BIG BILL BROONZY — Complete Recorded Works In Chronological Order ★ Volume 4 • 1935-1936 | DOCD-5126 (1992) RM | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Swing might have been king by 1935-36, but Big Bill Broonzy was a different type of royalty, one of the major bluesmen in Chicago. Always a technically skilled guitarist, Broonzy's vocalizing had grown in maturity and depth during the first half of the 30s. On the fourth of 11 Document CDs that contain all of Big Bill's prewar recordings as a leader (and many as a sideman), Broonzy is heard on two religious numbers with the Chicago Sanctified Singers, one tune ("Keep Your Mind On It") with the Hokum Boys, and 21 songs either in duets with pianist Black Bob or trios with Black Bob and bassist Bill Settles. Among the more memorable selections are "Bad Luck Blues," "I'm Just a Bum," "Keep Your Hands Off Her," "The Sun Gonna Shine In My Door Someday" and "Match Box Blues."  Scott Yanow

Abridged from this album’s original booklet notes. Big Bill Broonzy was known by just about everybody involved in the music scene in Chicago. By mid-1935, when this volume takes up the story, the depression was easing somewhat and the juke box was countering its threat to one aspect of the musician’s livelihood by providing an opportunity in another in the form of increased recording activity and wider distribution of the product. Although he always worked at one or more “normal” jobs, labouring or serving in stores, Bill seems to have spent most of his life between the studios and the bars at this time and it is strange that, despite his involvement in enumerable sessions, only twenty tracks appeared under his own name on the Bluebird label (those not appearing here can be found on volumes 2 and 3 of this series). After much research and controversy Black Bob‘s real name remains uncertain though it seems probable that he was the Bob Hudson remembered by Memphis Slim. Louis Lasky, whose own work appears on DOCD 5045 The Songster Tradition, is alleged to have taught Bill how to flat-pick; he is also speculated to be the Louis Leslie associated (by “circumstantial” evidence, to quote Dixon and Godrich) with the Chicago Sanctified Singers. Certainly Leslie, Big Bill and Black Bob were all present in the ARC studios when the two Sanctified Singers sides were cut so a likely line up for this group might be Bill or Leslie, guitar, Bob, piano, and a vocal trio made up of Bill, with either Bob or Leslie and an unknown female. The influence of Leroy Carr on Big Bill Broonzy‘s work at this time is marked both on such upbeat numbers as the bouncy Keep Your Hands Off Her (a gentler title than the more usual Keep Your Hands Off It) and such sadly reflective songs as Bad Luck Blues. His voice was never as wistful as Carr’s but he made a conscious effort to study and reproduce the guitar sound of Scrapper Blackwell and supported by the outstandingly sympathetic piano of Black Bob (sometimes augmented by Bill Settles‘ string bass) produced a string of satisfying blues recordings to counterbalance the flood of hokum material that was washing over the market during those years. Big Bill Broonzy‘s involvement with this side of the business saw him working with such groups as The Midnight Ramblers and The State Street Boys. One representative track, The Hokum Boys‘ Keep Your Mind On It, is included here; it sees Big Bill Broonzy taking the vocal backed up by the guitar of Casey Bill Weldon and the sud-busting of Bill’s alleged half-brother Washboard Sam. DOCD-5126
