Down Home Blues: Chicago Volume 3: The Special Stuff (Various Artists)

• Track Listing

Down Home Blues: The Special Stuff is the third volume of Chicago Blues post-war down home blues music from Wienerworld: 108 tracks of rare, unissued or alternate takes of blues recorded in Chicago from 1941 through to 1961.

A 4CD set, packaged in a deluxe digipak with an outer slip case, featuring 108 tracks - all remastered and including alternate takes of well-known recordings. All unissued and alternate take records are from the late Peter Moody's private collection, many of which are otherwise unavailable.

Includes an outstanding 15,000 word, 88-page book, by renowned blues historian Chris Bentley on the post-war Chicago scene; many rare period photographs illustrate the essay throughout; plus full track details, as well as full sessionography detailing the where, when and who of the recordings, expertly compiled by blues expert Mike Rowe.

While CD1 sets the scene with the established pre-war bluesmen such as Robert Lockwood Jr and Sonny Boy Williamson, CD2 charts the rise of the amplified electric blues bands immediately following the second world war - such as in never-before-issued Chess recordings of Johnny Temple. CD3 continues the Muddy Waters sequence started on CD2 - and introduces Little Hudson, JB Lenoir and Eddie Taylor.

While beginning with a celebration of Chicago's flagship rock 'n' rollers - with a range of tracks from each of Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley - CD4 is rounded off by some largely unknown and unheralded artists including Grover Pruitt, Lucky Carmichael & Minnie Thomas. These obscure blues gems mirror the preceding Chicago set - regarding which RNR Magazine were willing to bet that "no matter how vast your blues collection, much of this wonderful music will be unfamiliar to you", and "even if your knowledge of blues is encyclopedic you won't even have heard of several of the performers" - a testament to the depth of Peter Moody's own collection.