Delta Blues CD from Starbucks

Subject: Delta Blues CD from Starbucks
From: BK Lick
Date: 04 Sep 99 - 03:58 PM

Just found a pretty nifty compilation of historic delta blues recordings at my local Starbucks. Titled "Night on the Delta: acoustic blues from Starbucks" the CD contains:
Son House: Death Letter
Bukka White: Parchman Farm Blues
Robert Johnson: When You Got A Good Friend
Memphis Minnie: Hoodoo Lady
Leadbelly: Good Morning Blues
Lightnin' Hopkins: See See Rider
Skip James: Devil Got My Woman
Big Joe Williams: Baby Please Don't Go
Mississippi John Hurt: I'm Satisfied
Mance Lipscomb: Night Time is the Right Time
Chris Whitley: Ball Peen Hammer
Peter Kern: Young and Reatless
Taj Mahal: Spike Driver Blues
Guitar Gabriel: I Came So Far
Neal Patman: Shortnin' Bread
Preston Fulp: Careless Love
Captain Luke: Angels of Mercy
Kelly Joe Phelps: Piece By Piece

Booklet contains brief but pithy liner notes by Timothy Duffy, founder of Music Maker Relief Foundation, "a non-profit organization dedicated to helping the true pioneers and forgotten heroies of the blues gain recognition and meet their day-to-day needs."

Bruce

Subject: RE: Delta Blues CD from Starbucks
From: katlaughing
Date: 04 Sep 99 - 08:06 PM

That sounds really neat. And nary a Starbucks in sight, here in the hinterlands of Wyo!

Subject: RE: Delta Blues CD from Starbucks
From: Max
Date: 05 Sep 99 - 01:56 PM

Only about half that album is delta as far as I am concerned.

Subject: RE: Delta Blues CD from Starbucks
From: emily rain
Date: 05 Sep 99 - 04:31 PM

starbucks puts together surprisingly wonderful compilations. the muzak was one of the only good things about working there!

hey kat, i bet you could get 'em from starbucks.com

Subject: RE: Delta Blues CD from Starbucks
From: BK Lick
Date: 05 Sep 99 - 04:35 PM

I'm glad to know that. Which half is delta? Would there be a lot of agreement with your choices from other aficionados, do you suppose?

Subject: RE: Delta Blues CD from Starbucks
From: Tony Burns
Date: 05 Sep 99 - 07:21 PM

Please clarify something for me. To me Starbucks is one of the recent participants in the speciality coffee places. Is this the same Starbucks that has a CD?

Subject: RE: Delta Blues CD from Starbucks
From: emily rain
Date: 06 Sep 99 - 01:53 AM

yes! they have lots! they're meant to help you enjoy your coffee. : )

Subject: RE: Delta Blues CD from Starbucks
From: Roger in Baltimore
Date: 06 Sep 99 - 07:32 AM

Very interesting.........

I'll be going to the Starbucks in Sterling, Virginia this Wednesday. Maybe I'll pick up a CD there if they don't charge and arm and a leg for it.

The interesting coincidence is that I'll be there to "play the blues" from 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM. I'll be doing three of the songs from their CD (but not like the masters). I have to agree with Max that it's not all Delta on the CD. For example, Lead Belly lived mostly in Texas and Arkansas. His style on the 12-string is pretty individualistic and not really Delta blues (when he played the blues).

Roger in Baltimore

Subject: RE: Delta Blues CD from Starbucks
From: The Resonator
Date: 06 Sep 99 - 05:15 PM

I'd have to agree with those who said only half of that CD is "Delta" blues. Joe Williams singing "Baby Please Don't Go" isn't in the delta style, neither is anything by Mississippi John Hurt, who was born in the delta. Seems to me "Delta" blues has become shorthand for any blues or rag style played on acoustic guitar in the same way "Chicago" blues has come to mean anything on electric guitar. Ain't that America? Peace.

Subject: RE: Delta Blues CD from Starbucks
From: BK Lick
Date: 06 Sep 99 - 10:42 PM

How interestin' -- Tim Duffy writes in his liner notes about "Baby Please Don't Go" (which Big Joe wrote):

As a young man, Joe Lee Williams (1903-1982) hobo'ed about, perfecting his craft in the church picnics, brothels, streets, roadhouses, railroad and levee camps of Mississippi. In an illustrious career spanning seven decades, Williams was Ambassador of Delta Blues to the world. Here, in a tuning that defies explanation, he takes us on a guitar tour de force through the classic "Baby Please Don't Go."

I guess maybe this delta style thing is a bit slippery, eh?

Bruce