Mississippi Masters: Early American Blues Classics 1927-1935

1	Dough Roller Blues / Garfield Akers 3:11
2	Kansas City Blues / William Harris 3:04
3	Little Girl In Rome / Otto Virgial 2:38
4	Tallahatchie River Blues / Mattie Delaney 2:48
5	Last Kind Words / Geeshie Wiley 3:02
6	Fare Thee Well Blues / Joe Calicott 3:11
7	Bullfrog Blues / William Harris 3:10
8	The Moanin' Blues / John D. Fox 3:01
9	Pick Poor Robin Clean / Geeshie Wiley, Elvie Thomas 3:13
10	Outside Woman Blues / Blind Willie Reynolds 2:57
11	Gond Dead Train / King Solomon Hill 3:20
12	Cottonfield Blues, Pt. 1 / Garfield Akers 2:55
13	Cottonfield Blues, Pt. 2 / Garfield Akers 3:19
14	Hot Time Blues / William Harris 2:56
15	Skinny Legs Blues / Geeshie Wiley 3:13
16	Third Street Woman Blues / Blind Willie Reynolds 2:42
17	Worried Man Blues / John D. Fox 2:56
18	Down The Big Road Blues / Mattie Delaney 3:12
19	Whoopee Blues / King Solomon Hill 3:11
20	Motherless Child Blues / Elvie Thomas 3:21

All Music Guide

This is a well-organized, smartly chosen 20-track compilation of some of the lesser-known early Mississippi blues artists. Garfield Akers is about the most famous, which tells you right there how obscure most of these names -- King Solomon Hill, Otto Virgial, Mattie Delaney, Joe Calicott, Blind Joe Reynolds, John D. Fox and others -- are to the general listening public. It's quality material, however, and not in a drastically different league than the most renowned classics by singers like Tommy Johnson and Son House. The guitar playing and singing are emotional and inventive throughout, but standouts include Mattie Delaney, Elvie Thomas and Geeshie Wiley, some of the relatively few guitar-playing Delta blueswomen who recorded; Wiley's minor-key, doomy "Last Kind Words" is particularly affecting. Richie Unterberger