The Memphis Blues Box: Original Recordings First Released On 78s And 45s, 1914-1969 (20-CD)

by Various Artists

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.