Each year
Blues Images
puts out a calendar of period record sleeves and art from 1920s blues 78s and adds in a disc of vintage blues 78s from the same time period as part of the package, and the results are always wonderful and revealing, a way to piece together a vital part of modern American music just as the recording industry was beginning to shape into the entertainment juggernaut it would become in ensuing decades. This time around, the CD features classic tracks like the two-sided
"High Water Everywhere"
by
Charley Patton
,
Blind Lemon Jefferson
's
"Match Box Blues,"
Skip James
'
"Hard Luck Child,"
and
Robert Wilkins
"That's No Way to Get Along,"
among others. It's a fun mix, and the title seems eerily contemporary -- ah, but when doesn't the world seem like it's in a hell of a fix? ~ Steve Leggett