Johnny Shines - Blues Came Falling Down - Live 1973 (CD)

Johnny Shines - The Blues Came Falling Down - Live 1973 - Previously unissued 1973 live performance. • Photos from the collection of Leroy Jodie Pierson. • Liner notes from Leroy Jodie Pierson. Not many musicians of the 20th century could boast of a career that included touring with Robert Johnson, recording for Columbia, Vanguard and Chess Records and playing with blues luminaries like Little Walter, Robert Lockwood, Jr., Mississippi Fred McDowell and Willie Dixon among others. Maybe there is only one, and that artist was Johnny Shines. In the 1930s Shines toured with his greatest influence, Robert Johnson, well before he made his first recordings. Those came in 1946 for Columbia and again in 1950 for Chess, but went unissued for decades. In 1952, he was back in the studio, this time for the J.O.B. label. Again, several sides went unreleased, but those that did see the light of day were commercial failures likely due to lack of any wide distribution. Shines hung it up and stepped away from music. Thankfully, only a few years went by before he was rediscovered in Chicago at a Howlin' Wolf show after which there would be no more side steps away from the music business until a stroke slowed him down for a little while in 1980. He recorded a string of albums for labels such as Testament, Blue Horizon, Advent, Rounder, Biograph and Blind Pig among others, as well as, toured internationally. Shines appeared and played in the documentary The Search For Robert Johnson in 1991 just before his 1992 death. The Blues Hall of Fame wasted no time in inducting him that same year. Back in 1973 though, he was at the height of his powers as demonstrated by this largely solo performance at Washington University's Graham Chapel in St. Louis. Mixing original compositions with a few selections by Robert Johnson for a grateful and enthusiastic crowd.

Track List:

Disc: 1

1. Big Boy Boogie
2. Seems a Million Years
3. Cold in Hand Blues
4. Kind Hearted Woman Blues
5. Have You Every Loved a Woman
6. Stay High All Day Long
7. Stand By Me
8. I'm a Steady Rollin' Man
9. Happy Home
10. Someday Baby Blues
11. They're Red Hot (Hot Tamales)
12. You're the One I Love
13. Sweet Home Chicago
14. The Blues Came Falling Down
15. Big Star Falling
16. Tell Me Mama
17. Ramblin'
18. It's Nobody's Fault But Mine
19. Goodbye Boogie
20. How You Want Your Rollin' Done