• List Price: $399.99  
• Your Price: $247.99
• In Stock: 64

You must login to place orders.




Not purchasing for a business? See our consumer site.

-The Blues - the iconic music that changed everything! Memphis - the iconic city where it happened! And now - the Memphis Blues Box from Bear Family Records® - the best of the best from the best! -An incredible 534 individual tracks on 20 CDs packed into an LP-sized box - total weight almost 10lbs. -Memphis recordings from 1914 to 1969 featuring musicians from the city and region. -Introduction by blues harmonica star and Grammy® winner Charlie Musselwhite. -Biographies of every performer, many newly researched; notes about every song and recording, index and track listing. -Many unseen photographs -Produced and part-written by Martin Hawkins This magnificent new 20-CD boxed set with its 534 tracks and an accompanying 360-page book traces the blues as recorded in Memphis and by Memphis-area musicians and singers. Starting a hundred years ago with W.C. Handy's tune Memphis Blues, this set includes classic blues, jug band blues and itinerant blues from the 1920s and '30s, the R&B bands and small combos of the 1940s and '50s, and the tougher blues styles recorded up to the close of the 1960s. The box presents the recorded Memphis Blues as defined by the performers and their recording companies during the years 1914 to 1969 - the period when blues in its various forms was issued on single discs, 78 rpm and then 45 rpm, for consumption largely by the original audience - the people who listened on street corners, in juke joints, at local house parties, or in the bars, night clubs and theatres of Memphis. The box focuses on how each disc sat within the evolving picture, either contributing something new, reinforcing trends of the moment, or harking back to tradition. At least one side of every relevant 78 or 45 rpm disc issued during the period is included, showing off the Memphis blues as it was offered year on year by artists and record companies.

Track Listing

Sales Points

• 20-CD box set (32 x 32 x 4,5 cms) with 360-page hardcover book, 534 tracks. Total playing time approx. 25 hrs. 20min.

Press Quotes

That Memphis Sound - A sprawling landmark collection of Memphis blues brings history alive. - Many have spoken of a 'Memphis sound' that permeates the playing of musicians who grew up here, yet the particulars of that sound can be elusive. That's especially true if one takes the long view of over a half century, as does the latest release from Bear Family Records, The Memphis Blues Box: Original Recordings 1914-1969. And yet that title alone, and the span of its purview, connotes one common thread through Memphis music: the blues itself. As David Evans says of his contribution to the box set's liner notes, 'I tried to address that in my essay, which looks at urban and regional blues and whether there was any particular sound to it. By and large, you get a lot of variety. So it's pretty hard to characterize urban blues. I'd be reluctant to go too far in that direction, trying to characterize a Memphis sound. But in a broader sense the blues itself and blues techniques permeate an awful lot of Memphis popular music.' That said, listeners should buckle up for a wild ride through history as Bear Family, known for its thorough, completist collections, takes a tour through 'Memphis blues as defined by the performers and their record companies during the years 1914 to 1969,' as the set's promotional material says. Significantly, that was the period when blues was issued primarily on singles (78 RPM records and later 45s), and the box includes at least one side of every blues record made in Memphis by Memphis-area musicians in that period. But there are also many sides cut elsewhere by artists whose grasp of the blues took them to studios far and wide. Aside from the blues, the key common thread is that, as with Harry Smith's 1952 Anthology of American Folk Music, all of these tracks were commercially released at one time. That doesn't make them any more rare or surprising. There was a lot of music to choose from. With 20 CDs, 534 tracks, and an accompanying 360-page book, the set starts over 100 years ago with W.C. Handy's tune 'Memphis Blues,' then moves through classic blues, jug band blues, itinerant blues from the 1920s and '30s, the R&B bands and small combos of the 1940s and '50s, and the tougher blues styles recorded up until the close of the 1960s. And even within those stylistic movements, there's considerable variation. It's a testament to how diverse the blues can be. Take track 10 on the first disc, 'I Raised My Window and Looked at the Risin' Sun,' by Ollie Rupert, released by Victor Records in 1927. What could have been a typical guitar-driven blues takes on an eerie quality through its use of the jaw harp, with its strangely atonal harmonics adding a uniquely alien sound to the small combo's sound. Blues from Mars, perhaps? As Evans notes, 'That's an interesting one. It might be the only commercial recording of that instrument in a blues setting. It's a little chaotic, musically, and Ollie Rupert was obviously kind of an amateur performer, with that voice. I'm glad it was issued, though.' More familiar names abound as well, including Furry Lewis, Memphis Minnie, Elvis Presley, and even Booker T. Jones, but sometimes it's the names behind the stars that are most striking. Many Stax fans know that drummer Al Jackson Jr.'s father was a bandleader, but now you can hear the actual sides Al Jackson Sr.'s jump band cut. Here too are sides cut by pianist Phineas Newborn's father and 'the Phineas Newborn Orchestra.' And two local music dynasties are evoked with The Jesters' stomping version of 'My Babe' on disc 20, featuring both Sam Phillips' son Jerry on guitar and Jim Dickinson on piano and vocals. Thus, a good deal of fine-grained, detailed history resides in this music, and the book alone is a monumental work of scholarship. Introduced by Charlie Musselwhite, the book offers biographies of every performer (many newly researched), notes on each recording, and many unseen photographs. The project was produced and part-written by historian Martin Hawkins, but the book also includes important essays by other experts on various aspects of the Memphis blues, including local scholars like Evans, Richard Raichelson, and Tyler Fritts.

