Rare Archival Recordings 1963-71
Rory Block & Stefan Grossman

In this 71 minute CD, rare recordings of a young Rory Block and Stefan Grossman are featured. As well, the original landmark 1964 Elektra release of their HOW TO PLAY BLUES GUITAR (plus out-takes) is presented. This is an enhanced CD and features a PDF file of tab/music for all the tunes from HOW TO PLAY BLUES GUITAR.

After these tracks were recorded Rory went on to record solo albums and became the Winner of five WC Handy Blues Music Awards. Stefan went on to record solo albums as well as the highly acclaimed duet albums with John Renbourn. He has also authored countless guitar books on the Country Blues.

Track Listing

1. Crow Jane 1:54 Rory - Guitar Stefan - Guitar
2. I’m So Glad 2:50 Rory - Vocal Stefan - Guitar
3. Pony Blues 2:06 Rory - Guitar Stefan - Guitar
4. Walking Blues 3:54 Rory - Vocal & Guitar
5. Devil Got My Woman 1:45 Rory - Guitar
6. Yonder Comes The Blues 5:25 Son House - Vocals Stefan - Guitar Paul Rowan - Harmonica
7. Guitar Blues 1:35 Rory - Guitar
8. Ragged and Dirty 4:39 Stefan - Vocal
9. Patton Blues in G 2:59 Rory - Guitar Stefan - Guitar
10. Stagolee 2:16 Rory - Vocal & Guitar
11. Special Rider 2:53 Stefan - Guitar
12. New Pony Blues 3:03 Son House - Vocals Stefan - Guitar
13. Shuffle for the Perls 1:35 Stefan - Guitar
14. Canned Heat 2:34 Rory - Vocal & Guitar

FROM THE 1964 HOW TO PLAY BLUES GUITAR album
15. Old Country Rock 1:32 Rory - Guitar Stefan - Guitar
16. Future Blues 1:41 Rory - Guitar
17. Turn Your Money Green 1:18 Rory - Guitar
18. God Moves On The Water 1:10 Stefan - Guitar
19. Monday Morning Blues 1:17 Stefan - Guitar
20. M & O Blues 1:58 Rory - Guitar Stefan - Guitar
21. Whistlin’ Blues 1:52 Stefan - Guitar
22. Candyman 1:34 Rory - Guitar Stefan - Guitar
23. Banty Rooster 1:38 Stefan - Guitar
24. Save Up Your Money, John D. Rockerfeller Put The Panic On 1:07 Stefan - Guitar
25. Canned Heat 1:34 Rory - Guitar Stefan - Guitar
26. Vestapol 1:59 Stefan - Guitar
27. Brownsville Blues 1:59 Stefan - Guitar
28. Police Dog Blues 1:51 Stefan - Guitar
29. You Got The Pocket Book, I Got The Key 1:22 Stefan - Guitar
30. Mississippi Blues 2:52 Rory - Guitar Stefan - Guitar

Out takes FROM THE 1964 HOW TO PLAY BLUES GUITAR album
31. Kokomo Blues 1:19 Stefan - Guitar
32. Belzona Blues 2:06 Rory - Guitar Stefan - Guitar

Review: Once upon a time, the Mississippi Delta resided in New York City. Cottonfield moans that normally reverberated around shotgun shacks were getting chorded out on guitars around Greenwich Village by two Northern kids with old Southern souls, who required acoustic country blues like oxygen. These unearthed archival recordings, cut over the span of 1963-71, stand as archeological proof that the then-teenaged Stefan Grossman and Rory Block did transport The Delta, and even The Piedmont, into The City. Sometimes they work alone; sometimes in duet; sometimes their young voices sing; oft times they remain silent. Yet these precocious guitar aces always impressed at a historical time when songs by the likes of Skip James, Tommy Johnson, Charley Patton, and Blind Boy Fuller were being devoured by a new audience. To feed that hunger, Elektra released their all-instrumental How To Play Blues Guitar in 1967, which appears digitally here for its first time (complete with tab/music PDF file). Bolstering that complete album are Out-takes, 12 tracks later taped by Nick Perls, and two wild rides in 1971 with Son House and his bespectacled string-snapping wingman.

Although their solo time sliding out "Banty Rooster" or yodeling out “Canned Heat is terrific, the real magic occurs when both entwine like copperheads around "Crow Jane" and make like Son House and Willie Brown whipping along "Pony Blues."            -Dennis Rozanski, Bluesrag

Review: Stefan Grossman was at Ground Zero of the great folk and blues rediscovery period of the late 1960s to early 1970s and collaborated with many of the greats who were finally getting their long overdue recognition. Blues luminaries from Mississippi John Hurt to Son House, Skip James, and Rev. Gary Davis eventually wound up on Grossman's radar and jammed and recorded with the guitarist/vocalist. But his best work was in discovering 12-year-old Rory Block, who was playing guitar behind her father on a Sunday afternoon in Greenwich Village in 1963. Grossman instantly recognized Block's enormous potential and the two set about collaborating and translating some of the blues classics that they eventually turned into an album.

How To Play Blues Guitar was released in 1967 with Block appearing under the name Sunshine Kate; the second half of this disc is taken from those sessions. All 18 tracks are strictly instrumentals with Grossman and Block working through numerous classics such as Willie Brown's M&O Blues and Mississippi John Hurt's Candyman. Twelve of the first 14 tracks of Country Blues Guitar are taken from an early session recorded by Yazoo Records founder Nick Perls. The remaining two cuts feature Son House in a 1971 recording session in London. House sounds unusually reserved and restrained on Yonder Comes The Blues but delivers a more impassioned performance on New Pony Blues, with Grossman accompanying House on guitar on both cuts. Country Blues Guitar also comes complete with a PDF  tab/music file showing tab arrangement for the tracks that were originally released on How To Play Blues Guitar.

Country Blues Guitar is an intriguing release that gives a glimpse into the very early career of Rory Block, then a young acoustic guitar dynamo who played stunning blues. – Living Blues/Dave Ruthenberg

cdSGGW103  Enhanced CD $15.00