BOOKLET
here is the NFO file from Indietorrents
Volume 1
Peg Leg Howell
01 – Coal man blues
02 – Tishamingo blues
03 – New prison blues
04 – Fo` Day blues
05 – New jelly roll blues
06 – Beaver slide rag
07 – Papa Stobb blues
08 – Sadie Lee blues
09 – Too tight blues
10 – Moanin` and groanin` blues
11 – Hobo blues
12 – Peg leg stomp
13 – Doin` wrong
14 – Skin game blues
Henry Williams & Eddie Anthony
15 – Georgia crawl
16 – Lonesome blues
Peg Leg Howell
17 – Please Ma`am
18 – Rock And gravel blues
19 – Low-down rounder blues
20 – Fairy blues
‘Sloppy’ Henry
21 – Canned Heat blues
22 – Say I do it
Atlanta street singer Peg Leg Howell wasn’t really much of a guitarist, but his songs, many of which were made up of fragments of street vendor calls and other pre-blues material, have a sort of greasy and rough-hewed grace to them, and when combined with Eddie Anthony’s careening fiddle runs, achieved a distinct sound (part string band, part hokum jug band) all too rare in early blues. His “Skin Game Blues” is a poignant and perfectly nuanced classic in the genre, while “Coal Man Blues” is an early statement and indictment of class distinction in the American South. This collection from Document Records gathers both of these songs, recorded in 1926, along with other worthy pieces, including “Tishamingo Blues” (which lends its title to an Elmore Leonard novel, Tishomingo Blues) and the revelatory “New Prison Blues.” Filling things out here are pleasant pieces like the guitar-and-fiddle stomp “Hobo Blues,” which shows how much Anthony brings to the table, and “Rock and Gravel Blues,” which is made up of the usual floating verses of the day, but still manages a forward narrative push. Document has also issued a second volume of Howell’s 78s, but this first installment is a little stronger in the song category. Howell and his friends have a particularly loose and interesting street sound, and curious listeners might do well to pick up both discs. The overall recorded sound is pretty decent, given the age and archival nature of the source 78s. ~ Steve Leggett, Rovi
Volume 2
1.Long, Tall, Disconnected Mama
2.Royal Palm Special Blues
3.Banjo Blues – Peg Leg Howell
4.Turkey Buzzard Blues – Peg Leg Howell
5.Turtle Dove Blues – Peg Leg Howell
6.Walkin’ Blues – Peg Leg Howell
7.Wringing That Thing – Tampa Joe,
8.Worrying Blues – Tampa Joe,
9.Broke and Hungry Blues – Peg Leg Howell
10.Rolling Mill Blues – Peg Leg Howell
11.Ball and Chain Blues – Peg Leg Howell
12.Monkey Man Blues – Peg Leg Howell
13.Chittlin’ Supper – Peg Leg Howell
14.Away From Home – Peg Leg Howell
15.Everything’s Coming My Way – Macon Ed, Tampa Joe
16.Mean Florida Blues – Macon Ed, Tampa Joe
17.Try That Thing – Macon Ed, Tampa Joe
18.Tickle Britches – Macon Ed, Tampa Joe
19.Tantalizing Bootblack – Macon Ed, Tampa Joe
20.Warm Wipe Stomp – Macon Ed, Tampa Joe
21.I’ll Play My Harp in Beulah Land – Brothers Wright and Williams
Atlanta street singer Joshua “Joe” Howell got the moniker Peg Leg following a shotgun mishap in 1919 (he lost his other leg to diabetes in 1952), and, unable to perform manual labor, he turned to music, recording several tracks in the late ’20s under his own name and several tracks in various configurations with fellow street performers Henry Williams and Eddie Anthony. Anthony’s fiddle (and occasional accordion) playing gave these pieces a kind of string band feel, and with Howell’s loose, greasy blues lyrics, they created, at times, a fascinating hybrid, as evidenced by “Rolling Mill Blues,” included here. When his recording career faded, Howell returned to street singing, working Atlanta’s rough Decatur Street district until his re-discovery in 1963. He recorded some late tracks for Testament Records before dying in 1966. ~ Steve Leggett, Rovi