His Greatest Recordings- Original Classic Series

On the Jimmy Reed Highway "Big boss man is still the man today," growls Omar Dykes on one of just two non-Jimmy Reed covers from a rare release without his Howlers band. That handily sums up this roaring and impassioned tribute to one of the most vital, influential, yet often unheralded figures in blues. ...	His Best :(Little Walter)The Chess 50th Anniversary Collection Marion "Little Walter" Jacobs is perhaps the most influential harmonica player on contemporary blues, and his collection is a great place to start. He was trained by Muddy Waters, but brought a more swinging feel to blues. Muddy and his band accompany Little Walter on many hits, ...	Blues Masters: The Very Best of Jimmy Reed With his meteoric run of hits from early 1955 through late 1961, Chicago's Jimmy Reed reigned as the most popular bluesman of his day, rivaled only by fellow Mississippi transplant B.B. King. By the mid-'60s Reed was playing New York's Carnegie Hall and the Apollo Theater and tou...	His Best This is Sonny Boy Williamson II, whose 1940s Mississippi Delta radio broadcasts for King Biscuit Time made him one of the most influential of all blues musicians. A master harmonica player, he created relaxed songs, often humorous, that reminded urban listeners of their country r...	Hoodoo Man Blues This 1965 album is where vocalist and harmonica player Junior Wells comes into his own. An early collaboration with Buddy Guy, the two of them sum up the 1960s funk-rock-blues that lay ahead. Hoodoo Man Blues inspired Paul Butterfield, Eric Clapton, and a host of other musician-f...
The Sky Is Crying: The History of Elmore James Other post-WWII Chicago bluesmen are better known, but the work of Elmore James holds up as well as any of theirs. If he never had the technical accomplishment of, say, Earl Hooker, he did have as much depth of emotional expression as Muddy Waters; just listen to the sweetness of...	Blues Masters: The Very Best of Lightnin' Hopkins Another day, another Lightnin' Hopkins collection. It's only to be expected for a musician whose career lasted six decades, and whose recorded output was so profuse (often for several labels simultaneously) that the neophyte is hard pressed to determine which of the many albums, ...	Skin Deep Skin Deep is the 2008 release by Buddy Guy. The album features The Memphis Horns, Willie Mitchell,Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi, Eric Clapton, Robert Randolph and Quinn Sullivan.	The Best of Slim Harpo Slim Harpo recorded really good rhythm and blues. He never got too fancy; he never forgot the importance of the groove. He died young in 1970, but his music reached the Rolling Stones (who covered his "I'm a King Bee"), the Kinks (who sang his "I Got Love If You Want It"), Van Mo...	The Definitive Collection

All Wheat, No Chaff
For those embracing moderation as the wave of the future: if you are only getting one Jimmy Reed disc, this is the one! It doesn't include every cool song, but for many it will suffice. Reed's harmonic and rhythmic monotonies reflect the limitations of the folklore tradition that spawned his urban blues, but within the groove he plowed he was a master who sowed rock 'n' roll seeds worldwide.