LEROY CARR — Complete Recorded Works In Chronological Order ★ Volume 4 • 1932-1934 | DOCD-5137 (1992) RM | FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

People living in the early 21st century would do well to consider complete immersion in more than an hour's worth of vintage Vocalion blues records made during the darkest days of the Great Depression by pianist Leroy Carr and guitarist Scrapper Blackwell. Vol. 4 in Document's Complete Recorded Works of Leroy Carr contains 23 sides dating from March 1932 through August 1934, with three takes of "Mean Mistreatin' Mama" (suffused with a mood that almost certainly inspired Big Maceo's sound) and an extra version of Carr's beautifully straightforward "Blues Before Sunrise." This is not a "get up and shake your butt" kind of collection, and anyone who complains that it isn't has missed the entire point of historic blues appreciation altogether. In order to connect with this music you need to take a few deep breaths and let these men work on your nervous system with songs that hover and contemplate existence in the middle of the night (as in "Midnight Hour Blues"' "when the blues creep up on you and carry your mind away"), sometimes upgrading to the purposeful lope or the brisk walk, depending on what kind of real-life stuff is being processed. "Hold Them Puppies" and "You Can't Run My Business No More" seem to pulse with energy born of the friction that sometimes arises between two people who don't always see eye to eye. "Court Room Blues" is a boogie with complications in the air; "Take a Walk Around the Corner" is a boogie with murder in its eye. "I Ain't Got No Money Now" is a handsome cousin to Clarence "Pinetop" Smith's "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out." As for "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child," Carr has borrowed the title from the bedrock of African-American spirituals, but the song itself, like "Hurry Down Sunshine," "Moonlight Blues," and more than half the material on this collection, is a slow bluesy rumination on the difficulties of life in the world. arwulf arwulf

Abridged from this album’s original booklet notes. Vocalion did no further recordings with Leroy Carr and Scrapper Blackwell until February 1934. However, the March 1934 session which produced The Depression Blues also gave rise to one of Leroy Carr‘s most memorable songs, Midnight Hour Blues. To the tune of Betty and Dupree, Carr wistfully sang of loneliness and abandonment, throughout the number constructing such very real images as, “In the wee midnight hours, long ‘fore the break of day, (x2) when the blues creep up on you and carry your mind away” or “Blues why do you worry me why do you stay so long, (x2) you came to me yesterday, stayed with me all night long”. superbly complemented by Blackwell sympathetic, snapping guitar phrases.

It was in St. Louis where Carr and Blackwell eventually returned to recording via a Vocalion field unit who had set up a mobile studio in the city in February 1934. Over a two day period the unit recorded ten sides by Carr, two by Blackwell and ten religious items by Elder Oscar Saunders and his congregation. The sessions witnessed the partnership of Leroy Carr and Scrapper Blackwell at its most intuitive. The guitar playing of Blackwell created a complete fusion of feeling with, and understanding of, Carr’s mellow piano and plaintive vocals. Their perfect unison and comprehension of one another’s musical needs were never better displayed than on reflective numbers like, Mean Mistreater Mama, Hurry Down Sunshine and Shady Lane. If any song from that period encapsulated the sheer perfection and musical heights the pair had attained then, above all, it was the exquisite Blues Before Sunrise. After a further six month gap, the duo was back in the New York studio but in the interim fate had taken a hand. A rival company, Bluebird, had, intentionally or otherwise, discovered an artist with much of Carr’s appeal and many of his vocal qualities. In April 1934 Joe Pullum recorded Black Gal What Makes Your Head So Hard? which on release proved to be as big a success as Carr’s How Long, How Long six years previous. The record out sold most releases in any record company catalogue – even Leroy Carr‘s. Ironically, Black Gal, in exactly the same manner as How Long, spurned several follow-ups and numerous copies by other artists. Carr himself wasn’t immune to the success of the number, recording his own version (see DOCD-5138) in an attempt to capitalise on its popularity! DOCD-5138
Tracklist :
1        Gone Mother Blues 3:00
Guitar – Scrapper Blackwell
Vocals, Piano – Leroy Carr
2        Midnight Hour Blues 3:03
Guitar – Scrapper Blackwell
Vocals, Piano – Leroy Carr
3        Moonlight Blues 3:08
Guitar – Scrapper Blackwell
Vocals, Piano – Leroy Carr
4        The Depression Blues 3:02
Guitar, Speech – Scrapper Blackwell
Vocals, Piano, Speech – Leroy Carr
5        Mean Mistreater Mama 3:03
Guitar – Scrapper Blackwell
Vocals, Piano – Leroy Carr
6        Mean Mistreater Mama 2:53
Guitar – Scrapper Blackwell
Vocals, Piano – Leroy Carr
7        Mean Mistreater Mama No. 2 3:26
Guitar – Scrapper Blackwell
Vocals, Piano – Leroy Carr
8        Court Room Blues 3:10
Guitar – Scrapper Blackwell
Vocals, Piano – Leroy Carr
9        Hurry Down Sunshine 3:32
Guitar – Scrapper Blackwell
Vocals, Piano – Leroy Carr
10        Corn Licker Blues 3:40
Guitar – Scrapper Blackwell
Vocals, Piano – Leroy Carr
11        Hold Them Puppies 3:35
Guitar – Scrapper Blackwell
Vocals, Piano – Leroy Carr
12        Shady Lane Blues 3:41
Guitar – Scrapper Blackwell
Vocals, Piano – Leroy Carr
13        Blues She Gave Me 3:00
Guitar – Scrapper Blackwell
Vocals, Piano – Leroy Carr
14        You Can't Run My Business No More 3:10
Guitar – Scrapper Blackwell
Vocals, Piano – Leroy Carr
15        Blues Before Sunrise 3:30
Guitar – Scrapper Blackwell
Vocals, Piano – Leroy Carr
16        Blues Before Sunrise 3:33
Guitar – Scrapper Blackwell
Vocals, Piano – Leroy Carr
17        I Ain't Got No Money Now 3:07
Guitar – Scrapper Blackwell
Vocals, Piano – Leroy Carr
18        Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child 2:41
Guitar – Scrapper Blackwell
Vocals, Piano – Leroy Carr
19        Stormy Night Blues 2:35
Guitar – Scrapper Blackwell
Vocals, Piano – Leroy Carr
20        Take A Walk Around The Corner 3:04
Guitar – Scrapper Blackwell
Vocals, Piano – Leroy Carr
21        Baby, Come Back To Me 2:27
Guitar – Scrapper Blackwell
Vocals, Piano – Leroy Carr
22        Blue Night Blues  2:55
Guitar – Scrapper Blackwell
Vocals, Piano – Leroy Carr
23        My Woman's Gone Wrong 2:29
Guitar – Scrapper Blackwell
Vocals, Piano – Leroy Carr