     —Alex Greene, www.memphisflyer.com – December 2023

'Many congratulations to Martin (Hawkins) and all at Bear Family for a stunning book to go along with the 20 CDs. It is surely the last word on Memphis blues.' John has written 'Record Makers and Breakers,' 'Rhythm & Blues in New Orleans' (originally 'Walking to New Orleans') and 'South to Louisiana: The Music of the Cajun Bayous.'

     —John Broven - British music historian and author

JAZZISM The Netherlands - During the past decades many retrospectives of classic Memphis blues have been released, single LPs and CDs, box sets and some massive SUN CD box sets on Bear Family Records and the British Charlylabel. But this LP-sized box set weighting nearly 10 pounds, with 534 tracks carefully stripped of noise and ticks, offers an overview of a caliber hitherto unheard of. In addition, it includes a 360-page book, for which Charlie Musselwhite wrote the foreword. It also contains numerous, partly unpublished photographs, discographical information and updated biographies. The first track in the chronologically arranged box set, 'Mr. Crump And The Memphis Blues,' is now 110 years old. During the 1920s and 1930s, the jug bands playing in Handy Park on Beale Street, on street corners and in pubs dominated in particular. Among them were the Memphis Jug Band, Gus Cannon's Jug Stompers and the duo of Frank Stokes and Will Sane, performing under the name Beale Street Sheiks. Those bands, usually with a jug (jar on which the bass notes were blown), often a soap or tea chest bass, kazoo, banjo or acoustic guitar, covered roughly half the contents. With such artists as Junior Parker, Rufus Thomas, Howlin' Wolf, Little Milton and Willie Mitchell, we sneak into the era of electrically amplified blues and end with Ike & Tina Turner. A sublime overview in which every essential 78 or 45 dating from the aforementioned period has been included with at least one side. Bravo!

     —Rien Wisse – December 2023

American Back Roads roundup for 2023 of recent worthy CDs - Let me briefly mention the reissue world's 2023 tour de force, 20-CD The Memphis Blues Box (Bear Family) with an accompanying heavily detailed 360-page book. The 20th-century Memphis region was one of America's most fertile for music. I'll blog fully about the box soon, after I can dig more into its cornucopia of talent: Memphis Minnie, Furry Lewis, Howlin' Wolf, B.B. King, Elvis Presley, Ike and Tina Turner and countless worthy performers so forgotten by now that most of us have probably never heard of them. Reaching from 1914 to 1969, the box is a goldmine. Stay posted for more on it.

