Product Details

• Actors: Various Artist
• Directors: Various Artist
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: G (General Audience)
• Studio: Vestapol
• DVD Release Date: April 4, 2002
• Run Time: 60 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• ASIN: B000SKKD2C
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #305,438 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Featuring: Bukka White, Big Joe Williams, Son House, Houston Stackhouse, Rev. Gary Davis, Lead Belly & Sam Chatmon The blues "rediscovery" era of the 1960s brought to concert and sound stages many veteran artists who had participated in the "Golden Age" of country blues recording prior to World War II. The best of them retained much of their youthful power and brought with them the authority of experience. While these artists have since passed on, their recorded legacy is enhanced by these extraordinary performance clips. The first generation of recorded Delta bluesmen - Charley Patton, Tommy Johnson, the Mississippi Sheiks - is echoed in the stark and powerful performances of Bukka White, Sam Chatmon, Big Joe Williams, Houston Stackhouse and Son House. The East Coast ragtime style is exemplified by its supreme exponent, Reverend Gary Davis, seen here in some recently discovered informal footage. Huddie Ledbetter was a tradition unto himself with his repertoire of work and "play party" songs reflecting pre-blues African-American music idioms. The extraordinary color footage of Lead Belly singing three songs, and the informal footage of him singing Goodnight Irene to his wife Martha, are a treasure for fans of this American folk giant. Collectively the performers presented here are an extraordinary group, keepers of bygone traditions whose legacies still resonate. Titles include: Bukka White: Aberdeen Mississippi Blues, Poor Boy · Sam Chatmon: Big Road Blues, That's All Right, Sam's Rag · Big Joe Williams: Sloppy Drunk Blues, Highway 49, Providence Help The Poor People · Houston Stackhouse: Cool Drink Of Water · Son House: Yonder Comes The Blues · Rev. Gary Davis: Buck Dance, Hard Walking Blues, Make Believe Stunt, Keep Your Lamp Trimmed And Burning Leadbelly: Goodnight Irene (take 1), The Grey Goose, Pick A Bale Of Cotton, Take This Hammer, Goodnight Irene (take 2).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars When The Blues Was Dues, Part II, October 1, 2008

By 

Alfred Johnson (boston, ma) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Legends of Country Blues Guitar Volume Two (DVD)

Part of this review has been used in a separate review of Volume One.

I have spent some considerable effort in this space reviewing various trends in the blues tradition, including country blues. As is fairly well known country blues got its start down in the South during the early part of the 20th century (if not earlier) as a way for blacks (mainly, although here Sam Chatman is given some space I think to represent the mountain music contribution to this rural music) to cope with the dreaded, deadly work on the plantations (picking that hard to pick cotton). In this volume (and a first volume that has been reviewed separately) Stefan Grossman, the renowned guitar teacher and performer in his own right has taken old film clips and segments from early television and produced an hour of classic performances by the masters of country blues guitar picking and singing (Sorry, no women players presented in these productions, although there were a few. Women blues singers came into their own a little later with a vengeance, thankfully.).

Country acoustic blues guitar playing was a central form of entertainment for those who lived in the country, desperately needed entertainment during and after work and for the most part had no access to electricity. Thus, this favored form of entertainment was provided in the backwoods "juke joints" where the whiskey, women and words came fast and furious after a hard work week. A small body of men, mainly in Mississippi, but also elsewhere in the South (notably Texas and North Carolina) fought to be "king of the blues". And the qualifications to win that title included being able to wield that old national steel guitar for all it was worth and sing something about two-timing women, the rascally boss or overseer or just plain not having any money to show for the week's work after those Saturday night bouts with the "devil".

In this volume the "king of the hill" is one Bukka White. Son House the star of Volume One is relegated to second place here as Bukka just flat out plays that old guitar better, with more feeling and a better sense of showmanship in presenting the material. Aberdeen Women is an extremely good example of his mastery. I have mentioned in a previous review that Bukka White was not previously as familiar to me and those who I know who share my interest in the blues. That deserves immediate correction and Brother White will certainly be the subject of a later, separate entry in this space.

Also included here is the previously mentioned Son House, again flailing away for all he is worth; The Reverend Gary Davis demonstrating his prowess as a guitarist on several clips: Huston Stackhouse with his playful voice inflections; Big Joe Williams being, well Big Joe with some guitar that I could not count the number of strings on(as usual); and, Leadbelly. Leadbelly, who may have been one of the most well-known black country blues performers of all time (certainly through his connection to the classic and oft-performed Goodnight, Irene), is rather flat here. Too bad. There are better clips of his performances elsewhere.