Live at Antone's
Artist: James Cotton Blues Band

Reuniting Cotton with his former guitarists Matt Murphy and Luther Tucker, pianist Pinetop Perkins, and Muddy Waters' ex-rhythm section (bassist Calvin Jones and drummer Willie Smith) looks like a great idea on paper, and it worked equally well in the flesh, when this set was cut live at Antone's Night Club in Austin, TX. ~ Bill Dahl, All Music... Read More

Harp Attack!
Artist: James Cotton

Four Chicago harmonica greats, one eminently solid album. Teamed with Junior Wells, Billy Branch, and Carey Bell, Cotton sings Willie Love's Delta classic "Little Car Blues" and Charles Brown's "Black Night" and plays along with his cohorts on most of the rest of the set. ~ Bill Dahl, All Music Guide Read More

Pleading the Blues
Artist: Buddy Guy

Recorded on Halloween night in 1979, this pairs up Wells and Guy in a fashion that hasn't been heard since Hoodoo Man Blues, their first, and best collaboration. Solid backing by The Philip Guy band (Buddy's brother) makes this album a rare treat. ~ Cub Koda, All Music Guide Read More

The Earthshaker
Artist: Koko Taylor
Community Score: 10.00

Koko Taylor's Alligator encore harbored a number of tunes that still pepper her set list to this day -- the grinding "I'm a Woman" and the party-down specials "Let the Good Times Roll" and "Hey Bartender." Her uncompromising slow blues "Please Don't Dog Me" and a sassy remake of Irma Thomas's "You Can Have My Husband" also stand out, as does the... Read More

Love Me Papa
Artist: Luther Allison

Luther Allison is the blues' proverbial little boy with the curl; when he's good, he's great. When he's bad, he's awful. Allison was on throughout most of the nine tracks (three bonus cuts) on this 1977 date recently reissued by Evidence on CD, playing with the ferocity, direction, and inventiveness that is often missing from his more uneven... Read More

Blues Hit Big Town
Artist: Junior Wells
Community Score: 10.00

This 1998 CD reissue of Wells' debut recordings for the States label adds four previously unheard tracks along with the original 13-track vinyl lineup. Wells' legacy begins with these landmark sides, featuring Elmore James, Muddy Waters, Johnnie Jones, Otis Spann, Willie Dixon, and the Aces in the lineup at various points. Whether it's a slow... Read More

Queen of the Blues
Artist: Koko Taylor

Co-producer Bruce Iglauer anticipated a future trend by making this a set filled with cameos -- but the presence of Lonnie Brooks, James Cotton, Albert Collins, and Son Seals is entirely warranted and the contributions of each work quite well in the context of the whole. Taylor's gritty "I Cried like a Baby" and a snazzy remake of Ann Peebles's... Read More

Best of the Vanguard Years
Artist: Junior Wells

Best of the Vanguard Years collects Junior Wells' material from the Chicago! The Blues! Today! various-artists series, live and studio tracks from the albums It's My Life, Baby! and Comin' at You, and a smattering of rare and/or unreleased cuts. As a Wells retrospective, it's irredeemably incomplete, covering as it does his output for only one... Read More