Arbee Stidham - Arbee's Blues (1961)

Arbee’s Blues lays testament to bluesman Arbee Stidham’s triumph over a long depression, a consequence of an accident that forced him to give up the saxophone in the mid-1950s. Along his route to recovery, the musician picked up the guitar, and this album—over half an hour of plaintive Chicago blues and swinging boogie-woogie—is one result. Stidham’s deep, grizzly voice and understated guitar licks weave through Memphis Slim’s piano/organ riffs and Jump Jackson’s beats on snare.