BUDDY MOSS — Complete Recorded Works In Chronological Order ★ Volume 3 • 1935-1941 | DOCD-5125 (1992) RM | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

This disc contains the Georgia Cotton Pickers songs on which Buddy Moss played on December 7, 1930. Although he is playing harmonica rather than guitar, they're necessary for any completists, and Bob's work is so closely related to Moss's music, that it's impossible to overlook any of it. Bruce Eder

Abridged from  the original booklet notes. By 1935 Buddy Moss’s star was definitely in the ascendency and with Blind Willie McTell moving to Decca the record company had in Moss an established artist with all the sales potential of McTell. In August he was recalled to the studio and, unlike the previous year, was back with an accompanist – Josh White. As such this alliance was probably one of convenience since White, another Piedmont artist, had been in the studio most of the year recording blues (as Pinewood Tom) and spirituals (as the Singing Christian). It was therefore a logical step to pair them. At one of these sessions White, in his Singing Christian guise, duetted with Moss. Despite all the positiveness on the part of the record company, Buddy Moss’s career was to suffer a serious setback. Alan Balfour Copyright 1992 Document Records  DOCD-5125
Tracklist :
1    Buddy Moss–    Gravy Server 2:53
Vocals, Guitar – Buddy Moss
2    Buddy Moss–    Going To Your Funeral In A Vee Eight Ford 3:00
Vocals, Guitar – Buddy Moss
3    Buddy Moss–    My Baby Won't Pay Me No Mind 3:02
Vocals, Guitar – Buddy Moss
4    Buddy Moss–    Undertaker Blues 3:10
Guitar – Joshua White
Vocals, Guitar – Buddy Moss
5    Buddy Moss–    Oh Lordy Mama No. 2 3:05
Guitar – Joshua White
Vocals, Guitar – Buddy Moss
6    Buddy Moss–    Worrysome Woman 3:04
Guitar – Joshua White
Vocals, Guitar – Buddy Moss
7    Buddy Moss–    Your Hard Head Will Bring You Sorrow Some Day 2:53
Guitar – Joshua White
Vocals, Guitar – Buddy Moss
8    Buddy Moss–    Can't Use You No More 3:08
Guitar – Joshua White
Vocals, Guitar – Buddy Moss
9    Buddy Moss–    See What You Done Done 2:50
Guitar – Joshua White
Vocals, Guitar – Buddy Moss
10    Buddy Moss–    Stop Hanging Around 3:18
Guitar – Joshua White
Vocals, Guitar – Buddy Moss
11    Joshua White (The Singing Christian)–    On My Way 3:00
Vocals [vocal duet], Guitar [guitar duet] – Buddy Moss, Joshua White
12    Joshua White (The Singing Christian)–    How About You? 2:58
Vocals [vocal duet], Guitar [guitar duet] – Buddy Moss, Joshua White
13    Joshua White (The Singing Christian)–    Talking About My Time 2:55
Vocals [vocal duet], Guitar [guitar duet] – Buddy Moss, Joshua White
14    Buddy Moss–    You Got To Give Me Some Of It  3:08
Vocals, Guitar – Buddy Moss, Joshua White
15    Buddy Moss–    Mistreated Boy 2:55
Guitar – Joshua White
Vocals, Guitar – Buddy Moss
16    Buddy Moss–    You Need A Woman 2:48
Guitar [possibly] – Brownie McGhee
Vocals, Guitar [possibly] – Buddy Moss
17    Buddy Moss–    Joy Rag 2:33
Piano – Brownie McGhee
Vocals, Guitar – Buddy Moss
Washboard [Either/Or] – Oh Red, Robert Young
18    Buddy Moss–    Little Angel Blues 2:44
Piano – Brownie McGhee
Vocals, Guitar – Buddy Moss
19    Buddy Moss–    Struggle Buggie 2:42
Vocals, Guitar – Buddy Moss
Washboard [Either/Or] – Oh Red, Robert Young
20    Buddy Moss–    I'm Sittin' Here Tonight 2:46
Harmonica – Sonny Terry
Vocals, Guitar – Buddy Moss
Washboard [Either/Or] – Oh Red, Robert Young
21    Buddy Moss–    Baby, You're The One For Me 2:44
Vocals, Guitar – Buddy Moss
22    Buddy Moss–    Unfinished Business 2:48
Vocals, Guitar – Buddy Moss

BLIND BOY FULLER — Complete Recorded Works In Chronological Order ★ Volume 2 • 1936-1937 | DOCD-5092 (1992) RM | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

