Blues- Bobby Leecan and Robert Cooksey
14 Little Rock Blues- Pearl Dickson
15 Kansas City Blues- Jim Jackson
16 Train Whistle Blues- Jimmie Rodgers
17 Goin’ Back To Texas- Memphis Minnie
18 Roll And Tumble Blues- Hambone Willie Newbern
19 If You Haven't Any Hay- Skip James
20 Kokomo Blues- Scrapper Blackwell
21 It's Tight Like That- Georgia Tom
22 Didn't It Rain- Bryant's Jubilee Quartet
23 Beale Street Breakdown- Jed Davenport
24 Milk Cow Blues- Kokomo Arnold

Disc Two - The Rhythm - Piano Boogie-Woogie Ragtime And Jazz /

1 Get Low-Down Blues- Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orchestra
2 Mr Johnson's Blues -Lonnie Johnson
3 Backwater Blues -Bessie Smith
4 Knockin' A Jug -Louis Armstrong
5 Bullfrog Blues -Muggsy Spanier
6 Pinetop’s Boogie Woogie- Pinetop Smith
7 Cow Cow Blues- Cow Cow Davenport
8 Guitar Boogie- Blind Roosevelt Graves And Brother
9 How Long, How Long- Blues Leroy Carr
10 The Dirty Dozen- Speckled Red
11 Vicksburg Blues- Little Brother Montgomery
12 Sweet Miss Stella Blues Rufus and Ben Quillian
13 Minnie The Moocher- Cab Calloway & His Orchestra
14 St. Louis Blues- The Mills Brothers
15 Somebody Stole Gabriel's Horn- Three Keys
16 Midnight Hour Blues- Leroy Carr
17 Lafayette- Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orchestra
18 Flaming Reeds And Screaming Brass- Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra
19 Strut That Thing Cripple- Clarence Lofton
20 Dirty Mother For You- Roosevelt Sykes
21 Weed Smoker's Dream- The Harlem Hamfats
22 Press My Button- Lil Johnson
23 Night Time Is The Right Time- Roosevelt Sykes
24 The Blues Ain't Nothing But- Georgia White

Disc Three - Up River To Chicago - Urban Blues And Gospel /

1 Teasin’ Brown Blues- Louie Lasky
2 Barrelhouse Woman- Leroy Carr
3 Lead Pencil Blues- Johnnie Temple
4 Policy Dream Blues- Bumble Bee Slim
5 Naptown Stomp- Bill Gaither
6 Sloppy Drunk Again- Walter Davis
7 Jockey Blues- Jazz Gillum
8 Holy Mountain Elder- Otis Jones
9 Standing By The Bedside Of A Neighbour- Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet
10 Louise Louise Blues- Johnnie Temple
11 Barrelhouse When It Rains- Big Bill Broonzy
12 Good Morning Little Schoolgirl- John Lee 'Sonny Boy' Williamson
13 Preachin' Blues- Robert Johnson
14 Number Runner's Blues- Jimmie Gordon
15 Tell Me Baby- John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson
16 Rockin' Chair Blues- Big Bill Broonzy
17 Diggin’ My Potatoes- Washboard Sam
18 This Train Sister- Rosetta Tharpe
19 Don’t You Lie To Me- Tampa Red
20 Jivin' The Blues- John Lee "Sonny Boy Williamson
21 I Feel So Good- Big Bill Broonzy
22 Worried Life Blues- Big Maceo
23 Junker Blues Champion- Jack Dupree
24 Ain't No Business We Can Do- Doctor Clayton
25 Mean Ol' Frisco- Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup

Disc Four - Jazzin' The Blues - After Hours Swing Boogie And Jive /

1 Boogie Woogie Stomp- Albert Ammons And His Rhythm Kings
2 Boogie-Woogie- Count Basie [Jones-Smith Inc.]
3 One O’Clock Jump- Count Basie Orchestra
4 Sing Sing Sing- Benny Goodman
5 Keep A-Knockin'- Louis Jordan
6 T'Aint What You Do- Jimmie Lunceford
7 Jumpin' Jive- Cab Calloway
8 I Like To Riff- King Cole Trio
9 That's The Rhythm- Three Sharps And A Flat
10 I'd Rather Drink Muddy Water- The Cats & The Fiddle
11 After Hours- Erskine Hawkins and his Orchestra
12 Floyd’s Guitar Blues- Andy Kirk And His Clouds Of Joy
13 Gangster's Blues- Peetie Wheatstraw
14 Roll'em Pete- Joe Turner And Pete Johnson
15 Down The Road- A Piece Will Bradley
16 Central Avenue Breakdown- Lionel Hampton
17 Natchez Mississippi Blues Lewis Bronzeville Five
18 Death Ray Boogie- Pete Johnson
19 Confessin' The Blues- Jay McShann
20 What's The Use Of Getting Sober- Louis Jordan
21 Take It And Git- Andy Kirk And His Clouds Of Joy
22 Cow Cow Boogie- Ella Mae Morse
23 Flying Home- Lionel Hampton Orchestra
24 Mean Old World- T-Bone Walker