GRIS-GRIS         Dr John

Dr. John's first release and still his best. New Orleans R&B served up in a rich gumbo of voodoo & pyschedelia. GUMBO is the second selection.

COME FROM THE SHADOWS          Joan Baez

My favorite Baez album by far, though not well known.

STRANGE WEATHER            Marianne Faithfull

With a voice that tells you everything you need to know about Faithfull's tumultuous life, she turns to jazz and blues and knocks it out of the park. The follow-on BLAZING AWAY is almost as good.

PENTANGLE            The Pentangle

English folk rock filtered through a strong jazz sensibility. Check out the albums SWEET CHILD, BASKET OF LIGHT and CRUEL SISTER also.

CRAWFISH FIESTA          Professor Longhair

The "Bach of Rock & Roll", the Professor was perhaps the most influential pianist in the development of 50's R&B.

RAY CHARLES           Ray Charles

His first Atco release. GREAT early R&B.

THIRD          Soft Machine

Psychedelic jazz-influenced rock.

MINGUS AH UM             Charles Mingus

Mingus was a brilliant jazz composer. This album featured the first recording of his tribute to Lester Young, "Good-bye Pork Pie Hat".

PEARL           Janis Joplin

Please, lord, when I die… let me go to the heaven where Janis is performing.

IT AIN'T EASY            Long John Baldry

One of the first Brits to take up the blues as part of Alexis Korner's band. Later sidemen have included Rod Stewart, Elton John, Mick Jagger, Jack Bruce, Charlie Watts, Keith Richards, Brian Jones, Jimmy Page, Nicky Hopkins, Brian Auger, Julie Driscoll, Elton Dean, etc.

PLEASURES OF THE HARBOR              Phil Ochs

Not typical for Ochs, it's still the one I keep coming back to (though Jim & Jean Glover recorded a much more compelling version of Ochs' "The Crucifixion").

If I Should Fall From Grace With God             Pogues

Irish Celtic/punk of the highest order.

FROM FRESHWATER            Stan Rogers

A Canadian with a great baritone voice who wrote finely crafted, traditional-sounding songs about the lives of normal people in the Great Lakes region. Died too early when the flight he was on returning from the Kerrville Folk Festival in Texas burst into flames over Ohio. FROM FRESHWATER was engineered and released after his death and has a very different, much more produced sound than his others. Not the sort of difference I would normally like but somehow this is the one I also slip into the player first. You definitely also should check out the live HOME IN HALIFAX.

THE CHESS BOX           Willie Dixon

Without Willie Dixon neither electric blues nor rock & roll would have sounded the way they do. Haven't really heard of him? That's a tragedy. Check him out. Unfortunately, none of his releases really click as a whole for me, so this one is an anthology.

HARVEST HOME          Jay Ungar & Molly Mason

Wonderful classically-inspired string band music.