Performers include: Texas Alexander, Lowell Fulson, Lightnin' Hopkins, Jesse James, Johnny Beck, Buddy Chiles, Rattlesnake Cooper, Lee Hunter, Leroy Ervin, Nat Terry, Willie Lane, Alex Moore, Thunder Smith, Little Son Willis.
Adapter: Laure Wright.
Personnel: James Tisdom (vocals, guitar, harmonica, drums); Andrew "Smokey" Hogg (vocals, guitar, drums); Sonny Boy Holmes, Lawyer Houston, Johnny "The Blind Boy" Beck, Big Bill Dotson, Charles Bradix, Ernest Lewis, Frankie Lee Sims, John Hogg, Buddy Chiles, Nathaniel Terry, Willie Lane, Rattlesnake Cooper, Jesse Babyface Thomas, Lightnin' Hopkins, Lowell Fulson, Luther "Rocky" Stoneham, Wright Holmes (vocals, guitar); Alexander Herman Moore, Leroy Ervin, Lee Hunter, Mercy Dee Walton, Thunder Smith (vocals, piano); L.C. Williams, Andrew Thomas, Texas Alexander (vocals); Leon "Buzz" Benton, Martin Fulson (guitar); Sonny Boy Davis, Buster Pickens (piano); Jesse Sailes (drums).
Unknown Contributor Role: Bernard Fr‚meaux.
Postwar Texas blues had a sparse sound all its own in the late 1940s and early '50s, as this two-disc, 36-track collection demonstrates. Featuring guitar (both acoustic and electric) and piano pieces recorded between 1948 and 1952, most of them for small local labels, Texas Down Home Blues includes some familiar names like Texas Alexander, Lowell Fulson, Lil' Son Jackson and Lightnin' Hopkins, but the balance of the performers are much more obscure, which is the real strength of this set. Among the standout tracks are Texas Alexander's "Crossroads Blues" (no relation to Robert Johnson's famous composition of the same name), Wright Holmes' sprightly "Good Road Blues," Lil' Son Jackson's reconfiguration of "Deep Blue Sea" as "Milford Blues," Frankie Lee Sims' acoustic/electric hybrid "Don't Forget Me Baby," and Luther "Rocky" Stoneham's extremely specific "January 11, 1949 Blues." Some of these tracks were actually recorded in California, which became somewhat of a haven for several Texas blues musicians after the war, but they retain a distinct Texas sound. ~ Steve Leggett
Professional Reviews
Mojo (Publisher) (3/04, p.110) - 4 stars out of 5 - "The Texas/West Coast indie labels captured some of the strangest blues sounds in the early postwar air."
