Often ranked with such
blues
greats as
Robert Johnson
,
Son House
, and
Elmore James
Big Bill Broonzy
was for many years the last surviving practitioner of the "
Delta
" style of
. This record, cut for
Smithsonian Folkways
in 1956, captures
Broonzy
late in his career but still during the peak of his power. Indeed, a more magisterial performance could not be imagined. While born and raised on the Mississippi,
takes this opportunity to demonstrate the range of musical influences he's successfully mastered over the course of his career. Proving to be equally at home in both
country-folk
and straight
idioms,
offers sparkling renditions of both
"Alberta"
and
"John Henry,"
where
sings an interesting set of uncommon lyrics, bending the melody with an inspired
shift. On
"This Train,"
works the call and response with a
gospel
choir and scathingly delivers the line, "This train carries both white and black now." Perhaps simply to prove a point, he closes with the slightly more contemporary
standard
"Glory of Love,"
sweetly inflecting the chorus with a tender bit of
jazz
lyricism. While this is not considered "the"
album to own, it is, nonetheless, a very good one, and has the obvious advantage of being kept continuously in print by
. ~ Brian Whitener