On Tue, 13 Apr 1999, Jon Weisberger wrote:
> County Records' two collections, Brown's Ferry Blues and Sand Mountain
> Blues, are pretty widely available (MoM lists them both in their
> catalog, and I just found them in stock at both CD Now and CD World).
> The former covers recordings from the 30s and early 40s, the latter is a
> selection of King recordings made between 1944 and 1949. There's also a
> British import called Freight Train Boogie that's in the same vein as
> Sand Mountain Blues, but with a few more cuts. The earlier stuff is
> prettier, the King stuff more rockin'.
In general, perhaps, but the bulk of the songs on Sand Mountain Blues are
more in the vein of the earlier recordings found on Brown's Ferry Blues
(and I believe the estimable Charles Wolfe even sez so in his liner
notes). They're generally more traditional sounding, with much less
emphasis on the rockin' boogie. Freight Train Boogie rocks much more than
both of the others. As for which to recommend, I'd say it's a tossup
between Freight Train Boogie (on Ace Records, and easily found in
roots-savvy US stores) and Brown's Ferry Blues. Personally, I wouldn't
want to be without any of 'em.--don
