In between are a multitude of deathless classics, way too many to list here. It opens with a Luther Dickinson–produced performance by Mississippi’s Othar Turner & the Rising Star Fife & Drum Band and ends, 115 glorious tracks later, with a Keb’ Mo’/Corey Harris duet on Robert Johnson’s “Sweet Home Chicago” taped in New York last April. Released three months back to coincide with the PBS series of documentaries executive-produced by American director Martin Scorsese, the boxed set is a masterful statement on the history of the blues. Nowadays, all similarly pea-brained rock fans need to understand the relationship between the two music forms is a copy of this brilliantly conceived five-disc package. He’d just roll his eyes and hand me his well-worn copy of The Best of Elmore James, but at the time my pea-brained self couldn’t grasp the connection between the blistering lead breaks of my rowdy southern-boogie heroes and the simplistic slide guitar heard on James’s scratchy ’50s recordings. As a dedicated hard-rock freak, I remember hounding this guy-who was also a music teacher-to show me how to play the solo in Molly Hatchet’s “Flirtin’ With Disaster”. Twenty-some-odd years ago I got set on that course by a pedal-steel guitarist and country-bluegrass performer named Smokin’ Joe Michno. Many music fans have discovered the beauty of the blues while uncovering the roots of rock, yours truly included. ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, DEC.
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