Mississippi Delta Bluesman

David Honeyboy Edwards | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 23, 2001)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Smithsonian Folkways
• ASIN: B000056CA8
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #54,826 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

David "Honeyboy" Edwards embodies the continuity from blues' Mississippi Delta roots to electric Chicago blues. Honeyboy's string-snapping guitar riffs and soulful voice harken back to his friends and teachers Charley Patton, Big Joe Williams, Tommy Johnson, and Robert Johnson, who first forged the blues in Delta jooks and at country suppers during the Depression. Edwards crisscrossed the South in the company of such blues giants as Big Walter Horton, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Little Walter Jacobs. He settled in Chicago, where a post-WWII electric blues boom set the pattern for modern rock and roll. This recording captures him in a relaxed, unplugged, solo moment. Deep Delta blues from Robert Johnson's sidekick, whose searing vocals and stinging guitar bridge pre-war and post-war blues. Reissue of Folkways 3539. 44 minutes. 26-page booklet.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Blast From the Past: Great Blues from HoneyBoy, August 1, 2005

By 

Anton "Dr. Blues" (New York City, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mississippi Delta Bluesman (Audio CD)

This dynamite CD is actually a reissue of the vinyl LP put out in 1979 by Folkways in NYC. I brought HoneyBoy Edwards to New York several times in the 1970s. Verna Gillis of Soundscape picked him up & waxed this solo session for Folkways (Moe Asch). The virtue of a simple, clean "back porch" recording came from her no-frills production: She put HoneyBoy in front of a couple of good mikes and this is the result! The late Bob Palmer wrote the notes. The original cover was a photo taken by "yours truly" of HoneyBoy playing at the "Foghat Tribute to the Blues" concert, but this reissue has replaced it with new "art." Judging from the samples, the sound transfer is fine! This is the FIRST HoneyBoy set to buy. Then find his 1940s session, '50s singles and the LP on Wolf (Austria) and you will have all that I recall existed when I decided to find him and bring him to NYC in 1976.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Delta Blues with lots of feeling!, July 30, 2001

By 

SIMON AGUILAR-GARCIA (Seattle, Wa. USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mississippi Delta Bluesman (Audio CD)

Honeyboy delivers the real deal from someone who has spent time with the originators like Charley Patton and Robert Johnson. Makes you feel like you are in a back porch some where in the south! Play him often on The Crazy Coyote Blues and Jazz Power Show at 1490 KOTY in southcentral Wa. state.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Real Deal of Delta Blues, May 3, 2003

By 

Gary Monti (Providence, RI) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mississippi Delta Bluesman (Audio CD)

The first thing you'll notice is the quality of the recording. What a tremendous job the Smithsonian Institution has done in capturing the emotion of Dave 'HoneyBoy' Edwards. This master of the Delta Blues is the real-deal, schooled with Robert Johnson, at times shadowed by his image, living testimony to the origins of country blues. Take a listen to the 'Dust My Broom / Sweet Home Chicago' medley and you'll be sure to purchase this CD.