Various Artists: Georgia Pot Lickers, Rev. B.L. Wightman & Congregation, Smith & Irvine, Uaroy Graves, Roy Hobbs, Yank Rachell.
For anyone who's collected 78-rpm records, enjoyed Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music, or expressed interest in the great missing old-time and blues records of yesteryear, The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of will be the Holy Grail. Whereas it isn't unusual for Yazoo to place a rarity on a new collection by Blind Blake or Blind Lemon Jefferson, this two-disc collection -- all 46 cuts -- is a testament to rarities. Perhaps the best-known (to a general old-time/blues audience) performer here is Son House, and the collection includes recordings of "Mississippi County Farm Blues" and "Clarksdale Moan." Others might be familiar with Dock Boggs ("Old Rub Alcohol Blues"), Ken Maynard ("Sweet Betsey from Pike"), and the Memphis Jug Band ("Jim Strainer Blues"). Incredibly, several of these tracks were recorded as test pressings and never officially released, meaning that as far as the recording industry is concerned, they don't exist. It's probable that all of the fuss made over this collection of rarities will make little sense to folks who don't spend all of their spare money and time hunting down 78-rpm records, and there's a point here. If you don't know that a certain item is rare, you won't value it in the same way a collector might. In this sense, one CD filled with scratchy old recordings is as good as another. But even for those who might not understand why they should be excited by The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of, the collection nonetheless holds up as good old-time folk and blues, and expense-wise, Yazoo always offers lots of quality music for one's money. As an added bonus the cover art and inside cartoon has been put together by none other than Robert Crumb, a record collector and one-time string band performer himself. ~ Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr.
Professional Reviews
Entertainment Weekly (p.69) - "[O]ld-time country music, early blues, and gospel....The recordings -- of varying brilliance -- are grail-like rarities."
Living Blues (p.76) - "House was the greatest of all the 'deep' Delta singers, and this was his greatest recording session. The guitar work is crisp, with his usual unerring rhythmic control, and his voice is magnificent."
No Depression (p.100) - "There are fetching country blues tracks.....It's all put together with enthusiasm and tongue-in-cheek ribbing of the collecting bug."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.110) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[A] glittering parade of mountain stringbands and sanctified preachers, fiddle and harmonica tunes, banjo songs and guitar blues..."
