Unlimited Streaming
Listen to this album in high quality now on our apps
Start my trial period and start listening to this albumEnjoy this album on Qobuz apps with your subscription
SubscribeEnjoy this album on Qobuz apps with your subscription
Digital Download
Purchase and download this album in a wide variety of formats depending on your needs.
Unless you are a serious blues historian or blues aficionado, this 22-track collection of tracks by Big Joe Williams is all you are ever going to need. All of these tunes were recorded in New York on October 7, 1961, and issued as two separate LPs on Prestige's Bluesville imprint. The first ten tracks here were released as Studio Blues (catalog number 1083) and the rest as Blues for 9 Strings (catalog number 1056). Right, they are presented here in reverse release order, but they were all recorded during the same session. Williams is accompanied throughout by Willie Dixon on bass and Larry Johnson on harmonica. Williams plays his trademark nine-string guitar with its wild tuning on all but three tunes here. All of his well-known numbers are presented, though they are obviously later dates, but they lack no passion or proficiency given that this was the real beginning of the blues revival on this side of the Atlantic. The folk revival had not yet begun to wane, and many young men were heading for the East Coast in station wagons to find the bluesmen they had heard on either Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music or similar recordings. Williams and his friends show incredible stamina in running through these songs, and producer Kenneth S. Goldstein does a great job of presenting them raw and rugged. This is a party record if there ever was one.
© Thom Jurek /TiVo
You are currently listening to samples.
Listen to over 100 million songs with an unlimited streaming plan.
Listen to this playlist and more than 100 million songs with our unlimited streaming plans.
From £10.83/month
Larry Johnson, Harmonica, AssociatedPerformer - Traditional, ComposerLyricist - WILLIE DIXON, AssociatedPerformer, Bass (Vocal) - Big Joe Williams, Arranger, Guitar, Recording Arranger, Vocalist, Work Arranger, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Kenneth S. Goldstein, Producer - Mel Kaiser, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 1964 Fantasy, Inc.
Larry Johnson, Harmonica, AssociatedPerformer - Traditional, ComposerLyricist - WILLIE DIXON, AssociatedPerformer, Bass (Vocal) - Big Joe Williams, Arranger, Guitar, Recording Arranger, Vocalist, Work Arranger, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Kenneth S. Goldstein, Producer - Mel Kaiser, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 1964 Fantasy, Inc.
Larry Johnson, Harmonica, AssociatedPerformer - Traditional, ComposerLyricist - WILLIE DIXON, AssociatedPerformer, Bass (Vocal) - Big Joe Williams, Arranger, Guitar, Recording Arranger, Vocalist, Work Arranger, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Kenneth S. Goldstein, Producer - Mel Kaiser, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 1964 Fantasy, Inc.
Larry Johnson, Harmonica, AssociatedPerformer - Traditional, ComposerLyricist - WILLIE DIXON, AssociatedPerformer, Bass (Vocal) - Big Joe Williams, Arranger, Guitar, Recording Arranger, Vocalist, Work Arranger, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Kenneth S. Goldstein, Producer - Mel Kaiser, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 1964 Fantasy, Inc.
Larry Johnson, Harmonica, AssociatedPerformer - Traditional, ComposerLyricist - WILLIE DIXON, AssociatedPerformer, Bass (Vocal) - Big Joe Williams, Arranger, Guitar, Recording Arranger, Vocalist, Work Arranger, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Kenneth S. Goldstein, Producer - Mel Kaiser, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 1964 Fantasy, Inc.
Larry Johnson, Harmonica, AssociatedPerformer - Traditional, ComposerLyricist - WILLIE DIXON, AssociatedPerformer, Bass (Vocal) - Big Joe Williams, Arranger, Guitar, Recording Arranger, Vocalist, Work Arranger, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Kenneth S. Goldstein, Producer - Mel Kaiser, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 1964 Fantasy, Inc.
