Since I Saw You Last	- Downtown Blues - Acadian Lullaby - Red Cadillac & Black Moustache - Farmer John - Charlie James - I Won't Cry - Wild About My Lovin' - Since I Fell For You - Easy Rider Blues - Crawlin' King Snake - Little Red Hen - Ready For The River	PRICE: $14.00 Preview Tracks
My Mind Gets To Ramblin'	- I Can't Be Satisfied - Louise - All My Friends Are Gone - Mississippi Blues - Policy Blues - Steady Rollin' Man - Ain't Nothin' In Ramblin' - Prodigal Son - Dirty Deal Blues - Windy & Warm - Ain't You Sorry - Joshua F'it The Battle Of Jericho - Rowdy Blues Apple iTunes	PRICE: $14.00 Preview Tracks
Out of the Past	- I'm Going Away - Meet Me Where They Play The Blues - St. James Infirmary - I Never Cried - Crazy Blues - When It's Sleepy Time Down South - Big Bad Bill (Is Sweet William Now) - Wrap your Troubles In Dreams - Church Bell Blues - Moon Going Down - Bye Bye Blackbird - I've Found a New Baby - Bob McKinney - Do You KNow What It Means To Miss New Orleans? - Stack O'Lee - Blue Skies Apple iTunes	PRICE: $14.00 Preview Tracks

Quotes

Not being a songwriter myself, I have always had very high regard for truly great songs and those who write them. The tunes on this CD represent some of my favorites from what I consider to be music’s golden age. Virtually all of the songs presented here are from the 1920s and the 1930s. Some came into their own in the ritzy big city night clubs, cabarets, and in the musical theater. Some were born in the country, in barrelhouses, roadhouses, and cotton fields. In both cases, I think they still contain very pervasive and constant human experiences, motivations, dreams and hopes. I subscribe to the basic theory that all forms of music are somebody’s folk music. My hope is that you will be able to hear what I think is so wonderful and powerful about these tunes and hear something you like. Thanks for listening.

-- Steve Howell

Meet Me Where They Play The Blues - Jack Teagarden has been one of my idols since I saw him on television when I was a young boy. He was from Vernon, Texas. His hot trombone playing and wonderful singing style made a really big impression on me and continue to inspire me today. In the early 1920's he played with the mythic early Galveston, Texas, jazz band - Peck Kelly's Bad Boys. He was a mainstay of the late 1920's New York jazz scene. From 1947 to 1951 he was a sideman with the Louis Armstrong's All-Stars. In my opinion, he was one of the few really great early white jazz singers. He died in Los Angeles in 1964 at the age of 58. The headstone on his grave reads "Where There Is Hatred, Let Me Sow Love."

St. James Infirmary - My British brother, Arnie Cottrell, taught me this tune when we played as a duo in folks clubs in England and Wales in the mid-1970's. Later I discovered the great Dave Van Ronk's version called "Gambler's Blues." This tune's history is tied to a cycle of ballads going back three or four centuries concerning what ethnomusicologists refer to as the "Unfortunate Rake." This story has taken innumerable forms through history. In the United States, this version of the song developed in the African-American community. In the white community, it became "The Streets of Laredo."

I Never Cried (Built Right On The Ground) - From Henderson, Kentucky, Theodore Roosevelt "Blind Teddy" Darby recorded this tune in Chicago on September 29, 1931, for the Victor record label. A great example of Jim, Joe and David bringing their musical sensibilities to a very primitive solo tune and transforming it beautifully.

Crazy Blues - It is commonly accepted that Mamie Smith made the first recording of a blues song in 1920 with her version "Crazy Blues" on Okeh Records. The record was a wild success, selling over a million copies in less than a year, and finally ending up selling over two million copies. After its success record companies realized that there was a lot of money to be made selling what were then called "race records" to various minority groups in big cities. It was a very important record, because it opened the doors of the recording industry to African-Americans, whether they were blues, jazz or popular singers or musicians. Smith herself really was not that much of a blues singer. She was more of a vaudeville performer, although she included blues and jazz numbers as part of her act which included trapeze acts, dancing, comedy, lavish costumes and jewelry, as well as music. Smith continued to record for Okeh until 1923, setting the standard for female blues singers who followed in her foot steps. Nearly every other Classic Blues singer of the 1920's borrowed something from her act or styled themselves to achieve her success.

When It's Sleepy Time Down South - This was Louis Armstrong's theme song for a large part of his career. It is a wonderful tribute to the "Southland" and one of my favorite examples of the traditional jazz genre. This one is for my mom.

