Customer Reviews

Mississippi Delta Bluesman

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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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.

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.

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.

Super-Fast and easy download! Product Perfect, This Mp3 is amazing! Amazon once more comes through with the best price! I Recommend this music A++++

I just returned from a road trip through the South. (I drove from Tucson to Nashville to pick up my wife who was attending a convention. I left before she flew to Nashville, so I had time to poke along (once I got across Texas!) in Shreveport, Monroe, Vicksburg, and then the prize: a non-rushed drive up U.S. Hwy. 61, aka "The Blues Highway." Along the way I stopped (thanks to guidebooks, as the Blues Commission hasn't done a very good shop of identifying off-the-road historical markers) at numerous sites, including Shaw, Mississippi, where I got a nice picture of the Blues Commission's historical marker on Honeyboy Edwards.

I continued on my way up to Clarksdale, savoring the sights, then headed northeast to visit Shiloh battlefield, where my g-g-g-grandfather and one of his sons was killed, another lost an arm, and one escaped unscathed. My g-g-grandfather was born in 1852, hence he was too you to fight. But I digress.

All across Louisiana I listened to Cajun music. All across Mississippi I had "nothin' but the Blues" playing on my iPod, plugged into the car's radio. Several Honeyboy songs were among the 100 or so that I'd put together for the trip. Then, this week I get home and see in the news that David "Honeyboy" Edwards had passed away at the age of 96. One of the legends of Mississippi Delta blues music is gone forever.

After hearing of his death I put THIS album on and played it loud. I was reminded again just how great Honeyboy was. If you don't know Honeyboy's music, this is definitely the place to start. Smithsonian let Honeyboy do what he did best: sit before a microphone with a guitar and harmonic and dazzle. The audio quality is a bit dated and maybe someday this will get the "sonic cleanup" Robert Johnson and others have, but scratchy sound and all, this is great stuff, especially the medley of Sweet Home Chicago that segues into Dust My Broom. Next Time You See Me, a big hit for Jimmy Reed later on, is worded slightly different, but it's great. Aw, stop reading this and download it! You'll be glad you did!

Honeyboy, you WILL be missed.

David Honeyboy Edwards passed away this past Monday, August 29, 2011. It is a very sad day to lose an incredible bluesman, one of the last living connections to Robert Johnson and Delta Blues. I was very lucky to see Honeyboy at the 2010 Crossroads festival in Chicago on his 95th birthday. No matter his age, he was incredible.

This is an amazing album. The tracks capture his wonderful voice and amazing guitar playing. The music is somewhat raw, not filtered through recording studio production. It's easy to feel like I'm standing in the club listening to him play. From allmusic, this album was originally released by Folkways records in 1979, the recordings are from 1928 - 1974.

The best I can do at this time is to live with MP3 downloads or CD's - the real great versions of his work is on vinyl. Sadly, that is so hard to find and expensive. These MP3's are very good as far as the format allows.

All the tracks are outstanding. If I were burning this back to a CD or picking and choosing my downloads, I would not reproduce the two minute "Remarks by Honeyboy Edwards." One or two listening and, well, I've got the story and don't really need to hear that many more times over.

The samples available are excellent representation of each of the tracks. I listened to those samples several times before purchasing. I was not disappointed by the album.

It is very difficult to find his work in used record stores. I'm on a mission now to find his work on vinyl. Honeyboy didn't record a lot, but what he did is really sweet.

There is one record available as a current release:

Shake 'em on Down [Vinyl]

A HIGHLY RECOMMENDED ALBUM FOR THAT AUTHENTIC STYLE OF PLAYING DELTA BLUES GUITAR W/ A SUPER GREAT VOICE TO BOOT...THIS GUY WAS THERE W/ ROBT JOHNSON---HE IS LIVING HISTORY AND BETTER THAN THAT HE IS STILL CREATING THE BLUES TO THIS DAY, FIND HIM ON THE BIG HEAD BLUES CLUB ROBT JOHNSON MEMORIAL ALBUM AT 95YOA AND STILL GOT GAME...GOTTA LOVE HONEYBOY...WE JUST LOST PINETOP SO THIS IS THE REAL DEAL ROOTS ALIVE AND KICKING...THIS IS REAL DEAL SWAMP

THIS IS THE REAL DEAL DELTA BLUES FROM A MAN WHO IS NOTHING SHORT OF A MUSICAL GOD. BUY THIS ALBUM AS SOON AS YOU CAN, GRAB A TALL BOY, AND SIT OUTSIDE ON A NICE SUMMER NIGHT AND BLAST SOME HONEYBOY EDWARDS. IT WILL SOON BE AN AMAZING NIGHT TO REMEMBER. ALSO RECOMENDED- GWAR (PRE SCHOOL PROSTITUTE)

Being a country blues artist myself; this is one of the classic delta blues albums that I was listening to when I was developing my style in the early eighties; classic country blues guitar styles delivered in the varieties of the delta blues styles of Charlie Patton,Tommy Johnson,Robert Johnson & Big Joe Williams. For listeners & guitar players new to the real delta blues; this album is a great introduction.