Larry Johnson, Harmonica, AssociatedPerformer - Traditional, ComposerLyricist - WILLIE DIXON, AssociatedPerformer, Bass (Vocal) - Big Joe Williams, Arranger, Guitar, Recording Arranger, Vocalist, Work Arranger, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Kenneth S. Goldstein, Producer - Mel Kaiser, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 1964 Fantasy, Inc.
Larry Johnson, Harmonica, AssociatedPerformer - Traditional, ComposerLyricist - WILLIE DIXON, AssociatedPerformer, Bass (Vocal) - Big Joe Williams, Arranger, Guitar, Recording Arranger, Vocalist, Work Arranger, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Kenneth S. Goldstein, Producer - Mel Kaiser, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 1964 Fantasy, Inc.
Larry Johnson, Harmonica, AssociatedPerformer - Traditional, ComposerLyricist - WILLIE DIXON, AssociatedPerformer, Bass (Vocal) - Big Joe Williams, Arranger, Guitar, Recording Arranger, Vocalist, Work Arranger, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Kenneth S. Goldstein, Producer - Mel Kaiser, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 1964 Fantasy, Inc.
Larry Johnson, Harmonica, AssociatedPerformer - Traditional, ComposerLyricist - WILLIE DIXON, AssociatedPerformer, Bass (Vocal) - Big Joe Williams, Arranger, Guitar, Recording Arranger, Vocalist, Work Arranger, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Kenneth S. Goldstein, Producer - Mel Kaiser, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 1964 Fantasy, Inc.
Larry Johnson, Harmonica, AssociatedPerformer - Traditional, ComposerLyricist - WILLIE DIXON, AssociatedPerformer, Bass (Vocal) - Big Joe Williams, Arranger, Guitar, Recording Arranger, Vocalist, Work Arranger, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Kenneth S. Goldstein, Producer - Mel Kaiser, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 1962 Fantasy, Inc.
Larry Johnson, Harmonica, AssociatedPerformer - Traditional, ComposerLyricist - WILLIE DIXON, AssociatedPerformer, Bass (Vocal) - Big Joe Williams, Arranger, Guitar, Recording Arranger, Vocalist, Work Arranger, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Kenneth S. Goldstein, Producer - Mel Kaiser, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 1962 Fantasy, Inc.
Larry Johnson, Harmonica, AssociatedPerformer - Traditional, ComposerLyricist - WILLIE DIXON, AssociatedPerformer, Bass (Vocal) - Big Joe Williams, Arranger, Guitar, Recording Arranger, Vocalist, Work Arranger, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Kenneth S. Goldstein, Producer - Mel Kaiser, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 1962 Fantasy, Inc.
Larry Johnson, Harmonica, AssociatedPerformer - Traditional, ComposerLyricist - WILLIE DIXON, AssociatedPerformer, Bass (Vocal) - Big Joe Williams, Arranger, Guitar, Recording Arranger, Vocalist, Work Arranger, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Kenneth S. Goldstein, Producer - Mel Kaiser, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 1962 Fantasy, Inc.
Larry Johnson, Harmonica, AssociatedPerformer - Traditional, ComposerLyricist - WILLIE DIXON, AssociatedPerformer, Bass (Vocal) - Big Joe Williams, Arranger, Guitar, Recording Arranger, Vocalist, Work Arranger, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Kenneth S. Goldstein, Producer - Mel Kaiser, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 1962 Fantasy, Inc.
Larry Johnson, Harmonica, AssociatedPerformer - Traditional, ComposerLyricist - WILLIE DIXON, AssociatedPerformer, Bass (Vocal) - Big Joe Williams, Arranger, Guitar, Recording Arranger, Vocalist, Work Arranger, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Kenneth S. Goldstein, Producer - Mel Kaiser, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 1962 Fantasy, Inc.
Larry Johnson, Harmonica, AssociatedPerformer - Traditional, ComposerLyricist - WILLIE DIXON, AssociatedPerformer, Bass (Vocal) - Big Joe Williams, Arranger, Guitar, Recording Arranger, Vocalist, Work Arranger, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Kenneth S. Goldstein, Producer - Mel Kaiser, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 1962 Fantasy, Inc.
