Various - Saint Louis - The First Urban Blues (2007)

Saint Louis had never had a recording-studio, and during the blues’ migration from southern plantations to the northern city of Chicago, it was always considered to be just another stopover. It was forgetting that the first Chicago blues was imagined, tried, tested and strengthened in the highly-populated Black ghetto of Saint Louis that they called “The Valley,” the womb of pre-war urban blues. The birth of a genuine Saint Louis blues style dates back to the terrible racist confrontations that took place between Black and White workers in 1917. Black workers were on the losing side in those drawn-out riots, and much blood was shed. The East Saint Louis ghetto fell back on itself: whether they were Blacks who were poor or just getting by, recent rural immigrants or older residents of the city, proletarians or middle-class citizens, all suffered from the same racist climate and they were either confined or rejected. The pianists leagued together with the guitarists to create a sombre, almost lugubrious blues form that had a tragic essence, even on up-tempo numbers, and its impact on the large cities of the north – especially Chicago, Detroit and New York – was enormous.

Tracklist:
1.01 - Wesley Wallace & Sylvester Palmer - Do It Sloopy (3:11)
1.02 - Henry Brown - Henry Brown Blues (3:00)
1.03 - The Sparks Brothers - I Believe I'll Make A Change (3:05)
1.04 - Peetie Wheatstraw - Peetie Wheatstraw Stomp No. 2 (2:41)
1.05 - Roosevelt Sykes - 32/20 Blues (3:10)
1.06 - Walter Davis - The Only Woman (2:54)
1.07 - Barrelhouse Buck McFarland - Lamp Post Blues (2:59)
1.08 - Jesse James - Highway 61 (3:15)
1.09 - Joe Dean - I'm So Glad (I'm 21 Years Old Today) (3:15)
1.10 - Alice Moore - New Blue Black And Evil Blues (2:58)
1.11 - St Louis Jimmy - St. Louis Woman Blues (2:57)
1.12 - Henry Spaulding - Cairo Blues (2:44)
1.13 - Henry Townsend - Don't Love That Woman (3:17)
1.14 - J. D. Short - Snake Doctor Blues (3:24)
1.15 - Georgia Boyd - Never Mind Blues (3:17)
1.16 - Clifford Gibson - Sneaky Ground Hog (3:05)
1.17 - Lonnie Johnson - Wipe It Off (3:17)
1.18 - Lonnie Johnson - Blue Ghost Blues (3:00)
1.19 - Blind Teddy Darby - Bought A Bottle Of Gin (3:12)
1.20 - The Two Charlies - Hard Time Papa (2:54)
1.21 - J. W. Walker - Sitting Here Wondering (2:40)
1.22 - Chuck Berry - Wee Wee Hours (3:04)