Guitarist and singer Scrapper Blackwell (1903-1962) isn’t not well known these days, but this blueser from South Carolina was a contemporary of Big Bill Broonzy and his famous accompanist, pianist Leroy Carr. This two disc set includes his famous duets with Carr from the Depression era, as well as his “comeback” album in 1961.
With Carr, he googies on pieces like “Non-Skid Tread” and “Be-Da-Da Dum”, while on his own he delivers dark shades on “Trouble Blues, Pt 1-2” and gives some clean and articulate soloing on “’A’ Blues” and “’D’ Blues”. His strings sting hard on “”Blues Before Sunrise” and “”Sally-In-The-Alley”Blues” and sound like a calliope on “Goin’ to Jail About Her”. For his last session, he rollicks on a rich read of “Nobody Knows When You’re Down And Out” and “Little Boy Blue”. An overlooked treasure.