Styles: Country Blues, Prewar Blues, Acoustic Blues, Delta Blues, Old-Timey, Regional Blues, String Bands, Traditional Folk
Label: Yazoo
Released: 2002
File: mp3 @320K/s
Size: 158,6 MB
Time: 69:16
Art: full
1. Sam McGee - Railroad Blues - 3:17
2. Floyd County Rambler - Step Stone - 3:02
3. Skip James - Hard Time Killin' Floor Blues - 2:50
4. Weems String Band - Greenback Dollar - 3:10
5. Jimmie Davis - Doggone That Train - 2:48
6. Eli Framer - Famer's Blues - 3:06
7. Roy Harvey & Jess Johnston - No Room For A Tramp - 3:15
8. Garland Brothers & Grinstead - Just Over The River - 2:49
9. Ben Covington - Mule Skinner Moan - 3:03
10. Reaves White County Ramblers - Shortening Bread - 2:54
11. J.P. Nestor & Norman Edmonds - Black-Eyed Susie - 2:59
12. Buddy Boy Hawkins - A Rag Blues - 3:00
13. Roy Harvey & Jess Johnston - Railroad Blues - 3:22
14. Grayson County Railsplitters - Way Down In North Carolina - 2:31
15. The Swamp Rooters - Citaco - 3:04
16. Unknown - Pistol Blues - 3:02
17. Murphy Brothers Harp Band - Boat Song March - 3:02
18. Frank Blevins & His Tar Heel Rattlers - I've Got No Honey - 2:59
19. Wilmer Watts & Lonley Eagles - Bonnie Bess - 2:57
20. Blind Joe Reynolds - Cold Woman Blues - 2:57
21. Wyzee, Tucker & Lecroy - Hamilton's Special Breakdown - 2:54
22. Bull Mountain Moonshiners - Johnny Goodwin - 2:56
23. Charley Patton - Some Happy Day - 3:09
Notes: Each volume in Yazoo Records' Times Ain't Like They Used to Be series (this one is the fifth installment) collects 1920s and '30s commercial 78s, and taken together they project a vital and energetic early-20th century rural America of jug and string bands, country blues players, fiddlers, banjoists, sacred singers, and musical roustabouts of every conceivable rustic style imaginable. This process makes each volume remarkably similar even as the particular artists and songs included on each may be tremendously different. Vol. 5 includes such gems as Sam McGee's bright "Railroad Blues," Skip James' classic and striking "Hard Time Killin' Floor Blues," a breakneck version of "Black-Eyed Susie" by string band great J.P. Nestor, and a unusually hopeful blues treatment of "Some Happy Day" from Charley Patton. Since everything is drawn from exceedingly rare 78s, many of which were played to death by their original owners, there is a fair amount of ambient needle noise on several of these tracks, but that only adds to the overall feel of history actually coming alive that is inherent to these kinds of compilations. Well selected, varied, and artfully sequenced, Times Ain't Like They Used to Be, Vol. 5 is yet another welcome addition to a hopefully never-ending
Times Ain't Like They Used To Be Vol. 5
• Various - Times Ain't Like They Used to Be Vol. 1 of 8
• Various Artists - Times Ain't Like They Used To Be Vol. 2 of 8