American Folk Blues Festival Live in Paris 1962 • Bremen 1963 (The Lost Recordings)
There are, fortunately for us all, a good number of recordings from the American Folk Blues Festival over the years, but we’re certainly not going to complain about another one, especially when it sounds as good as this one does AND consists entirely of previously unreleased material. You’d think that, by now, any existing recordings of these shows would already have been unearthed and made available, although there were, of course, numerous offerings of the festival across the U.K. and Europe over its almost decade-and-a-half existence. So we’re glad that the good folks at The Lost Recordings were able to locate these sets from the early 1960s capturing previously unreleased material from the likes of such greats as Sonny Boy Williamson, Willie Dixon, John Lee Hooker, T-Bone Walker, and Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, also featuring appearances from Memphis Slim, Sunnyland Slim, Hubert Sumlin, Matt “Guitar” Murphy, and others.
The audio quality of this latest American Folk Blues Festival collection is some of the cleanest and crispest we’ve heard from live performances, particularly ones that took place over six decades ago. There’s a lot to like about the double LP set, including tracks from Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee such as the opening “I’m a Stranger Here”, the breezy “Born and Livin’ with the Blues”, and “I Got My Eyes on You”; Willie Dixon performing “I Just Want to Make Love to You” and stuttering his way through “Nervous”; a quiet acoustic set from John Lee Hooker that includes “I Need Money”, “Everyday, I Have the Blues”, “Night Time is the Right Time” and “My Own Fault”; and the jazzy, instrumental “Moanin”” from a T-Bone Walker-led band that also included Willie Dixon on bass.
Helen Humes’ vocals may be a tad high-pitched for some listeners’ likings (although we recognize that the shrill, jazzier approach was popular for the day) on some of the other songs that feature Walker, but the band’s playing is terrific on tracks like “Kansas City” as well as “Bye Bye Baby” and “Blues Ain’t Nothin’ but a Woman” medleys that have Shakey Jake, Memphis Slim, Sonny Terry, John Lee Hooker, Willie Dixon and others taking turns with Humes on vocals and instruments, and that help make this limited edition recording worth every penny of its slightly heftier price tag.
If all that from the 1962 Paris date isn’t already enough to convince you to add this set to your collection, what may be the biggest highlight of the recordings is still to come: a five-song set from harmonica player and singer Sonny Boy Williamson from the 1963 Bremen, Germany, festival that includes such classics as “Eyesight to the Blind”, “Your Funeral and My Trial”, “Bye Bye Bird”, “Fattening Frogs for Snakes” and a moaning “Bye Bye Blues”. While Williamson performs part of the set solo on vocals and harmonica, he’s also backed by a band on a few of the numbers, including — officially — Memphis Slim on piano and vocals, Matt “Guitar” Murphy on guitar, and Bill Stepney on drums, but probably also one or two others who aren’t credited, as — in one of the recording’s finest moments — Williamson can be heard saying “okay, okay, Mr. T” (presumably directed at T-Bone Walker) at one point during “Fattening Frogs for Snakes” just before a bluesy, soulful guitar solo that sure sounds like it could be coming from Walker. A playful “Wake Up Baby” from a 1964 Paris set from Sonny Boy with Sunnyland Slim on piano, Hubert Sumlin on guitar, and Willie Dixon on bass closes out the album, which, if you haven’t gathered by now, is well worth adding to your turntable’s rotation, both figuratively and literally, if you want to immerse yourself in this phenomenal and highly entertaining piece of blues history!