The use of slide guitar techniques within blues music is usually taken as a given, although the genesis of the form is not the easiest to trace. It is widely agreed that the roots of slide guitar playing lie in Africa. There was also another probable route via the Hawaiian Islands, they developed their ‘slack key’ playing style and began to add the use of metal held along the fretboard. However the story is complicated by the famed composer W.C. Handy who reported witnessing a blues player at a train station using a knife blade along the strings as early as 1903. It’s quite likely that all these scenarios fed into the mix, and by the later 1920s blues players were often using the style. Our collection covers a wide period of time from the late 1920s onwards, and features many well known names and highly influential songs.

DISC 1

1. Dust My Broom - Elmore James
2. Rollin’ & Tumblin’ - Muddy Waters
3. Crossroads Blues - Robert Johnson
4. Homesick - Homesick James
5. The Red Rooster - Howlin’ Wolf
6. Evil Woman - Black Ace
7. Pearlee Blues - Furry Lewis
8. My Baby’s Coming Home - Hound Dog Taylor
9. When You Get Home, Write Me A Few Little
Lines - Mississippi Fred McDowell
10. Green And Lucky Blues - Tampa Red
11. Down On My Knees - Eddie ‘Blues Man’ Kirkland
12. Little Boy Blue - Robert Lockwood Jr.
13. All Your Love (I Miss Loving) - Otis Rush
14. You Shook Me - Muddy Waters
15. I Know His Blood Can Make Me Whole - Blind Willie Johnson
16. Standing At The Crossroads - Elmore James
17. Muscat Hill Blues - Buddy Woods
18. Kansas City March Wild - Jimmy Spurill
19. Three Women Blues - Blind Willie McTell
20. All In My Dreams - Boyd Gilmore

DISC 2

1. Worried About My Baby - Howlin’ Wolf
2. The Sun Is Shining - Elmore James
3. Take Five - Hound Dog Taylor
4. I Can’t Be Satisfied - Muddy Waters
5. Don’t Take My Heart - Eddie ‘Blues Man’ Kirkland
6. My Baby, Oooo - One String Sam
7. Roll Your Money Maker - Shakey Jake (with Willie Dixon)
8. Travelling Riverside Blues - Robert Johnson
9. Set A Date - Homesick James
10. I Am The Black Ace - Black Ace
11. Guitar Rag - Sylvester Weaver
12. Always Be In Love - Hop Wilson
13. Sad, Sad Lonesome Day - Sam Myers
14. Mamma, Tain’t Long Fo’ Day - Blind Willie McTell
15. DeKalb Chain Gang - Fred McMullen
16. Po’ Boy Blues - John Dudley
17. Drink On Little Girl - Black Ace
18. Believe I’ll Make A Change - Casey Bill Weldon
19. Fixin’ To Die Blues - Bukka White
20. Space Guitar - Young John Watson