T-BONE WALKER
Blues Masters - The Very Best Of (Rhino)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson

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I can't count the number of people I've talked to who appreciated blues and knew the name T-Bone Walker, but came up with blank faces when I asked which of his songs they liked best. Further prying usually exposed a tragic and startling weakness in their cerebral blues databases: they didn't know where he fit into the history of popular music.

Notice that I didn't say "blues." It would be a gross injustice to credit Walker only for his influence on the blues, considerable though it definitely was. His influence reached way out to jazz, big band, pop and eventually to early Rock n Roll, then well into the 60s with Eric Clapton and the 90s with Stevie Ray Vaughan. In fact, it can be argued that he influenced nearly everyone, since he was among the first guitarists to bring the electric guitar front and center. He did the splits, crazy struts, and played with the guitar hoisted up behind his head. More importantly, he bent strings, played two-string solos and wrote his own music. Way, way ahead of his time.

Rhino Records (still among the coolest labels on the planet) gives us this extremely cool 16-track collection, The Very Best Of T-Bone Walker, as part of their Blues Masters Series. These are the original (read: first) recordings of Walker's classic tunes like "They Call It Stormy Monday," "Mean Old World Blues" and the ultra-revealing "Strollin' With Bones," a 1950 rocker that features very identifiable Chuck Berry licks... half a decade before Berry nicked 'em. (Chuck admits it, so we can't really spank him too hard.)

There's plenty more T-Bone to pick, but as a single disc collection, this one really does a fantastic job of delivering the real good goods. As someone who has been "victimized" by poorly labeled "20th re-recordings" of T-Bone classics, I really appreciate Rhino for understanding the historic importance of getting the original versions of these songs. I'm betting you'll appreciate the whole thing, from that significance to the significant blues to Billy Vera's liner notes. It's all very, very good.

Track List:

Bobby Sox Blues * Mean Old World Blues * I'm Still In Love With You * Evenin' * Hypin' Woman Blues * Call It Stormy Monday (But Tuesday Is Just As Bad) * West Side Baby * Strollin' With Bones * The Hustle Is On * You Don't Understand * Tell Me What's The Reason * Papa Ain't Salty * Play On Little Girl * T-Bone Blues * How Long Blues * T-Bone Shuffle

© 2000 - DJ Johnson