     —Bruce Sylvester, Goldmine Magazine, Dec 13, 2023

Is the Blues Capitol of the World - The impressive, comprehensive, and massive The Memphis Blues Box includes old butt-kicking songs along with astoundingly good contemporary music. - There are many excellent songs about Memphis, which David Byrne has pointed out is the 'home to Elvis and the ancient Greeks'. Masterful Contemporary musicians from Chuck Berry ('Memphis, Tennessee') to Bob Dylan ('Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again') to Tom T. Hall ('That's How I Got to Memphis' to John Hiatt ('Memphis in the Meantime') have written great songs with Memphis in the title, and that's not to mention all the cover versions of these tunes by artists like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, notable other songs by wonderful talents such as Lucinda Williams ('Memphis Pearl'), King Curtis ('Memphis Soul Stew'), Chris Stapleton (' Midnight Train to Memphis') to classic songs that take place in Memphis like Paul Simon's 'Graceland', Joni Mitchell's 'Furry Sings the Blues, and Creedence Clearwater Revival's 'Proud Mary'. The list goes on and on. Indeed there are many reasons for Memphis' magical hold on modern musicians. Rather than pontificate, let me point you to the answer. The Bear Family record label has just released a monster anthology: The Memphis Blues Box - Original Recordings 1914-1969. It contains 20 CDs and 534 tracks, with a total playing time of around 25 hours and 20 minutes. The boxset also comes with a 360-page hardcover book and weighs close to ten pounds. It includes researched biographies of every performer and notes about each song. These songs were initially recorded for public consumption and played at house gatherings, juke joints, bars, and nightclubs where people got together and partied. The world considerably changed during the 50 years covered, and this is reflected in the musical styles that evolved from jug bands to hard-edged R&B and everything in between. Memphis is the center of the blues world. The amount of great music on these discs is pleasantly overwhelming. It's not surprising that popular entrants from the far past, such as the Memphis Jug Band, Memphis Minnie, and Jimmie Lunceford, kick butt. Nor is it unexpected that more contemporary artists such as Bukka White, Little Milton, and Bobby Bland offer astoundingly material. Their names are well-known among blues music aficionados. Sides by the most famous Memphis denizens such as Elvis Presley, Ike and Tina Turner, and Albert King fit well with their regional cohorts.The songs' most common themes are sex and drugs and frequently include alcohol and cheating lovers. The tunes oftentimes bemoan the double standards of racism and gender relations when it comes to having fun. The performers, as are most of their audiences, are poor and black. When times are good, the singers celebrate. And when they are bad, the performers use music as a way to escape reality. Titles such as the Beale Street Sheiks' 'It's a Good Thing' and Will Shade's 'She Stabbed Me with an Ice-Pick' boldly proclaim their topics. The songs may contain clever wordplay, but nothing is subtle about their contents. To give a detailed breakdown of themes and trends of the more than 500 tracks would go beyond the scope of this review. Selecting highlights from the wealth of material ignores that each song is important and noteworthy. There's a natural tendency to celebrate the songs that became famous because they were re-recorded and made popular by more recent artists, like (Gus) Cannon's Jug Stompers' 'Walk Right In' (1929), which became a hit for the folk revival band the Rooftop Singers in 1963, or the Memphis Jug Band's 'Stealin' Stealin'', which has been covered by many fine artists including the Grateful Dead and the Yardbirds, or Jim Jackson's 'Hesitatin' Blues' of which there are more than 50 renditions by everyone from Louis Armstrong to Janis Joplin to Willie Nelson to Justin Townes Earle. Several songs crossed over to the wider public, such as Jackie Brenston's 'Rocket 88', Junior Parker's 'Mystery Train', and Booker T and the MGs' 'Green Onions'. The Memphis Blues Box is a welcome addition to those seeking to learn about America's musical heritage without being stuffy or archival. The music is fun even when the topics are serious. The blues are at the heart of nearly all popular music today, and Memphis is where much of it originated.

     —Steve Horowitz, Popmatters, 8 January 2024

'Streaming music is certainly convenient, but not everything is available online. Many of the albums I showcase on independent labels here aren't on Spotify or Apple Music. And there's something to be said for physical media: the tactile aspect, of course, but also the enjoyment associated with immersion in a well-produced collection. You read the liner notes, admire the cover art, and slow down to concentrate on something lovingly assembled.' I had these thoughts while spending much of the past month absorbing the titanic 'The Memphis Blues Box,' recently made available from the Bear Family Records label out of Germany. At 20 CDs and with a beautifully curated book (among the best I've seen for a box set), you get the sort of transformative experience that streaming can't provide. Here are 534 recordings in mostly amazing sound, and it's safe to say it's the definition of 'comprehensive.' It takes six discs just to get to 1930, and revelations abound. The Memphis Jug Band has never sounded better than on these transfers, and neither has vintage B.B. King or Memphis Minnie. Featuring blues and jazz from the cradle of one of the most triumphant American music cities, 'The Memphis Blues Box' won't appeal to everyone, especially with a price tag hovering around $400 at amazon.com. But those who seek it out are in for a genuine treasure trove.

