Genre |
Blues |
Artist |
The Mississippi Sheiks |
180 Gram Vinyl! Remastered by Document's Very Own Gary Atkinson! Brand New Artwork by Grammy-Award-Winning Designer Rob Jones!
The Mississippi Sheiks consisted mainly of the Chatmon family, who came from Bolton, Mississippi and were well known throughout the Mississippi Delta. The father of the family, Henderson Chatmon, had been a "musicianer" (someone with good technical ability on his or her instrument adept at sight-reading written music) during slavery times, and his children carried on the musical spirit. Their most famous (although by no means permanent) member was Armenter Chatmon - better known as Bo Carter - who managed a successful solo career as well as playing with the Sheiks, which may have contributed to their success.
When the band first recorded in 1930, the line-up consisted of Carter with Lonnie and Sam Chatmon, and Walter Vinson. Charlie McCoy (not to be confused with Charlie McCoy, a later American musician) played later, when Bo Carter and Sam Chatmon ceased playing full time. It was Lonnie Chatmon and Vinson who formed the real center of the group.
Bo Carter's solo work is notable for being sexually suggestive in songs and this is carried on to an extent with the group. They primarily earned their income like Robert Johnson and Skip James. They toured throughout the Southern United States, but also reached as far north as Chicago and New York.
Their first and biggest success was "Sitting on Top of the World" (1930), later to be recorded by Bob Wills (numerous times), Howlin' Wolf, Nat King Cole, Bill Monroe, Harry Belafonte, Frank Sinatra, Bob Dylan, Cream, Grateful Dead, Jeff Healey, John Lee Hooker, Bill Frisell and Jack White, and re-done by Robert Johnson, as "Come On in My Kitchen". The song was also the theme to the film A Face in the Crowd (1957) produced by Elia Kazan and starring Andy Griffith. Throughout their five active years, the Mississippi Sheiks recorded over seventy songs for the Okeh, Paramount and Bluebird labels.
The Mississippi Sheiks' Volume 2 from Third Man's highly-anticipated Document Records reissue series on black 180-gram vinyl, remastered by Document's very own Gary Atkinson and features brand new artwork by Grammy-award-winning designer Rob Jones.
Features:
180 Gram Vinyl
Remastered by Document's very own Gary Atkinson
Brand New Artwork by Grammy-Award-Winning Designer Rob Jones
Selections:
Side A:
1. Jail Bird Love Song
2. Yodeling Fiddling Blues
3. Baby Keeps Stealin' Lovin' On Me
4. River Bottom Blues
5. Bootleggers' Blues
6. Loose Like That
7. Sitting On Top Of The World No. 2
8. Your Good Man Caught The Train And Gone
9. Times Done Got Hard
Side B:
1. Unhappy Blues
2. Still I'm Travelling On
3. Honey Babe Let the Deal Go Down
4. She Ain't No Good
5. Ramrod Blues
6. Stop And Listen Blues No. 2
7. Church Bell Blues
8. Please Don't Wake It Up
9. Please Baby