The second volume in Document's chronological overview of Blind Boy Fuller's life and music contains some of his most popular recordings, including the 1936 sessions which yielded both "Truckin' My Blues Away" (an update of Tampa Red's "What Is It That Tastes Like Gravy?") and "Mama Let Me Lay It on You" (a rendition of Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe's "Can I Do It for You?"), both of them definitive versions. Fuller's gift for making familiar songs his own pops again on his next session, from early February of 1937; backed by Dipper Boy Council and Bull City Red, he delivers renditions of "Mamie," "Untrue Blues" (a version of the "Crow Jane" theme) and "New Oh Red!," all of them revelatory and unforgettable. Jason Ankeny

Abridged from this album’s original booklet notes. Blind Boy Fuller’s 1936 sessions (mostly included in Vol. 1) yielded ten titles including Trucking My Blues Away (a remake of Tampa Red’s “What Is It That Tastes Like Gravy?” from 1929) and Mama Let Me Lay It On You (a version of Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe’s “Can I Do It For You?” from 1930). Both of these titles were popular enough to be issued on several of the ARC labels (with Trucking later reissued twice on Columbia) as well as being re-recorded in No. 2 incarnations at later sessions. Regardless of their genesis, both titles have been associated with Blind Boy Fuller ever since he recorded them and his versions have inspired a host of imitators. Blind Boy Fuller’s third group of sessions took place on February 8, 9 and 10, 1937 with Dipper Boy Council and Bull City Red present on guitar and washboard on some tracks. Bruce Bastin has noted that Fuller’s Been Your Dog uses the same melody as Bull City Red’s “Black Woman and Poison Blues” and that its guitar part is similar to Red’s “Mississippi River” both recorded in July 1935. Mamie was recalled by Willie Trice as the first song he learned in the mid-1920s so these two songs may offer evidence that Blind Boy Fuller was drawing from a common pool of local material. Untrue Blues was a reworking of the “Crow Jane” theme (the 1927 version by Julius Daniels on Victor 21065 has “Richmond Blues” – a song covered by Bull City Red at the July 1935 session – as its flip-side). Fuller was probably aware of this record as well as Josh White’s popular version (“Blood Red River” from 1933). In addition to this, Richard Trice recalled that Fuller carefully studied Carl Martin’s definitive version of “Crow Jane” from 1935. This should all serve to illustrate how much conscious reconstruction of recorded blues material took place in the group of musicians surrounding Blind Boy Fuller. The last title recorded at the February 1937 sessions was New Oh Red! with both Dipper Boy Council and Bull City Red added on this exuberant remake of the Harlem Hamfats’ hit of 1936 (itself a remake of their own “Oh, Red!” from earlier in that year). Blind Boy Fuller was, at this point in his career, a fully professional, seasoned recording artist whose records sold as well as any of the Chicago competition. DOCD-5092
Tracklist :
1        Cat Man Blues 3:05
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Boy Fuller
2        When Your Gal Packs Up And Leaves 2:52
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Boy Fuller
3        Mama Let Me Lay It On You 2:54
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Boy Fuller
4        If You Don't Give Me What I Want 2:53
Guitar – Dipper Boy Council
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Boy Fuller
Washboard – Bull City Red
5        Boots And Shoes 2:49
Guitar – Dipper Boy Council
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Boy Fuller
6        Trucking My Blues Away No. 2 2:51
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Boy Fuller
Washboard – Bull City Red
7        Trucking My Blues Away No. 2 2:46
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Boy Fuller
Washboard – Bull City Red
8        Sweet Honey Hole 2:47
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Boy Fuller
Washboard – Bull City Red
9        Untrue Blues 2:49
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Boy Fuller
Washboard – Bull City Red
10        Tom Cat Blues 2:36
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Boy Fuller
11        My Baby Don't Mean Me No Good 2:54
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Boy Fuller
12        Been Your Dog 2:44
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Boy Fuller
13        My Best Gal Gonna Leave Me 2:47
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Boy Fuller
14        Wires All Down 2:47
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Boy Fuller
15        Let Me Squeeze Your Lemon 2:59
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Boy Fuller
16        Death Alley 2:39
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Boy Fuller
17        Mamie 2:50
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Boy Fuller
18        Mamie 2:43
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Boy Fuller
19        New Oh Red! 2:46
Guitar – Dipper Boy Council
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Boy Fuller
Washboard – Bull City Red
20        If You See My Pigmeat 3:01
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Boy Fuller
21        Stingy Mama 2:41
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Boy Fuller
22        Why Don't My Baby Write To Me? 2:40
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Boy Fuller
23        Some Day You're Gonna Be Sorry 3:07
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Boy Fuller
24        You Never Can Tell 2:54
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Boy Fuller

