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Trouble in Mind | 
| Artist: Big' Bill Broonzy
Label: Smithsonian Folkways
Category: Music
List Price: £14.99
Buy New: £8.69
as of 9/9/2010 18:04 BST details
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Seller: all your music
Rating:  1 reviews
Sales Rank: 79608
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.5 x 5 x 0.3
UPC: 093074013120
EAN: 0093074013120
ASIN: B000047872
Release Date: October 21, 2009
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Hey Hey Baby | | • | Frankie And Johnny | | • | Trouble In Mind | | • | Joe Turner No. 2 | | • | Mule Ridin' Blues | | • | When Will I Get To Be Called A Man | | • | Poor Bill Blues | | • | Key To The Highway | | • | Plough-Hand Blues | | • | Digging My Potatoes | | • | When Things Go Wrong (It Hurts Me Too) | | • | C.C. Rider | | • | Saturday Evening Blues | | • | Shuffle Rag | | • | Southbound Train | | • | Hush Somebody's Calling | | • | Louise | | • | Black Brownnd White | | • | Black Brownnd White Blues (sung) | | • | Willie Mae Blues | | • | This Train | | • | This Train (Bound For Glory) | | • | In The Evening | | • | In The Evening When The Sun Goes Down |
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| Customer Reviews:
A fantastic, relaxed acoustic blues album that will actually lighten any trouble in mind! March 22, 2010
jayhikkss
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
A while ago, I reviewed "I Feel So Good", a varied and concise overview of Big Bill Broonzy's pre-war, urban recordings from this preeminent Chicago urban blues singers/guitarists.
In 1938, Broonzy appeared in the concert named "From Spirituals to Swing" at Carnegie Hall in New York City. The show was conceived by John Hammond, Senior to showcase African-American music from its raw beginnings to the most current jazz. Broonzy appeared as an Arkansas rural singer and this seemed to make him popular before an urban audience. Afterwards, he had the opportunity to perform "folk music" at hootenannies (as Josh White, Leadbelly, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee also did).
By the end of the forties, Broonzy's brand of urban blues had become passé and he almost quit music for good. Luckily, Broonzy was invited to tour abroad by people like Belgian Yannick Bruynhoge, Frenchman Hugues Panassié and others.
In 1951, Broonzy began performing and recording in Europe. Broonzy grabbed this sudden opportunity to restart his career. He returned to his acoustic guitar and began to perform some classics, some spirituals as well as older, southern songs. This was mostly material that he did not feature in his pre-war repertoire.
With hindsight, Big Bill Broonzy appears as one of the very first stars of the "blues revival" before the expression was coined. He also greatly influenced the nascent "British" blues scene.
Being a sophisticated figure as well as a polished raconteur, he was soon acknowledged as the "ambassador of the blues" in the UK and on the continent.
On this collection, Broonzy sings and accompanies himself on acoustic guitar. The CD includes 24 carefully selected tracks (recorded in 1956 and 1957) making this CD a post-1950 "Best of Big Bill Broonzy". Playing time is generous at 73:55. A nicely made 34-page booklet is included in the Digipak.
Although he would die from cancer in 1958, Broonzy remained, by the time of these recordings, firmly at the top of his game. His fine, warm singing voice and his clean fingerpicking dexterity were in peak form. Broonzy's pours his soul into his renewed style which was not only a commercial success but an artistic one as well.
The album features quite a few excellent adaptations of classic blues material. The beautiful "Trouble in Mind" was written by pianist Richard Marigny Jones. "Poor Bill Blues" is, actually, Broonzy's adaptation of the immortal "Worried Life Blues" which was penned by Chicago blues pianist Big Maceo Merriweather (a former Broonzy associate). "Key to the Highway" was co-composed with pianist Charles Segar. "When Things Go Wrong With You (It Hurts Me Too)" was one of Chicago slide guitarist Tampa Red's best ever compositions (although now better known through Elmore James loud electric version). C. C. Rider was first recorded by Ma Rainey in 1924. "In the Evening" was composed and recorded by Chicago pianist Leroy Carr and guitarist Scrapper Blackwell in 1935 under the title "When the Sun Goes Down".
Traditional material is also featured. "Frankie and Johnny" is a classic from Southern folklore. "Joe Turner's No 2" harks back to the 19th century. "Mule Riding Blues" was a song that Broonzy heard during his youth in the South. "Hush, Somebody's Calling Me" is a spiritual also learned at about the same time. "Louise" is a widely known traditional blues tune (despite the sleeve credit). "This Train (Bound for Glory)" is another spiritual that was very popular for Broonzy. This is a live version recorded with Pete Seeger sitting in on banjo. The tune was well known in folk music circles by Woody Guthrie's earlier recorded version.
Some of the tunes were actually written by Broonzy. "Hey, Hey Baby" is one such song that enjoyed much success in Europe. "When Will I Get To Be Called a Man" is described as a 1928 Broonzy composition. I doubt, however, that such a topical song, concerned with the low regard afforded to black people, would have been waxed so early. It is however quite understandable that he would perform it often in Europe. "Plough-Hand Blues" was previously recorded by Broonzy for Vocalion in 1940. The words, describing the life he led on the farm during his teens, are not typical of his other songs of the pre-war era. Then again, Broonzy may have been influenced by his reception at the aforementioned "From Spirituals to Swing" concert. "Diggin' My Potatoes" was a popular double-entendre blues that Broonzy recorded with Washboard Sam in 1939. "Saturday Evening Blues" was first recorded by Broonzy with Memphis Slim in 1947. "Shuffle Rag" is an instrumental that really recalls the tunes that Broonzy was recording well before the war. His guitar playing really shines here. "Southbound Train" is also credited to Broonzy although it recalls several other "train songs". "Black, Brown and White" deserves a special mention. Broonzy did send acetate of this song to Pete Seeger around 1946. Due to the topical and controversial nature of the lyrics, Broonzy felt that he could not record it and that Seeger maybe could. Panassié recorded the song in 1951 for the first time. Great words set to a nice melody. "Willie Mae Blues" is about a girl that Broonzy met while he was a teenager.
As an added bonus, the music has been lovingly recorded and the CD sound is superb.
If you like mellow, traditional acoustic blues sung by a real master, this is a record that you could easily love as the selection includes a majority of tunes that are not only superbly performed but that also have some appeal as far as melody is concerned.
P.S. I see that this album is also "tagged" as "Delta Blues". Do not believe this! Someone must have called the "Under Assistant West Coast Promotion Man". !:-)
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