Yazoo Basin Boogie - Stefan Grossman

Product Details

I was living in Rome, ltaly on Via Cassia in a modem three-bedroom apartment. As with many Italian apartments there was a “maid’s room” that essentially was a glorified closet that could barely fit a single bed. To me, this was a heaven sent space. While some of my friends during this period were making great efforts to get “out of the closet” here I was trying my best to get into a closet! I lined the walls with blankets and set up my portable Tandberg tape machine with a single Sony microphone. It looked like a nomadic tent with some touches of the 20th century.

Over a period of several months I recorded set arrangements. The results were released on my first album for Transatlantic Records titled Yazoo Basin Boogie. After this I recorded several studio albums for Transatlantic featuring my guitar playing but with singing and newly written songs. After several years I realized that singing and songwriting was fun but not my strong points. So I headed back to the “maid’s room” to put together another solo instrumental album.

But this time l decided to test my improvisational skills. The idea was to let the tape machine run and to play around with various blues themes and to see what would evolve. It was an exciting project that stretched my imagination and creativity. The results were an album titled Memphis Jellyroll. All this happened years ago though it seems like only yesterday! It was a decisive and formulating time for me that served me well. The guitar has always been my love and my passion and that “maid’s room” helped to focus those feelings.

This collection features those moments that I think were most worthwhile from that period. All the tracks feature solo guitar except for Mississippi Blues #2 which has an overdubbed lead line. The music ranges from traditional country blues to rags to original compositions.

Song Samples:

1. Tickle Dew*

2. Memphis Jellyroll

3. Yazoo Basin Boogie*

4. I'm So Glad

5. Hambone Rag

6. Avalon Blues

7. Dallas Rag*

8. Don’t Let My Baby Catch You Here

9. Slow Blues in C*

10. Yola Blues

1 1. Colored Aristocracy*

12. Katz Rag*

I3. Delta Exposition of 1917

14. Buck Dance

15. Mississippi Blues #2*

16. County Line*

17. Last of Callahan*

18. Boogie on Main Street

19. Pigtown Fling*

20. Texas Lemon Flavor

21. Roberta*

22. Lottie’s Blues

This CD is a re-issue album. It was first released in 1970.

This new enhanced CD edition includes a 38 page tab/music PDF booklet on the CD. Those tunes marked with a star (*) are included in the PDF booklet on the CD.

Review: Stefan Grossman has spent so many years producing videos and how to books on acoustic guitar, it's hard to think of him as a guitarist himself, which is why albums like this are so valuable and reassuring. Grossman can back up everything he says and believes musically, with an encyclopedic knowledge and feel for country-blues, rags, and fiddle tunes as demonstrated here. He runs through a gaggle of fine-sounding instruments, alternating between slide, 12-string, and fingerpicked six-strings in a plethora of tunings, and never fails to deliver top-notch playing on every track. A must-have for folk-blues guitar enthusiasts. – AllMusic Review by Cub Koda