Various Artists - Hear Me Howling! Blues, Ballads, and Beyond - Blues - CD

The Arhoolie Records 50th-anniversary box squeezes 72 tracks (38 unissued) into 4 CDs. With those is a full-color, 136-page hardcover book full of photos that tells the story of Chris Strachwitz and his unquenchable thirst to record real roots music in the Bay Area in the '60s. This big beauty pairs rarities by NOW Creative Arts Ensemble, Vern & Ray and Stanley Willis with cuts by Big Mama Thornton (unreleased versions of Ball and Chain and Hound Dog), Mance Lipscomb (Sugar Babe), Skip James (22-20 Blues), Rev. Gary Davis (Courtin' Boy), Fred McDowell (Louise), Clifton Chenier (Louisiana Rock), Country Joe &the Fish (I Feel Like I'm Fixin' to Die Rag), Mercy Dee (Lady Luck), Lonnie Johnson (Brenda), Sonny Terry (Changed the Lock on My Door), Lightnin' Hopkins (Tom Moore's Farm), Bukka White (Bald Eagle Train), Big Joe Williams (Highway 49), Jesse Fuller (Brother Low Down) and more!