I´ve always been an admirer of underground comic artist extraordinaire Robert Crumb, of Mr. Natural, Fritz The Cat and Devil Girl fame. Back in the eighties Crumb, who knows his music and also plays a mean banjo, created three beautiful sets of trading cards with musical themes: Heroes of the Blues, Pioneers of Country Music and Early Jazz Greats. The good news is that these have finally been collected in book form as R. Crumb´s Heroes Of Blues, Jazz & Country (Abrams Books). A handsome and nicely priced hardcover with tons of color portraits and short but accurate biographies of both famous and obscure musicians, you´d be a fool not to pick up a copy. Especially since it comes with a cd containing 21 great tracks from the archives of the great Yazoo label. Which means you get wonderful songs like High Water Everywhere by Charley Patton representing the blues, Big Bend Gal by the Shelor Family - who recorded only four sides in ´27 and were never heard of again - in the country section and Jelly Roll Morton´s Kansas City Stomps for early jazz. Keep on truckin´, Mr. Crumb...
Charley Patton - High Water Everywhere MP3
Shelor Family - Big Bend Gal MP3
Jelly Roll Morton´s Red Hot Peppers - Kansas City Stomps MP3
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