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Various Artists - Twenty First St. Stomp (yazoo 2061)

Track listing:
  1. Track 01 2:57
  2. Track 02 3:00
  3. Track 03 2:58
  4. Track 04 3:13
  5. Track 05 2:54
  6. Track 06 2:36
  7. Track 07 2:57
  8. Track 08 3:25
  9. Track 09 2:49
  10. Track 10 3:23
  11. Track 11 2:48
  12. Track 12 3:05
  13. Track 13 2:43
  14. Track 14 2:59
  15. Track 15 2:47
  16. Track 16 2:59
  17. Track 17 3:14
  18. Track 18 3:16
  19. Track 19 2:46
  20. Track 20 2:58
  21. Track 21 3:03
  22. Track 22 3:17
  23. Track 23 3:11

Notes

The St. Louis blues scene has always been recognized, although it has never been a genre focal point the way that New Orleans or Chicago has been. Still, many pioneers of the blues have come from St. Louis, and many of them are featured on Twenty First St. Stomp. The compilation celebrates this area's rich blues history, featuring Henry Brown, "Stump" Johnson, and Walter Davis, among others. These songs are wonderful examples of the scene, from the delicate sorrow of Mary Johnson's "Black Men Blues" to the proto-R&B of "Stump" Johnson's "Bound to Be a Monkey." Like most classic blues compilations, the sound quality is pretty wretched, but that is almost to be expected from recordings this old. Blues fans who have never experienced this area's genre contributions should give this a listen -- this makes for an excellent primer on the St. Louis scene.