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

Track listing:
  1. Kind Babe Blues Stump Johnson 2:57
  2. Henry Brown Blues Henry Brown 3:00
  3. Black Men Blues Mary Johnson 2:59
  4. 44 Sparks Brothers- 4-11 3:13
  5. Good Jelly Blues Eddie Miller 2:54
  6. Ice And Snow Blues Peetie Wheatstraw 2:37
  7. Harvest Moon Blues Charles -Speck- Pertum 2:57
  8. Low Down Rounders Blues Charles Mcfadden 3:25
  9. Drinkin' Woman Blues Roosevelt Sykes 2:49
  10. West Coast Blues Walter Davis 3:23
  11. Don't Give My Lard Away Stump Johnson 2:48
  12. Bound To Be A Monkey Stump Johnson 3:05
  13. Twenty First St. Stomp Henry Brown 2:44
  14. Whoopee Eddie Miller 2:59
  15. East Chicago Blues Sparks Brothers 2:48
  16. Neck Bones Blues James Gordon 2:59
  17. Steady Grinding Blues Dorothy Parker 3:14
  18. Fat Greasy Baby Robert Peeples 3:17
  19. No Good Town Blues Mary Johnson 2:46
  20. Death Cell Blues Mary Johnson 2:58
  21. So Called Friend Blues Tecumseh Mcdowell 3:04
  22. Grinder Man Blues Milton Sparks 3:17
  23. 61 Highway Sparks Brothers 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.