Tracklist :
1    Chicago Sanctified Singers–    Tell Me What Kind Of Man Jesus Is 2:53
Guitar [Probably], Vocals [Probably] – Louie Lasky
Guitar, Vocals [Probably] – Big Bill Broonzy
Piano [probably] – Black Bob
2    Chicago Sanctified Singers–    I Ain't No Stranger Now 2:52
Guitar [Probably], Vocals [Probably] – Louie Lasky
Guitar, Vocals [Probably] – Big Bill Broonzy
Piano [probably] – Black Bob
3    Big Bill Broonzy–    Mountain Blues 3:02
Guitar, Vocals – Big Bill Broonzy
Piano – Black Bob
4    Big Bill Broonzy–    Bad Luck Blues 3:07
Guitar, Vocals – Big Bill Broonzy
Piano – Black Bob
5    Big Bill Broonzy–    I Can't Make You Satisfied 3:11
Guitar, Vocals – Big Bill Broonzy
Piano – Black Bob
6    Big Bill Broonzy–    I'm Just A Bum 2:58
Guitar, Vocals – Big Bill Broonzy
Piano – Black Bob
7    Big Bill Broonzy–    Keep Your Hands Off Her 2:51
Bass [String Bass] – Bill Settles
Guitar, Vocals – Big Bill Broonzy
Piano – Black Bob
8    Big Bill Broonzy–    The Sun Gonna Shine In My Door Someday 3:01
Bass [String Bass] – Bill Settles
Guitar, Vocals – Big Bill Broonzy
Piano – Black Bob
9    Big Bill Broonzy–    Good Liquor Gonna Carry Me Down 2:43
Bass [String Bass] – Bill Settles
Guitar, Vocals – Big Bill Broonzy
Piano – Black Bob
10    Big Bill Broonzy–    Down The Line Blues 3:17
Bass [String Bass] – Bill Settles
Guitar, Vocals – Big Bill Broonzy
Piano – Black Bob
11    Big Bill Broonzy–    Bricks In My Pillow 3:06
Bass [String Bass] – Bill Settles
Guitar, Vocals – Big Bill Broonzy
Piano – Black Bob
12    Big Bill Broonzy–    Tell Me What You Been Doing 2:53
Bass [String Bass] – Bill Settles
Guitar, Vocals – Big Bill Broonzy
Piano – Black Bob
13    Big Bill Broonzy–    Ash Hauler 2:34
Bass [String Bass] – Bill Settles
Guitar, Vocals – Big Bill Broonzy
Piano – Black Bob
14    Big Bill Broonzy–    Evil Women Blues 2:57
Bass [String Bass] – Bill Settles
Guitar, Vocals – Big Bill Broonzy
Piano – Black Bob
15    Big Bill Broonzy–    These Ants Keep Biting Me 2:49
Bass [String Bass] – Bill Settles
Guitar, Vocals – Big Bill Broonzy
Piano – Black Bob
16    Big Bill Broonzy–    Big Bill Blues (These Blues Are Doggin' Me) 2:54
Bass [String Bass] – Bill Settles
Guitar, Vocals – Big Bill Broonzy
Piano – Black Bob
17    Big Bill Broonzy–    You Know I Need Lovin' 3:10
Bass [String Bass] – Bill Settles
Guitar, Vocals – Big Bill Broonzy
Piano – Black Bob
18    Big Bill Broonzy–    Match Box Blues 2:59
Bass [String Bass] – Bill Settles
Guitar, Vocals – Big Bill Broonzy
Piano – Black Bob
19    Big Bill Broonzy–    Low Down Woman Blues 3:00
Bass [String Bass] – Bill Settles
Guitar, Vocals – Big Bill Broonzy
Piano – Black Bob
20    The Hokum Boys–    Keep You Mind On It 3:02
Bass [Probably] – Bill Settles
Guitar, Vocals – Big Bill Broonzy, Casey Bill Weldon
Washboard – Washboard Sam
21    Big Bill Broonzy–    Bull Cow Blues, No. 3 3:06
Bass [String Bass] – Bill Settles
Guitar, Vocals – Big Bill Broonzy
Piano – Black Bob
22    Big Bill Broonzy–    Married Life's A Pain 3:02
Bass [String Bass] – Bill Settles
Guitar, Vocals – Big Bill Broonzy
Piano – Black Bob
23    Big Bill Broonzy–    Black Mare Blues 2:54
Bass [String Bass] – Bill Settles
Guitar, Vocals – Big Bill Broonzy
Piano – Black Bob
24    Big Bill Broonzy–    Pneumonia Blues (I Keep On Aching) 2:38
Bass [String Bass] – Bill Settles
Guitar, Vocals – Big Bill Broonzy
Piano – Black Bob