I have heard everything on this set of discs over the years, but save for the wonderful but seldom found DOCUMENT releases, it has been most difficult to hear the majority of the music produced by this prolific, profound and even at times pornographic and unclassifiable conglomeration of Mississippi Bluesmen and family members. Bo Carter was the most prominent of the family and often recorded with some, not all...and collected together is a staggering amount of wonderful music to be heard here.
As Bob Dylan said upon recording several of their songs "All their songs are raw to the bone & are faultlessly made for these modern times (the New Dark Ages) - nothing effete about the Mississippi Sheiks."
Wonder where "Blood in my Eyes" and "Deal gone Down" came from? Sitting on Top of the World? Guys like these...as if there WERE any guys like these.
This was a gigantic family of talent, most of whom returned to farming after some 5 years of recording. The darkest visions of death compete with the most filthy of dirty jokes in the 78 rpm recordings of the greatest African-American family of musicians until the Neville Brothers.
And no...this ain't pop from a "king" though one can dance to it.
The box set from JSP is due the end of January. See tracks and more HERE
