I Can't Be Satisfied: Early American Women Blues Singers, Vol. 2: Town

by I CAN'T BE SATISFIED 2 / VARIOU

Overview

Although this second volume of I Can't Be Satisfied features a more uptown approach to the blues than the first volume, which centered on the rural aspects, this selection of American women blues singers from the 1920s is only a small degree removed from those roots, and the presence of small jazz combos and striking horn leads on these sides augments that Deep South country blues pedigree way more than it transforms it into the halls of urbane sophistication. These tracks are still undeniably the blues, and the jazz trappings can't disguise that fact. After all, having the blues in town isn't any different than having them in the country, and if there is a difference between the rural and the urban approaches, it may be that the sensuality on display here is even more pronounced and boldly delivered. Some of these sides literally purr (and some downright roar) as such fine singers as Sippie Wallace ("Section Hand Blues"), Clara Smith ("Strugglin' Woman's Blues"), Madlyn Davis ("Winter Blues"), and the unstoppable Ma Rainey (a chugging jug band version of "Traveling Blues") instill sometimes cliched floating blues lyrics with passion and verve, bringing them to life with an often amazing vibrancy, reminding listeners that the blues aren't really about being down and out, but instead are about surviving on one's own terms. ~ Steve Leggett

Product Details

Release Date:	05/20/1997
Label:	YAZOO
UPC:	0016351202727

Tracks

1. Dirty T.B. Blues  - Victoria Spivey
2. Strugglin' Woman's Blues  - Clara Smith
3. Everybody Does It Now  - Martha Copeland
4. Pay Roll Blues  - Lucille Bogan
5. Forget Me Not Blues  - Robert Cooksey  - Bobby Leecan  - Sara Martin
6. Section Hand Blues  - Sippie Wallace
7. Good Chib Blues  - Edith North Johnson
8. Traveling Blues  - Johnny Parth  - Ma Rainey
9. Do Dirty Blues  - Bertha "Chippie" Hill
10. I Helped You, Sick Man, When You Were Down and Out  - Katherine Baker
11. He's Never Gonna Throw Me Down  - Sara Martin
12. Blood Hound Blues  - Victoria Spivey
13. Dead Drunk Blues  - Robert Cooksey  - Margaret Johnson  - Bobby Leecan  - George W. Thomas
14. Parlor Social De Luxe  - Duke Ellington  - Irving Mills  - Jackie Trent  - Sippie Wallace
15. Bye Bye Baby  - Hattie Burleson
16. Winter Blues  - Madlyn Davis
17. My Own Man Blues  - Ivy Smith
18. Jim Nappy  - Hattie Burleson
19. How Long  - James Brown  - Hay Browne  - Beresford Romeo
20. Trouble in Mind  - Bertha "Chippie" Hill  - Richard M. Jones
21. Walking Blues  - Ma Rainey
22. Mistreatin' Man Blues  - Sara Martin
23. Trouble Everywhere I Roam  - Hociel Thomas  - Sippie Wallace

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Victoria Spivey   Primary Artist
Martha Copeland   Primary Artist
Edith North Johnson   Primary Artist
Ivy Smith   Primary Artist
Ma Rainey   Primary Artist
Katherine Baker   Primary Artist
Hattie Burleson   Primary Artist
Lucille Bogan   Primary Artist
Bertha "Chippie" Hill   Primary Artist
Sarah Martin   Primary Artist
Sippie Wallace   Primary Artist
James Brown   Primary Artist
Sara Martin   Primary Artist
Clara Smith   Primary Artist
Madlyn Davis   Primary Artist
Margaret Johnson   Primary Artist

Technical Credits

Ma Rainey   Composer,Performer
Victoria Spivey   Composer,Performer
Madlyn Davis   Performer
George W. Thomas   Composer
Hociel Thomas   Composer
Bobby Leecan   Composer
Johnny Parth   Composer
Robert Cooksey   Composer
Lucille Bogan   Performer
Richard Nevins   Producer,Remastering
Joan Pelosi   Art Direction
Edith North Johnson   Performer
Hay Browne   Composer
Beresford Romeo   Composer
Don Kent   Liner Notes,Producer
Jackie Trent   Composer
Duke Ellington   Composer
Clara Smith   Performer,Composer
Ivy Smith   Performer
Irving Mills   Composer
Bertha "Chippie" Hill   Performer
Sippie Wallace   Performer,Composer
Margaret Johnson   Performer
Hattie Burleson   Performer,Composer
Martha Copeland   Performer
Richard M. Jones   Composer
Sara Martin   Performer