Blind Boy Fuller - Remastered 1935-1938 (2004)

Following Blind Blake, Blind Boy Fuller is probably the best known of the so-called Piedmont blues guitarists, a loose group of players from the Appalachian foothills of North Carolina, South Carolina, and upper Georgia who specialized in a flashy two- and three-finger picking style. Fuller was hardly in Blake's league, but his simple, crisp playing and easy singing style made him immensely popular, and he sold thousands of records for ARC (and a handful for Decca) until his death in 1941. This four-disc set from Britain's JSP Records collects everything Fuller did, 100 tracks in all, recorded in just a three-year span between 1935 and 1938, and features Fuller solo and with accompanists like guitarists Gary Davis (Fuller's guitar teacher, who may have been the greatest Piedmont picker of them all, but he steadfastly refused to do secular material) and Floyd Council, washboardist Bull City Red, and harmonica players Sonny Terry and Charlie Austin. Fuller worked off of a couple of well-used templates, generally fairly generic tunes with floating blues verses like "Tom Cat Blues," "Bulldog Blues," and "Weeping Willow," along with good-time rag pieces like "Rag, Mama, Rag" and "Piccolo Rag" (piccolo was seaboard slang for a jukebox), and hybrids between the two, like his signature piece, "Truckin' My Blues Away" (which is represented here in three versions, along with several variations on the theme under different titles). Truthfully, this is probably way more Blind Boy Fuller than most people will need, and a single-disc comp will work for most folks, but for serious collectors, having everything in one set may be just the ticket.

Tracklist:

CD 1

1. Baby, I Don't Have To Worry ('cause That Stuff Is Here) (3:06)
2. I'm A Rattlesnakin' Daddy (3:07)
3. I'm Climbin' On Top Of The Hill (3:20)
4. Ain't It A Crying Shame? (3:06)
5. Looking For My Woman (3:10)
6. Rag Mama Rag (Take 1) (3:06)
7. Rag Mama Rag (Take 2) (3:06)
8. Baby You Gotta Change Your Mind (3:15)
9. Evil Hearted Woman (3:06)
10. My Brownskin Sugar Plum (3:01)
11. Somebody's Been Playing With That Thing (3:16)
12. Log Cabin Blues (Take 1) (3:10)
13. Log Cabin Blues (Take 2) (3:19)
14. Homesick And Lonesome Blues (3:08)
15. Walking My Troubles Away (Take 1) (2:56)
16. Walking My Troubles Away (Take 2) (2:56)
17. Black And Tan (3:22)
18. Keep Away From My Woman (Take 1) (2:55)
19. Keep Away From My Woman (Take 2) (3:14)
20. Babe You Got To Do Better (3:01)
21. Big Bed Blues (3:05)
22. Truckin' My Blues Away (3:07)
23. (I Got A Woman, Crazy For Me) She's Funny That Way (3:07)
24. Cat Man Blues (Take 1) (3:06)
25. Cat Man Blues (Take 2) (3:08)

CD 2

1. When Your Gal Packs Up And Leaves (2:55)
2. Mama Let Me Lay It On You (2:57)
3. If You Don't Give Me What I Want (2:56)
4. Boots And Shoes (2:52)
5. Trucking My Blues Away No. 2 - (Take 1) (2:55)
6. Trucking My Blues Away No. 2 - (Take 2) (2:49)
7. Sweet Honey Hole (2:50)
8. Untrue Blues (2:50)
9. Tom Cat Blues (2:39)
10. My Baby Don't Mean Me No Good (2:58)
11. Been Your Dog (2:47)
12. My Best Gal Gonna Leave Me (2:50)
13. Wires All Down (2:50)
14. Let Me Squeeze Your Lemon (3:02)
15. Death Alley (2:43)
16. Mamie - (Take 1) (2:52)
17. Mamie - (Take 2) (2:46)
18. New Oh Red! (2:49)
19. If You See My Pigmeat (3:04)
20. Stingy Mama (2:44)
21. Why Don't My Baby Write To Me? (2:43)
22. Some Day You're Gonna Be Sorry (3:11)
23. You Never Can Tell (2:57)
24. Put You Back In Jail (3:20)
25. Walking And Looking Blues (3:02)

CD 3

1. Bulldog Blues (3:15)
2. Where My Woman Usta Lay (3:06)
3. Working Man Blues (3:21)
4. Weeping Willow (3:12)
5. Corrine What Makes You Treat Me So? (2:59)
6. Stealing Bo-Hog (2:52)
7. Worried And Evil Man Blues (2:54)
8. Bulldog Blues (2:58)
9. Break Of Day Blues (2:47)
10. Oh Zee Zas Rag (2:44)
11. Throw Your Yas Yas Back In Jail (2:52)
12. Snake Woman Blues (2:49)
13. Mojo Hidin' Woman (2:46)
14. Steel Hearted Woman (2:37)
15. Ain't No Gettin' Along (2:52)
16. Careless Love (2:45)
17. New Louise Louise Blues (2:51)
18. Mistreater, You're Going To Be Sorry (2:25)
19. Bye Bye Baby Blues, (2:35)
20. Looking For My Woman No. 2 (2:42)
21. Shaggy Like A Bear (2:36)
22. Ten O'clock Peeper (2:36)
23. Hungry Calf Blues (2:44)
24. Too Many Women Blues (2:46)
25. Oozin' You Off My Mind (2:44)

CD 4

1. Shake That Shimmy (2:48)
2. Heart Ease Blues (2:29)
3. I'm Going To Move (To The Edge Of Town) (2:40)
4. Pistol Slapper Blues (2:43)
5. Mean And No Good Woman (2:33)
6. Georgia Ham Mama (2:48)
7. Piccolo Rag (2:51)
8. Funny Feeling Blues (2:51)
9. Painful Hearted Man (2:49)
10. You've Got To Move It Out (2:51)
11. Mama Let Me Lay It On You, No. 2 (2:59)
12. Meat Shakin' Woman (2:44)
13. I'm A Good Stem Winder (2:42)
14. What's That Smells Like Fish (2:45)
15. She's A Truckin' Little Baby (2:28)
16. Jivin' Woman Blues (2:33)
17. You're Laughing Now (2:43)
18. Stop Jivin' Me Mama (2:38)
19. Long Time Trucker (2:34)
20. Big House Bound (2:42)
21. Flyin' Airplane Blues (2:28)
22. Get Your Yas Yas Out (2:27)
23. Jitterbug Rag (2:33)
24. Screaming And Crying Blues (2:34)
25. Blacksnakin' Jiver (2:34)