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Masters Of The Country Blues - Elizabeth Cotten & Jesse Fuller (2002)

Posted By: robi62

Date: 5 Aug 2013 07:20:41

This disc offers a handful of performances from musical legends Elizabeth Cotton and Jesse Fuller. The disc offers a standard full-frame transfer. The English soundtrack is rendered in Dolby Digital Mono. There are neither subtitles nor closed captions on this release. Although there are no supplemental materials of any consequence on this Shanachie title, enthusiasts of the music will surely find it to be a valuable addition to a DVD collection. Songs performed on the disc include "Freight Train," "Washington Blues," "Take This Hammer," and "Running Wild."

Elizabeth Cotten - was among the most influential guitarists to surface during the roots music revival era, her wonderfully expressive and dexterous fingerpicking style a major inspiration to the generations of players who followed in her wake. Cotten was born in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, in the early weeks of 1895. After first picking up the banjo at the age of eight, she soon moved on to her brother's guitar, laying it flat on her lap and over time developing her picking pattern and eventually her chording. By the age of 12 she was working as a domestic, and three years later gave birth to her first child. Upon joining the church, she gave up the guitar, playing it only on the rarest of occasions over the course of the next quarter-century. By the early '40s, Cotten had relocated to Washington, D.C., where she eventually began working for the legendary Charles Seeger family and caring for children Pete, Peggy, and Mike.
When the Seegers learned of Cotten's guitar skills a decade later, they recorded her for Folkways, and in 1957 she issued her debut LP, Folksongs and Instrumentals. The track "Freight Train," written when she was 12, became a Top Five hit in the U.K., and its success ensured her a handful of concert performances. The great interest in her music spurred her to write new material, which appeared on her second album, Shake Sugaree. As Cotten became increasingly comfortable performing live, her presentation evolved, and in addition to playing guitar she told stories about her life and even led her audiences in singing her songs; over the years, she recalled more and more tunes from her childhood, and in the course of tours also learned new material. Cotten did not retire from domestic work until 1970, and did not tour actively until the end of the decade. The winner of a National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship Award as well as a Grammy – both earned during the final years of her life – she died on June 29, 1987.

Jesse Fuller - Equipped with a band full of instruments operated by various parts of his anatomy, Bay Area legend Jesse Fuller was a folk music favorite in the '50s and '60s. His infectious rhythm and gentle charm graced old folk tunes, spirituals, and blues alike. One of his inventions was a homemade foot-operated instrument called the "footdella" or "fotdella." Naturally, Fuller never needed other accompanists to back his one-man show. His best-known songs include "San Francisco Bay Blues" and "Beat It on Down the Line" (the first one covered by Janis Joplin, the second by The Grateful Dead).
Born and raised in Georgia, Jesse Fuller began playing guitar when he was a child, although he didn't pursue the instrument seriously. In his early twenties, Fuller wandered around the southern and western regions of the United States, eventually settling down in Los Angeles. While he was in Southern California he worked as a film extra, appearing in The Thief of Bagdad, East of Suez, Hearts in Dixie, and End of the World. After spending a few years in Los Angeles, Fuller moved to San Francisco. While he worked various odd jobs around the Bay Area, he played on street corners and parties.
Fuller's musical career didn't properly begin until the early '50s, when he decided to become a professional musician – he was 55 years old at the time. Performing as a one-man band, he began to get spots on local television shows and nightclubs. However, Fuller's career didn't take off until 1954, when he wrote "San Francisco Bay Blues." The song helped him land a record contract with the independent Cavalier label, and in 1955 he recorded his first album, Folk Blues: Working on the Railroad with Jesse Fuller. The album was a success and soon he was making records for a variety of labels, including Good Time Jazz and Prestige.
In the late '50s and early '60s Jesse Fuller became one of the key figures of the blues revival, helping bring the music to a new, younger audience. Throughout the '60s and '70s he toured America and Europe, appearing at numerous blues and folk festivals, as well as countless coffeehouse gigs across the U.S. Fuller continued performing and recording until his death in 1976.

Tracklist:
- Elizabeth Cotten
01. Freight Train [2:04]
02. Sweet Bye and Bye [1:35]
03. Vastopol [2:00]
04. George Buck [1:13]
05. Washington Blues [3:53]
06. I'm Going Away [4:47]
- Jesse Fuller
07. John Henry [4:40]
08. Red River Blues [4:33]
09. San Francisco Bay Blues [3:58]
10. Take This Hammer [4:45]
11. Linin' Track [1:40]
12. Running Wild [3:02]
13. High Sheriff [3:39]

Features:
- Direct Scene Access
- Interactive Menu