BLIND BOY FULLER — Complete Recorded Works In Chronological Order ★ Volume 4 • 1937-1938 | DOCD-5094 (1992) RM | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Beginning with the mid-December, 1937 session which kicks off this fourth volume in Document's retrospective, Blind Boy Fuller entered into a recording partnership with the legendary harpist Sonny Terry that continued for the remainder of Fuller's studio career. Terry's blistering harmonica and falsetto interjections lent an exciting new dynamic to Fuller's sound, as classic sides like "Pistol Snapper Blues," "Mean and No Good Woman" and "Georgia Ham Mama" amply prove, each musician pushing the other to new creative heights. Jason Ankeny

Abridged from this album’s original booklet notes. Perhaps the most noticeable change in Blind Boy Fuller’s sessions of December 1937 was the addition of Sonny Terry on harmonica. Sonny Terry’s pyrotechnic and often percussive country-styled harp and his exuberant falsetto “whoops” have long since become one of the most identifiable sounds in the blues. In 1937, however, his first session was with Blind Boy Fuller, and he was to be present on all of Fuller’s recording dates from that time on. Sonny Terry was born in Greensboro, North Carolina. Terry’s brother lived in Wadesboro, where Fuller still had relatives, and it was there that they met while playing on opposite sides of the street. Fuller invited him to come to Durham, stating that they might possibly record together. After Sonny Terry arrived in Durham he continued performing on the street with Blind Boy Fuller and was introduced to J. B. Long, who agreed with Fuller that Sonny would be an asset on the recordings.

Sonny Terry’s first recordings with Blind Boy Fuller took place at the December 15, 1937 session on the three titles that began the date (see Vol. 3 DOCD-5093). He also appeared on the last track of Blind Boy Fuller’s session: I’m Going To Move (To The Edge of Town), which was cut the following day. In between, Fuller cut Hungry Calf Blues (combining elements of Kokomo Arnold’s “Milk Cow Blues” and Robert Johnson’s “Milkcow’s Calf Blues”) and three guitar rags with Dipper Boy Council (Oozin’ You Off My Mind, Shake That Shimmy and Heart Ease Blues). At the April 1938 session Sonny Terry repeated the pattern by accompanying Blind Boy Fuller on his first three titles, including the popular Pistol Slapper Blues. Fuller also recorded another of his lively dance pieces: Piccolo Rag (piccolo was a then-current slang term for a jukebox). In late October Long scheduled the first of two sessions away from the usual location in New York. The explanation he gave for this was that there were problems with the musician’s union in New York where union dues had to be paid if a group of three recorded. That being the case, Columbia, South Carolina was the chosen location, where Blind Boy Fuller, Sonny Terry, and Bull City Red rerecorded some of their classic themes. DOCD-5094
Tracklist :
1        Shaggy Like A Bear 2:35
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Boy Fuller
2        Ten O'Clock Peeper 2:34
Guitar – Dipper Boy Council
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Boy Fuller
3        Hungry Calf Blues 2:42
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Boy Fuller
4        Too Many Women Blues 2:37
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Boy Fuller
5        Oozin' You Off My Mind 2:42
Guitar – Dipper Boy Council
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Boy Fuller
6        Shake That Shimmy 2:44
Guitar – Dipper Boy Council
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Boy Fuller
7        Heart Ease Blues 2:26
Guitar – Dipper Boy Council
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Boy Fuller
8        I'm Going To Move (To The Edge Of Town) 2:38
Harmonica – Sonny Terry
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Boy Fuller
9        Pistol Slapper Blues 2:40
Harmonica – Sonny Terry
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Boy Fuller
10        Mean And No Good Woman 2:30
Harmonica – Sonny Terry
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Boy Fuller
11        Georgia Ham Mama 2:45
Harmonica – Sonny Terry
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Boy Fuller
12        Piccolo Rag 2:47
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Boy Fuller
13        Funny Feeling Blues 2:48
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Boy Fuller
14        Painful Hearted Blues 2:47
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Boy Fuller
15        You've Got To Move It Out 2:49
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Boy Fuller
16        Mama Let Me Lay It On You No. 2 2:57
Harmonica – Charlie Austin
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Boy Fuller
17        Meat Shakin' Woman 2:42
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Boy Fuller
18        I'm A Good Stem Winder 2:39
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Boy Fuller
19        What's That Smells Like Fish 2:43
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Boy Fuller
Washboard – Bull City Red
20        She's A Truckin' Little Baby 2:27
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Boy Fuller
Washboard – Bull City Red
21        Jivin' Woman Blues 2:31
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Boy Fuller
Washboard – Bull City Red
22        You're Laughing Now 2:40
Harmonica – Sonny Terry
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Boy Fuller