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Sonny Boy Williamson & Big Joe Williams - Throw a Boogie Woogie (1941)

Track listing:
  1. Good Morning Little School Girl Sonny Boy Williamson 3:03
  2. Sugar Mama Blues Sonny Boy Williamson 3:02
  3. Got the bottle up and gone Sonny Boy Williamson 2:37
  4. early in the morning Sonny Boy Williamson 2:52
  5. black gal blues Sonny Boy Williamson 2:53
  6. moonshine Sonny Boy Williamson 3:05
  7. whiskey headed blues Sonny Boy Williamson 3:00
  8. you give an account Big Joe Williams 3:16
  9. rootin' ground hog Big Joe Williams 3:01
  10. brother james Big Joe Williams 2:56
  11. peach orchard mama Big Joe Williams 2:45
  12. crawlin' king snake Big Joe Williams 2:53
  13. highway 49 Big Joe Williams 3:16
  14. please don't go Big Joe Williams 2:51
  15. north wind blues Big Joe Williams 2:57
  16. throw a boogie woogie Big Joe Williams 2:43

Notes

This is one of the great team-ups of artists from the country blues fields. Not only do these two performers work well together, they both play blues with such great intensity that fans of the genre will be drawn to their efforts like the proverbial flies on manure. These recordings are fantastic examples of country blues becoming urbanized with use of drums and bass backup, although it must be said that primitive recording sometimes relegates these instruments to a distant background thumping. The reality is that Sonny Boy and Big Joe hardly need a rhythm section at all, so mightily do they put forth their grooves. It is a sign of a great blues album when a done-to-death standard comes across as if one had never heard it before, and such is the case with the delightful, slightly laid-back version of "Baby, Please Don't Go." Harmonica fans should note this is the first of the Sonny Boys, i.e. John Lee Williamson. There is some confusion over when the initial vinyl release of this came out, but it is later than some of the Arhoolie Big Joe albums, because by now the cost of sending for a catalog had climbed from a nickel to a quarter.

Eight indispensable Bluebird sides dating from 1937-38 — right at the very beginning of his reign as king of blues harpists — that display precisely why Williamson was such a revered innovator (and continues to be even now). Highlights include his classic "Good Morning School Girl" and "Sugar Mama Blues." He shares the disc with itinerant rambler Big Joe Williams, whose eight 1937-41 selections include six featuring Sonny Boy playing harp behind the nine-string guitarist.