Big Bill Broonzy - Vol. 1: The Pre-War Years (2007)

If you're going to be a mountain-climber then Everest will always be on the horizon - and if you're going in search of the best in blues, there's no sense in treating Big Bill Broonzy as a roundabout, to set off down a road that will only bring you back to where he stands. Unlike Everest, there is no one blues artist who towers above all others but if anyone epitomises the very best elements of vocal and instrumental prowess, then Big Bill Broonzy fits the bill. In a career spanning three decades, Bill's career pursued an elliptical path from talented ragtime guitarist in the last years of the 1920s, to gifted social commentator on black urban life in the 1930s and 1940s, before in the 1950s he returned to his origins as a visionary folk-blues artist, bringing a world he understood so well to European audiences who revelled in the entertainment he provided while he passed on insights into how that world, his world, functioned.

1.01 - Big Bill Broonzy - Saturday Night Rub (2:57)
1.02 - Big Bill Broonzy - I Can't Be Satisfied (2:47)
1.03 - Big Bill Broonzy - Too Too Train Blues (2:53)
1.04 - Big Bill Broonzy - How You Want It Done? (2:52)
1.05 - Big Bill Broonzy - Long Tall Mama (2:49)
1.06 - Big Bill Broonzy - Mississippi River Blues (2:42)
1.07 - Big Bill Broonzy - C.C. Rider (3:17)
1.08 - Big Bill Broonzy - Good Jelly (3:18)
1.09 - Big Bill Broonzy - Mountain Blues (3:04)
1.10 - Big Bill Broonzy - Keep Your Hands Off Her (2:53)
1.11 - Big Bill Broonzy - Horny Frog (3:05)
1.12 - Big Bill Broonzy - I Want My Hands on It (2:55)
1.13 - Big Bill Broonzy - New Shake 'em On Down (2:54)
1.14 - Big Bill Broonzy - Baby I Done Got Wise (2:32)
1.15 - Big Bill Broonzy - Just a Dream (2:36)
1.16 - Big Bill Broonzy - You Got to Hit the Right Lick (2:51)
1.17 - Big Bill Broonzy - Key to the Highway (3:03)
1.18 - Big Bill Broonzy - Wee Wee Hours (2:59)
1.19 - Big Bill Broonzy - All By Myself (2:28)
1.20 - Big Bill Broonzy - I Feel so Good (2:48)