Big Bad Bill (Is Sweet William Now) - Previously recorded by Ry Cooder, Leon Redbone, Merle Haggard, and even Van Halen, for heaven's sake. Emmett Miller was a white minstrel performer who had the good fortune to have top-notch jazz musicians assigned to his Okeh Records sessions in the late 1920s. His records made between June of 1928 and September of 1929 where under the name of Emmett Miller and his Georgia Crackers. He recorded "Big Bad Bill" in December of 1928. This is my tribute to married men everywhere.

Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams (And Dream Your Troubles Away) - This song was a big hit for Bing Crosby reaching #4 in the pop charts in 1931. I think the advice offered in this song is priceless and worth referring to often.

Moon Going Down - Charlie Patton was arguably the most powerful blues recording artist of all time, considered by many to be the single most important figure in the history of traditional blues. Patton spent most of his life in the Delta region of northwestern Mississippi and was the Delta's first blues celebrity. From about 1900 he was often based at Dockery's plantation in Sunflower county. My mother grew up about 75 miles east of there in Ashley County, Arkansas. He spent most of his career playing blues and ragtime-based popular songs for dancers at rural parties and barrelhouses, where his singing and clowning made him a popular entertainer. He made nearly seventy recordings between 1929 and 1934. The mystery contained in his coarse, strained, sometimes unintelligible singing and heavily percussive guitar accompaniment has always intrigued me. This song was originally recorded for Paramount in Grafton, Wisconsin, in June of 1930.

Bye Bye Blackbird - Anyone who has spent an extended period of time far from home, alone and isolated from those who care for you, understands this great old standard from 1926. I always imagine that the lyrics are sung to the blackbird who hangs around outside your window all winter when you are somewhere far away and you are leaving to finally go home where it is warm and someone you love waits for you.

I've Found A New Baby - Ethel Waters recorded this song in 1926 before she started her career as a gospel singer ("His Eye Is On The Sparrow" and others). I've always been a big fan of Benny Goodman's small group recordings, particularly the ones featuring Charlie Christian. The Benny Goodman Sextet did an awesome version of this tune in the late 1930's. To me, this song epitomizes the traditional jazz genre - part jazz, part ragtime, part blues.

Bob McKinney - I have always been interested in songs about bad men. This one has its roots in the history of rural East Texas at the turn of the century. Henry Thomas (aka Ramblin' Henry Thomas aka Ragtime Texas) lived in and performed around Gladewater and Big Sandy, Texas, beginning his career in the 1890's and recording well into the 1920's. His style of playing was very much rooted in the 19 th century traditions of the itinerant troubadour. He played several different styles of music and performed to predominately white audiences. His songs have been done by Taj Mahal ("Fishin' Blues") and the Grateful Dead ("Don't Ease Me In"). Canned Heat's 1967 hit recording of "Going Up The Country" is almost a direct recreation of Thomas' "Red River Blues." The second half of this medley, "Make Me Down a Pallet On Your Floor," was popularized as the chorus of the 1895 Tin Pan Alley hit - "The New Bully".

Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans? - I have always thought this is one of the most beautiful songs ever written. It just drips with the feeling of New Orleans for me. I associate this song with Louis Armstrong and Jack Teagarden, who performed it for years as a staple of their shows.

Stack O'Lee - Another song about an archetypal bad man. The legend of Stack O'Lee (a/k/a "Stag" Lee a/k/a Stackerlee a/k/a Staggerlee) goes back to the male-only African-American social and political clubs in St. Louis. According to a St. Louis Globe Dispatch report from 1895, a carriage driver named Lee Sheldon murdered William Lyons, a levee hand, when, during an argument about politics, Lyons grabbed Sheldon's hat. As could be expected when someone messes with a man's hat, Sheldon promptly shot Lyons, who subsequently died. This story traveled down the river to New Orleans and Mississippi where its variations have, of course, grown into a mythic tale. Mississippi John Hurt's version has been my favorite since I first heard it in the early 1960's.

Blue Skies - Irving Berlin is arguably the finest songwriter and composer of the twentieth century. This evergreen from 1927 is one of my favorite tunes of all time. Berlin's first hit was in 1910 with "Alexander's Ragtime Band." He continued to turn out incredible songs for another five decades including: "How Deep Is the Ocean," "White Christmas," " There's No Business Like Show Business," "A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody," "Easter Parade" and his tribute to his beloved country, "God Bless America." Unlike the typical upbeat and sometimes almost trite versions of this tune often done in the past, I see this song from the perspective of someone who has been down for a long time and is finally seeing the clouds parting.