Larry Johnson, Harmonica, AssociatedPerformer - Traditional, ComposerLyricist - WILLIE DIXON, AssociatedPerformer, Bass (Vocal) - Big Joe Williams, Arranger, Guitar, Recording Arranger, Vocalist, Work Arranger, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Kenneth S. Goldstein, Producer - Mel Kaiser, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 1962 Fantasy, Inc.
Larry Johnson, Harmonica, AssociatedPerformer - Traditional, ComposerLyricist - WILLIE DIXON, AssociatedPerformer, Bass (Vocal) - Big Joe Williams, Arranger, Guitar, Recording Arranger, Vocalist, Work Arranger, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Kenneth S. Goldstein, Producer - Mel Kaiser, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 1962 Fantasy, Inc.
Larry Johnson, Harmonica, AssociatedPerformer - Traditional, ComposerLyricist - WILLIE DIXON, AssociatedPerformer, Bass (Vocal) - Big Joe Williams, Arranger, Guitar, Recording Arranger, Vocalist, Work Arranger, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Kenneth S. Goldstein, Producer - Mel Kaiser, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 1962 Fantasy, Inc.
Larry Johnson, Harmonica, AssociatedPerformer - Traditional, Composer - WILLIE DIXON, AssociatedPerformer, Bass (Vocal) - Big Joe Williams, Arranger, Guitar, Recording Arranger, Vocalist, Work Arranger, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Kenneth S. Goldstein, Producer - Mel Kaiser, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 1962 Fantasy, Inc.
Larry Johnson, Harmonica, AssociatedPerformer - Traditional, ComposerLyricist - WILLIE DIXON, AssociatedPerformer, Bass (Vocal) - Big Joe Williams, Arranger, Guitar, Recording Arranger, Vocalist, Work Arranger, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Kenneth S. Goldstein, Producer - Mel Kaiser, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 1962 Fantasy, Inc.
Album review
Unless you are a serious blues historian or blues aficionado, this 22-track collection of tracks by Big Joe Williams is all you are ever going to need. All of these tunes were recorded in New York on October 7, 1961, and issued as two separate LPs on Prestige's Bluesville imprint. The first ten tracks here were released as Studio Blues (catalog number 1083) and the rest as Blues for 9 Strings (catalog number 1056). Right, they are presented here in reverse release order, but they were all recorded during the same session. Williams is accompanied throughout by Willie Dixon on bass and Larry Johnson on harmonica. Williams plays his trademark nine-string guitar with its wild tuning on all but three tunes here. All of his well-known numbers are presented, though they are obviously later dates, but they lack no passion or proficiency given that this was the real beginning of the blues revival on this side of the Atlantic. The folk revival had not yet begun to wane, and many young men were heading for the East Coast in station wagons to find the bluesmen they had heard on either Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music or similar recordings. Williams and his friends show incredible stamina in running through these songs, and producer Kenneth S. Goldstein does a great job of presenting them raw and rugged. This is a party record if there ever was one.
© Thom Jurek /TiVo
About the album
- 1 disc(s) - 22 track(s)
- Total length: 01:14:09
- Main artists: Big Joe Williams
- Composer: Traditional
- Label: Fantasy Records
- Genre: Blues/Country/Folk Blues
© 1992 Fantasy, Inc. This Compilation ℗ 1981 Fantasy, Inc.
Improve album information
Why buy on Qobuz...
-
Stream or download your music
Buy an album or an individual track. Or listen to our entire catalogue with our high-quality unlimited streaming subscriptions.
-
Zero DRM
The downloaded files belong to you, without any usage limit. You can download them as many times as you like.
-
Choose the format best suited for you
Download your purchases in a wide variety of formats (FLAC, ALAC, WAV, AIFF...) depending on your needs.
-
Listen to your purchases on our apps
Download the Qobuz apps for smartphones, tablets and computers, and listen to your purchases wherever you go.