     —Bret Saunders, The Denver Post, January 5, 2024

On The Record: The Massive 'Memphis Blues Box': Ironically, it took a European record company to compile The Memphis Blues Box, one of the most impressive and essential collections of American music you'll ever find. Still, I can't think of a label more suited to the task than Germany's Bear Family, which is world-famous for its gargantuan and definitive anthologies, such as the 13-disc ...Next Stop Is Vietnam/The War on Record: 1961-2008 and the 10-disc The Bakersfield Sound 1940-1994. A note from compiler and curator Martin Hawkins says it took 13 years to assemble The Memphis Blues Box. You'll believe that when you see it. One can only imagine the time and effort needed to track down the 534 vinyl and pre-vinyl singles in this 20-CD anthology, many of which are rare; garner permissions to use them; and restore the audio to the point where the lion's share of these vintage recordings sound as if they were made last week. Then there's the set's LP-sized, 360-page hardcover book, for which Bear Family gathered nearly 900 photos and illustrations, many previously unpublished, plus profiles of every artist and discographic information and notes on every track. Also in the book are many insightful essays with titles like 'Memories of Blues and Beale,' 'The Golden Age of the Independent Record Companies,' and 'The Story of Furry Lewis.' The music has a playing time of more than 25 hours, and it will undoubtedly take you even longer to digest everything in the book. While the text and photos are terrific, the CDs are, of course, the main attraction here. And what an attraction they are! Memphis is widely known as the 'home of the blues,' but it also played a role in the development of rockabilly, soul, jazz, country, jug band, and R&B; in addition, it is where Sam Phillips helped to launch the careers of Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, and other prominent early rockers. You'll hear elements of all those styles in this box. However, compiler Hawkins had to set some parameters to limit the anthology to a mere 20 CDs. The goal, he says in an introduction to the book, was to 'present the music of Memphis that was recorded and marketed as blues in its day, year on year.' As such, he notes, the program includes some early jazz and R&B, hillbilly blues, and rockabilly but not blues recordings made outside the Memphis area by Memphis-related composers and musicians. While Robert Johnson was partly raised in the city, for example, he mostly recorded elsewhere and is therefore not featured. Still, the box - whose subtitle is Original Recordings First Released on 78s and 45s, 1914-1969 - is mindbogglingly comprehensive: it credibly claims to include 'at least one side of every relevant single disc' issued during the covered period. Though the material is mostly arranged chronologically, the program opens with some spoken 1952 memories from W.C. Handy, the self-described Father of the Blues. Then come recordings from early in the last century by Handy, the Memphis Jug Band, Williamson's Beale Street Frolic Orchestra, and other pioneers. Nineteen discs later, the musical journey ends with late-sixties efforts by such artists as Ike & Tina Turner, Albert King, Bobby 'Blue' Bland, and Junior Parker. Those aren't the only names here that blues fans will recognize. For example, the set includes 14 tracks from B.B. King, 12 from Howlin' Wolf, 20 from Memphis Minnie, four from Bukka White, 10 from Rufus Thomas, and 12 from Sleepy John Estes. A few early Sun Records efforts by Presley and Perkins are here, too. But have you heard of the Swift Jewel Cowboys, whose fine 1939 recording of Handy's 'Memphis Blues' seems influenced by New Orleans Dixieland jazz? How about Billy Garner's raunchy 1961 rendition of 'Little School Girl,' Billy Love's sax-spiced 'You're Gonna Cry,' or Cannon's Jug Stompers' 1928 reading of 'Viola Lee Blues' (with vocals and harmonica by composer Noah Lewis), which was later recorded by artists ranging from Sonny Boy Williamson to the Grateful Dead? Little-known treasures await your discovery on each of this collection's 20 discs. As you might imagine, the price tag for this box is big. The rewards for exploring its contents, however, are far bigger.

     —Jeff Burger, The Aquarian, December 22, 2023

'The Memphis Blues Box,' a mammoth new collection that attempts to present a broader and deeper portrait of its subject than ever before, is a testament to what's arguably the city's most essential contribution to global culture. 'The Memphis Blues Box' is the latest product of Bear Family Records, a German company that specializes in exhaustive and lovingly assembled collections of largely American roots music. The project was conceived and organized by veteran British music writer and archivist Martin Hawkins. 'Bear Family Records ... is not driven really by commercial (concerns); they just want to do interesting stuff,' Hawkins said. 'I just said, why don't we do the history of Memphis blues, 1914-1969, starting with W.C. Handy and ending with Tina Turner? And Bear Family, being slightly crazy, said, 'Yeah, we'll do that, no problem.'' And that's what they did. 'It's all there for posterity,' Hawkins said. 'In the future when a spaceship arrives from Mars ... with a CD player ... they'll be able to know what the Memphis blues was.'

     —Chris Herrington, Daily Memphian, February 05, 2024

Memphis Calling: Beale Street Mess Around Yields Blues Bounty Germany-based Bear Family Records, specializing in boxed sets, has outdone itself. Meticulously organized by English music historian Martin Hawkins, the colossal 8-pound Memphis Blues Box has 20 CDs storing 534 remastered songs originally issued as 78s or 45s between 1914 and 1969. Also included is a 360-page hardbound book stuffed to the seams with essays, musician profiles, song information and almost 900 photos, including record label images and maps. TMBB is a shoo-in for best-of-the-year lists.

     —Frank-John Hadley, Downbeat, March 2024

By the time you soak up everything within this box, you'll boast the equivalent of a PhD in Memphis blues .... Bear Family has curated more sterling Sun packages over the years than any other label on the globe, so this box predictably hits the right notes .... The Memphis Blues Box should stand indefinitely as the ultimate tribute to the city's indelible blues tradition.

     —Bill Dahl, Blues Music Magazine (USA), Spring 2024