Description
Reelin’ In The Years Productions, in association with Experience Hendrix, bring you the American Folk Blues Festival 1962-1966 Volumes One & Two. The AFBF was an annual event that featured the cream of American blues musicians barnstorming their way across western Europe every fall from 1962 through 1966. Recorded live in a small TV studio in Germany, these historic and unseen performances have been lost for nearly 40 years. Filmed with superb camera work and pristine sound, each DVD contains 18 complete performances from the greatest blues musicians of all time. Captured during their heyday in an era of scant video documentation, these DVDs are truly one of the most unique and precious visual documents of the blues.

The American Folk Blues Festivals featured a dazzling array of talent that included such greats as Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Willie Dixon, John Lee Hooker and Sonny Boy Williamson playing alongside other legends such as T-Bone Walker, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Memphis Slim and Big Mama Thornton to create the most significant group of blues artists ever assembled!Amazon.com
Unearthed some 40 years after the fact, this has to be one of the finest blues collections ever assembled on video. Thanks to a couple of young promoters who brought the musicians to Europe–where they were treated with a good deal more respect and dignity than in America–we get an extraordinary lineup of bluesmen and women: Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson, Buddy Guy, John Lee Hooker, Sippie Wallace… the list goes on. Their concert performances (several in stagy but effective down-home settings) before a rather formal but appreciative German audience have them playing in some cool combinations (T-Bone Walker backing Memphis Slim, Otis Rush with Junior Wells), even introducing one another (Williamson on guitarist Lonnie Johnson, an elder statesman on the tour: “A very nice musician”)–and all with great sound (mono, but still flawless) and visuals (in black and white). This is one for blues fans to treasure. –Sam Graham

The American Folk Blues Festival 1962-1966, Vol. 1

Description
Tracklistings
1. BIG MAMA THORNTON- Hound Dog
2. ROOSEVELT SYKES- Gulfport Boogie
3. BUDDY GUY- Out Of Sight
4. DR. ISAIAH ROSS- Feel So Good
5. JOE TURNER- Flip, Flop & Fly
6. SKIP JAMES- All Night Long
7. SKIP JAMES- Crow Jane
8. BUKKA WHITE Got Sick & Tired
9. SON HOUSE Death Letter Blues
10. HOUND DOG TAYLOR Wild About You
11. KOKO TAYLOR Wang Dang Doodle
12. SONNY TERRY & BROWNIE McGHEE-Stranger Blues
12. SONNY TERRY & BROWNIE McGHEE- Burnt Child (Afraid of Fire)
14. SONNY TERRY & BROWNIE McGHEE-Gonna Move Across The River
15. HELEN HUMES- THe Blues Ain’t Nothing’ But A Women
BONUS TRACKS:
16. EARL HOOKER- Earl’s Boogie
17. MUDDY WATERS- Long Distance Call &
16. MUDDY WATERS-I Got My Mojo WorkingAmazon.com
They called 2003 “the year of the blues,” but any year that sees another release in the American Folk Blues Festival series is one worth savoring. There’s no lack of star power on this, the third volume (the first two were released in, yes, ‘03) taken from the European tours organized for American blues musicians between 1962 and ‘69; two fiery tunes by Muddy Waters are included as bonus tracks, Joe Turner is well known from his days with Count Basie, and the finale brings together such estimable perfomers as vocalist Helen Humes, pianist Memphis Slim, guitarist T-Bone Walker, bassist Willie Dixon, and longtime partners Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee. If names like Skip James, Bukka White, Dr. Isaiah Ross, and Son House (all playing in the acoustic Delta style, a sound that’s about as raw and real as the blues gets) ring a bell only with serious blues fans, no matter. The performances (including what’s purported to be the only extant audio-video footage of harmonica legend Little Walter) are uniformly strong, and the black & white images and strikingly clear sound are once again extraordinary. But this footage is not only a treat in and of itself. It’s also music that changed our culture forever, as members of bands like the Rolling Stones, the Yardbirds, and Led Zeppelin were there to witness it in person.–Sam Graham

The American Folk Blues Festival 1962-1969, Vol. 3

Description
Reelin’ In The Years Productions, in association with Experience Hendrix, bring you the American Folk Blues Festival 1962-1966 Volumes One & Two. The AFBF was an annual event that featured the cream of American blues musicians barnstorming their way across western Europe every fall from 1962 through 1966. Recorded live in a small TV studio in Germany, these historic and unseen performances have been lost for nearly 40 years. Filmed with superb camera work and pristine sound, each DVD contains 18 complete performances from the greatest blues musicians of all time. Captured during their heyday in an era of scant video documentation, these DVDs are truly one of the most unique and precious visual documents of the blues.

The American Folk Blues Festivals featured a dazzling array of talent that included such greats as Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Willie Dixon, John Lee Hooker and Sonny Boy Williamson playing alongside other legends such as T-Bone Walker, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Memphis Slim and Big Mama Thornton to create the most significant group of blues artists ever assembled!Amazon.com
Three songs by Howlin’ Wolf are the highlight of this second set of blues performances recorded in the 1960s, when an extraordinary lineup of musicians (among the 18 tracks here are tunes by Lightnin’ Hopkins, Willie Dixon, Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, and Big Mama Thornton) toured Europe, thrilling (among many others) the young Englishmen playing in bands like the Rolling Stones and the Yardbirds. As with Volume 1, the monaural sound and black-and-white video are superb, making the release of the footage four decades later even more welcome. And Wolf? He was still in his prime in ‘64, perhaps equaled only by Muddy Waters (who appears on the first volume). “Did you ever been in the groove?” he asks at one point. “Well, I’m gonna put you way down in the woods.” That he does, and blues fans will be only too happy to tag along. –Sam Graham

The American Folk Blues Festival 1962-1966, Vol. 2