The George Mitchell Collection

George Mitchell (above) made numerous field recordings of Southern blues musicians and other traditional artists from 1962 to the early 1980s.  George is also a world-class photographer, and has authored nine books.

The George Mitchell Collection is a 7CD set.  The first 6 CDs compiles the first 45 volumes that were originally released on 7 inch vinyl on Fat Possum Records', plus a bonus CD.

For those unfamiliar with George Mitchell, he was a young blues fan in the 1960s who set out to follow in the footsteps of John and Alan Lomax, Sam Charters and a few others who had gone out to make field recordings of musicians.   In 1967, Mitchell took the cheapest tape recorder he could find, a Wollensack ($168 with a microphone) and sought out blues musicians willing to record for him.

The results were very cool.  He recorded some known names like Will Shade (who had led the Memphis Jug Band in the 1920s and 30s), Buddy Moss, Houston Stackhouse, Furry Lewis, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Robert Nighthawk (George made the last known recordings of Robert Nighthawk), Big Joe Williams, Sleepy John Estes, and Joe Callicott. 

George also discovered some then unknown musicians who became well known in blues circles.  George considered his best discoveries to be Cecil Barfield in Plains, Georgia in 1976 and R.L. Burnside in Holly Springs, Mississippi.  But there were other unknown musicians George discovered and recorded, including Othar Turner, Napolian Strickland and Jesse Mae Hemphill, who now all have commemorative markers on the Mississippi Blues Trail but were unknown before George Mitchell first recorded them in 1967.

Given that George used inexpensive recording gear, the sound on these tracks is surprisingly good.

CD1 - Volumes 1 through 7

CD2 - Volumes 8 through 14

CD3 - Volumes 15 through 22

CD4 - Volumes 23 through 29

The Robert Johnson on tracks 15 through 19 is not the legendary Robert Johnson who died in 1938.  This Robert Johnson was born in 1916 in Crowley, Louisiana, and recorded with his family by George Mitchell in their home just south of Cleveland, Mississippi.  There's a chapter about this Robert Johnson in George Mitchell's 1971 book 'Blow My Blues Away', which I highly recommend to blues fans.

As an aside: There was a Robert Johnson in my high school homeroom, he was not happy when I told him of the blues musician Robert Johnson, and offered to play 'King Of The Delta Blues Singers' for him. [whatevs - Ed]

CD5 - Volumes 30 through 38

CD6 - Volumes 39 through 45

CD 7 - Bonus Disc

For the freeload, tell us about favorite albums you bought, just because you liked the cover/album art.