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Discerning students will know that 'The Blues' emerged as a secular and identifiable form at the very dawning of the 20th Century. Indeed it was sometime in 1903 that the legendary Father of The Blues W.C. Handy was awoken from slumber while waiting for a train in Tutwiler, Mississippi. Next to him on the platform was the infamous "lean, loose jointed negro", as Handy described him, nonchalantly "plunking a guitar while I slept. As he played, he pressed a knife against the strings; the effect was unforgettable". It was Handy himself who would soon after christen the sound 'the blues'. While this collection does not pretend to feature that never-to-be-identified slide pioneer, it nevertheless attempts a comprehensive round-up of the country blues legends whose names and legacies are certainly not lost on the railway stations and cotton plantations of the Mississippi Delta. Some have become household names, like Robert Johnson, earning gold discs and Grammy awards 50 years after his mysterious death. But even the less heralded artists here, like Blind Joe Reynolds and King Solomon Hill, have each become cult heroes for a generation of rock stars, academics and blues cognoscenti. 4 CDs containing 100 tracks in total, this collection begins in the spiritual home and birthplace of blues folklore, the Mississippi Delta, with disc one dedicated to the early development of the form in that territory. From there, as the music spread across the south through Louisiana, Texas and the East Coast, disc two collects together the pivotal recordings from those regions. Disc three covers Memphis and the mid-states giving space too to the often under-valued blues divas from all regions who contributed so much to the style but who are often now forgotten. Finally, our predominantly country blues journey will end with the post-war transition to the urban sounds of Dallas and Chicago. We will bow-out with the brave new electrified sound of T-Bone Walker, Muddy Waters and B.B. King.

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