What do you picture when you hear the word "blues"? A lone vagabond walking a dusty road in the Mississippi Delta? A gruff giant shouting over the noise of a Chicago bar? An outlaw guitar hero squeezing fiery notes from his Stratocaster? This is how Elijah Wald starts his article about Leroy Carr with the title "The Bluesman Who Behaved Too Well". Unfortunately this title is not applicable to Blue Papa, but we'll try to make it up by telling you what to look for in the labyrinth of available old blues recordings.

Leroy Carr's vocal style moved blues singing toward an urban sophistican and influenced such singers as T-Bone Walker, Charles Brown, Amos Milburn, Jimmy Witherspoon, Ray Charles and Cecil Gant, among others. OK, you want to know what to buy from this nice guy (who passed at the age of 30 because of unlimited use of alcoholic stuff), so here we go. "Leroy Carr 1930-35 - The Piano Blues" is a part of the estimable series of early barrelhouse and boogie-woogie piano recordings compiled by British 78 collectors. Among the 20 tracks are some of Carr's (plus Scrapper Blackwell) best efforts, including his second version of "How Long", "Sloppy Drunk Blues" and "How Long Has That Evening Train Been Gone". Document offers as much as 6 volumes, I would recomend the first one. "Leroy Carr 1928-1929" has a bright sound and a selection of early classics as the first "How Long", "Mean Old Train Blues" and the doomy "Prison Bound Blues". With these two albums on your shelf, nobody can tell you: "Ain't It A Shame" that you do not have anything from Leroy Carr. See ya'll next week!

Video: Leroy Carr - Ain't It A Shame

Leroy Carr 1930-35 - The Piano Blues - Magpie 1990
Leroy Carr 1928-35 - Document 1992

Images

Videos