Lonnie Johnson - A Life in Music Selected Sides 1925-1953 '2009

Tracks list

Tracklist

CD1- 1925-1928

1	Wont Dont Blues	
2	Mr Johnsons Blues	
3	Falling Rain Blues	
4	No Good Blues	
5	Newport Blues	
6	Love Story Blues	
7	Nile Of Genago	
8	To Do This You Gotta Know How	
9	South Bound Water	
10	I Done Told You	
11	Steppin On The Blues	
12	Four Hands Are Better Than Two	
13	I Love You Mary Lou	
14	Woke Up With The Blues In My Fingers	
15	Stay Out Of Walnut Street Alley	
16	St. Louis Cyclone Blues	
17	6/88 Glide	
18	Life Saver Blues	
19	Untitled Instrumental	
20	Im Not Rough	
21	Hotter Than That	
22	Savoy Blues	
23	Playing With The Strings	
24	Stompin Em Along Slow	
25	Awat Down In The Alley Blues	

CD2- 1928-1932

1	The Mooche	
2	Move Over	
3	Hot And Bothered	
4	Careless Love	
5	Paducah	
6	Star Dust	
7	Have To Change Key To Play These Blues	
8	Jet Black Blues	
9	Blue Blood Blues	
10	Sitting On Top Of The World	
11	Kansas City Man Blues	
12	A Handful Of Riffs	
13	Shes Makin Whoopee In Hell Tonight	
14	Another Woman Booked Out And Bound To Go	
15	Wipe It Off	
16	The Dirty Dozen	
17	Deep Sea Blues	
18	Got The Blues For Murder Only	
19	Just A Roamin Man	
20	Jelly Killed Old Sam	
21	The Faults Of All Women And Men	
22	The Best Jockey In Town	
23	Uncle Ned Dont Lose Your Head	
24	Im Nuts About That Gal	
25	Racketeers Blues
 
CD3- 1937-1947

1	Man Killing Broad	
2	Hard Times Aint Gone No Where	
3	Got The Blues For The West End	
4	Why Women Go Wrong	
5	Jersey Belle Blues	
6	Four-O-Three Blues	
7	Crowing Rooster Blues	
8	Lazy Woman Blues	
9	Chicago Blues	
10	From 22 to 44	
11	Ramblers Blues	
12	Fly Right, Baby	
13	Hes A Jelly-Roll Baker	
14	Watch Shorty	
15	Keep What You Got	
16	Drifting Along Blues	
17	How Could You Be So Mean	
18	Rocks In My Bed	
19	Love Is The Answer	
20	Blues For Everybody	
21	Blues In My Soul	
22	Your Last Time Out	
23	Blues For Lonnie	
24	What A Woman	
25	Tomorrow Night	

CD4- 1947-1953

1	Friendless Blues	
2	Falling Rain Blues	
3	Its Too Late To Cry	
4	Playing Around	
5	My My Baby	
6	Trouble Aint Nothing But The Blues	
7	Blues Stay Away From Me	
8	Nothing But Trouble	
9	Old Fashioned Love	
10	What Do You Want That Ive Got, Pretty Baby	
11	Why Should I Cry	
12	It Was All In Vain	
13	You Only Want Me When Youre Lonely	
14	Me And My Crazy Self	
15	Seven Long Days	
16	Im Guilty	
17	Just Another Day	
18	You Cant Buy Love	
19	Cant Sleep Any More	
20	Dont Make Me Cry, Baby	
21	My Woman Is Gone	
22	Will You Remember	
23	Stick With It, Baby	
24	I Found A Dream	
25	Its Been So Long


Lonnie Johnson was best-known for his tonally beautiful guitar playing, but he
was also a fine singer and songwriter, and pretty adept on violin, piano, banjo,
mandolin, harmonium, and bass, as well. Equally at home in the blues or the jazz
world (he worked with artists as raw as Texas Alexander and as polished as Louis
Armstrong and Duke Ellington), and even later, the R&B world, Johnsons life as a
professional musician began in the mid-20s and stretched all the way into the
60s, when his career was given an autumnal boost during the folk/blues revival.
This four-disc, 100- track box from JSP Records moves chronologically through
Johnsons peak years with commercial labels, beginning with tracks like
1925’s “Falling Rain Blues,” which was cut for OKeh (with
Johnson singing and playing violin), through Johnson’s gorgeous solo
version of W.C. Handys Careless Love, also cut for OKeh and released in 1928.
The wry and wise “Hard Times Ain’t Gone No Where” is included
from his stay at Decca Records. Johnson signed to Bluebird Records a year later
in 1938 and began playing an amplified guitar. Always in demand on the
instrument, Johnson was also a graceful and elegant singer, and his ability to
bring an emotional sincerity to blues ballads gave him a hit in 1948 with
“Tomorrow Night” when he was signed to King Records. Johnson began
using jazzy, horn-based R&B combos toward the end of his stay at King and with
his run at Rama Records that followed, and sides like “I’m
Guilty,” included on disc four here, show just how versatile this amazing
musician could be. There are several single-disc releases of Lonnie Johnsons
work on the market and casual listeners may well want to start with one of
those, since there is a lot of repetition here (none of the musicians from the
20s and 30s could have anticipated having multi-disc box sets), but as an
extensive overview of Johnsons peak commercial years, the four-disc A Life in
Music is a fascinating listen.~ Steve Leggett 

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