Editorial Review:

Album Description:
'In terms of his musical skill, the sheer size of his repertoire, the length and variety of his career, and his influence on contemporaries and musicians who would follow, Big Bill Broonzy is among a select few of the most important figures in recorded blues history … in this country he was instrumental in the growth of the Chicago Blues sound, and his travels abroad rank him as one of the leading blues ambassadors.' – All Music Guide

Unique, never-before-released recordings–twenty-four tracks and nearly two hours! This 2XCD box set includes a forty-eight-page book that features stories about Big Bill Broonzy’s experiences in Europe, as well as dozens of unpublished pictures.

Amazon.com:
Think of Big Bill Broonzy as Leadbelly with sharper teeth. Like the seminal Texas strummer, Broonzy worked in the songster tradition, using guitar purely as accompaniment to his storytelling rather than a means of virtuosic expression. But Broonzy's political lyrics--especially the famed color-line critique 'Black, Brown, and White,' with its warning 'if you're black, get back'--are more direct. So are his onstage observations about racism and poverty in America in the two just-unveiled concerts on this two-disc set. As the liner notes explain, gin and the warmth of Broonzy's audience loosened the native Mississippian's lips on these nights. Nonetheless, his openhearted delivery of originals like 'Just a Dream,' later covered by his disciple Muddy Waters, and the standard repertoire of the early folk-blues era ('Midnight Special,' Leroy Carr's 'When the Sun Goes Down') is on the mark. An improvised stab at 'Guitar Rag' and a 'Happy Birthday' to a new acquaintance testify to the informality of these sets. They also lend breadth to a rare self-portrait of this highly influential bluesman as an inspired entertainer. --Ted Drozdowski

More Big Bill Broonzy

The Young Big Bill Broonzy (1928-1935)	Good Time Tonight	Trouble in Mind

From Amazon.ca:
You wouldn't expect music that has been languishing unheard in the vaults for more than a half century to sound this clear and vital, as if it were recorded yesterday. Though Big Bill Broonzy was a seminal figure in the progression of the blues from the Mississippi delta to the south side of Chicago, his repertoire encompassed everything from folk songs to spirituals to (at one of these concerts at least) 'Happy Birthday.' During a period when the blues was mainly marketed as 'race records' back home, Broonzy served as an international ambassador for the music, as shown by the enthusiastic responses to the ebullient performer at these Amsterdam concerts. Cancer would claim him just five years after this European tour, but this two-disc live set finds him in fine voice and engaging manner (some of the between-song patter lasts longer than the songs themselves). He makes 'John Henry' and 'Down by the Riverside' seem more like living history than museum pieces, with his version of (and introduction to) Bessie Smith's 'Back-Water Blues' sounding all the more timely in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. --Don McLeese









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Disc 1:

1. Big Bill Talks on Folk Songs - Big Bill Broonzy, Broonzy, Big Bill
2. Going Down the Road Feeling Bad - Big Bill Broonzy, Traditional
3. When the Sun Goes Down - Big Bill Broonzy, Carr, Leroy
4. House Rent Stomp - Big Bill Broonzy, Broonzy, Big Bill
5. Crawdad Hole - Big Bill Broonzy, Traditional
6. Willie Mae - Big Bill Broonzy, Traditional
7. Black, Brown and White - Big Bill Broonzy, Broonzy, Big Bill
8. Five Foot Seven - Big Bill Broonzy, Traditional
9. Caribbean Rag - Big Bill Broonzy, Traditional
10. Happy Birthday - Big Bill Broonzy, Traditional
11. Down by the Riverside - Big Bill Broonzy, Traditional
12. Mindin' My Own Business - Big Bill Broonzy, Broonzy, Big Bill
13. Just a Dream - Big Bill Broonzy, Broonzy, Big Bill
14. Glory of Love, Pt. 1 - Big Bill Broonzy, Hill, William J.

Disc 2:

1. Big Bill Talks on Michiel de Ruyter - Big Bill Broonzy, Broonzy, Big Bill
2. John Henry, Pt. 1 - Big Bill Broonzy, Traditional
3. Back-Water Blues - Big Bill Broonzy, Smith, Bessie
4. Guitar Rag - Big Bill Broonzy, Broonzy, Big Bill
5. Kansas City Blues - Big Bill Broonzy, Traditional
6. Trouble in Mind, Pt. 1 - Big Bill Broonzy, Jones, R.J.
7. The Midnight Special - Big Bill Broonzy, Traditional
8. Glory of Love, Pt. 2 - Big Bill Broonzy, Hill, William J.
9. Louise, Louise Blues - Big Bill Broonzy, Traditional
10. Trouble in Mind, Pt. 2 - Big Bill Broonzy, Jones, R.J.
11. Good Night Irene - Big Bill Broonzy, Ledbetter, Huddie
12. John Henry, Pt. 2 - Big Bill Broonzy, Traditional