Blind Pig Records: 20th Anniversary Collection (CD - 1997)

Personnel: Joanna Connor (vocals, guitar).

San Francisco's Blind Pig Records celebrates their 20th anniversary with this two-disc, 36-track collection featuring over two hours' worth of highlights from their many releases with a few unreleased bonus tracks to spice up the mix. Originally started as a sideline to a blues club in Ann Arbor, MI, with an ear toward documenting the local scene and blues artists who played there regularly, Blind Pig has grown to record new artists like Debbie Davies, Joanna Connor, Tommy Castro, Jimmy Thackery, and Sarah Brown, while more traditional bluesmen like Otis Rush, Snooky Pryor, Walter Horton, James Cotton, and Jimmy Rogers have all stopped in at various points and recorded an album or two for the label. Although the label already has one retrospective available (The Blind Pig Sampler), this one brings matters more up to date, including tracks from Coco Montoya ("Monkey See, Monkey Do"), Chubby Carrier ("Wastin' Time"), Sarah Brown ("Bad Thing"), Studebaker John & the Hawks ("Two Time Boogie"), and sides from the aforementioned Thackery, Connor, Davies, and Castro. The traditional side of things is shored up by tracks from James Cotton ("Take Me Back"), Johnny Shines ("Blues Come from Texas"), Snooky Pryor ("Crazy 'Bout My Baby"), Otis Rush ("Right Place, Wrong Time"), and John Lee Hooker's version of "Terraplane Blues," taken from his guest appearance on a Roy Rogers album. Four previously unissued bonus tracks courtesy of Big Walter Horton ("If I Get Lucky"), Roosevelt Sykes ("I Wonder"), Pinetop Perkins ("Worried Life Blues"), and Henry Gray ("Cold Chills") make this collection another must-have. With sides from artists as diverse as soul singers Otis Clay and E.C. Scott to Preacher Boy and the Gospel Hummingbirds aboard, this double-disc set reaffirms the label's commitment to releasing brand-name blues and roots music. Blind Pig has released a multitude of great music in their many years as a label, and here's where you can pick up on some of the best of it. ~ Cub Koda minimize