Delta Bluesman

Album Review

One of the underrated greats of country blues, Honeyboy Edwards is heard on this superior release at the beginning and in the later part of his long career. A very authentic blues singer and guitarist who occasionally played harmonica, Edwards grew up in Mississippi and was captured by Alan Lomax in Clarksdale in 1942 for the first 14 selections on this CD. Already distinctive at the age of 27, Edwards was in Chicago during the 1950s but, despite being quite active, he hardly recorded at all until the late '70s. The final 13 selections on this CD are mostly from 1991 and they find Edwards being featured both solo and with Sunnyland Slim and Carey Bell in an excellent quintet, still singing and playing guitar with power. He also tells a few stories about the distant past. As of this writing in 2006, the 91-year-old Honeyboy Edwards, nearly the last link to Robert Johnson and Charley Patton in the 1930s, is still performing at blues festivals. Delta Bluesman remains his definitive release.