Music history -- Blues -- R&B --> Elmore James, Sonny Boy Williamson, Little Milton, and James Waller-all of these musical powerhouses furthered their recording careers at a little label on once-thriving Farish Street, the historic black district of Jackson, Mississippi. These blues, gospel, and R&B all-stars are featured in Trumpet Records: Diamonds on Farish Street, the detailed story of this thriving recording label of the mid-1950s. What caused it to spring to life in Jackson? It began in 1949, when a white woman named Lillian McMurry and her husband purchased a hardware store on Farish Street, then a location on the boundary between the city's white and black business and entertainment districts. While taking inventory of the original stock and renovating the building, she discovered a stack of unsold records, including Wynonie Harris's recording of "All She Wants to Do Is Rock." Curious, Mrs. McMurry played it on the store's record player and became so inspired that she decided to record more music like it. Thus was born Trumpet Records. The life of the studio was brief, and this book, in careful detail, covers its short history (1951-1956) and includes accounts of recording sessions with its roster of gospel groups, blues musicians, and R&B singers, almost all of them African American. The book also documents McMurry's attempts to fuse country and African American popular music into what would become rock 'n' roll. From interviews, archival recordings, company documents, reviews, photographs, and the assistance of the founder, Marc W. Ryan has compiled the fascinating history of this short-lived but influential company. This new edition of a work recognized in 1993 by the Association for Recorded Sound Collections features an updated discography and bibliography, extensive new documentation, and additional insights into the operations of Trumpet Records. Marc W. Ryan is an independent music scholar living in North San Juan, California. His work has been published in Rolling Stone, Discoveries, and Blues and Rhythm. (view table of contents)

A resource on blues music reviews 7,000 recordings in all major styles while profiling more than 1,000 blues artists and providing essays on the genre's history, styles, labels, and influential contributors. Original.

Product Description: Revised and updated, the essential album guide covers the gamut of regional and historical blues styles.

A definitive guide to jazz and blues recordings features reviews of more than ten thousand albums, from the historic 1920s recordings of Louis Armstrong to the works of Branford Marsalis and Kenny G., and includes a concise overview of the history and influence of the music. Original. 25,000 first printing.

Recommends nine hundred of the best blues CDs featuring the work of more than one hundred memorable blues artists

Reviews and rates the best recordings of more than 560 blues artists and groups, provides biographies of the artists, and charts the evolution of the blues (view table of contents)

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Product Description: This is the fully revised edition of Paul Oliver's successful The Blackwell Guide to Recorded Blues. It has been entirely rewritten to take account of the CD revolution in which some 6,000 blues CDs have been issued over the last five years...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Rates and reviews more than seven hundred blues recordings

Discusses the history of the blues, and recommends important records in each regional blues tradition

A discographical guide to more than 3,000 blues and gospel LPs, CDs, and cassettes with information on the featured artists, and the quality and availability of the recordings.

Discusses the history of the blues, and recommends important records in each regional blues tradition

Product Description: Book by

Product Description: Although somewhat more specialized than the Atlantic set because of Prestige's emphasis on jazz, this work is valuable for record collectors and researchers. American Reference Books Annual

Product Description: Book by Robert M. W. Dixon, John Godrich