The Blues! Congress declared 2003 the year of the blues. Martin Scorses commissioned a series of film about the blues. Every label and their brother is rushing to jump on the bandwagon. There are collections and anthologies of every blues singer, and would-be blues guitarist who ever existed. I can remember a time when you had to hunt for this stuff. Drive forty miles to the big city to find a store that carried more than a handful of blues records. I can recall my exhaltation at finding a Skip James LP, and a Mississippi John Hurt LP in a sales bin at a department store. Thirty-nine cents each! Whew! A goldmine! Now they use blues to sell beer and jeans. Well...if you're just starting out on your journey to the Delta, and you want a good taste of what's out there...you could do worse than check out these two new releases from Putumayo. Yep! Putumayo...the company that sells their CDs at coffeeshops!

Mississippi Blues is a bit of a misnomer. The genre known as Mississippi Blues is usually the acoustic form as played by Son House, early Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson et al. Then as the blues became electrified, those Mississippi blues became Chicago blues as farm workers moved up to the big city. This CD presents a kind of conglomeration of Chicago style (Luther Allison's "Part Time Love"), mixed with the rocking sound of Memphis (Ike & Tina Turner's "3 O'Clock In the Morning"), a touch of John Lee Hooker's unique Hooker-blues ("Baby Don't Do Me Wrong"), topped off with a dollop of hip-hop influence from Chris Thomas King ("Come On In My Kitchen"). Well...that pretty much sums it up. Except for the folkie "Stewball" by Memphis Slim, the slicker show-blues of Bobby Bland ("St. James Infirmary), the blues is hard to categorize. I think Putumayo is thinking of Mississippi Blues as representative of the whole length of the river. In which case...this fine collection is a good sampler. Did I mention it includes the stunning fingerpicked guitar, and warm smokey vocals of Mississippi John Hurt ("Make Me A Pallet On Your Floor")?

American Blues is designed to help the listener "celebrate the soul and spirit of the blues with some of America's greatest contemporary blues artists." Arthur Adams leads of, in a duet with his mentor BB King, on "Get Next To Me." This is an exciting blues, with traded guitar solos and vocals. Very nice, and just obscure enough to be collectable. Keb Mo', best known for his delightful theme to Martha Stewart's TV show, is next with a finger-picked "Hand It Over." Ruth Brown's powerful voice contends with a great solo from guitarist Duke Robillard, and a solid horn section on "Good Day For the Blues." This album has one of my favourite Taj Mahal tracks, "Cakewalk Into Town." "She's Into Something" appears from the sizzling Showdown album which pairs Robert Cray and Albert Collins in a guitar cutting session. Henry Gray smokes on harp, for "How Could You Do It." Another entertaining cross section of blues. Don't miss Eric Bibb's rendition of Lightning Hopkins "Needed Time," or Susan Tedeschi's star turn on "Just Won't Burn." Either of these albums provides a good first look at the Blues, or would make a welcome addition to a more in-depth blues library.

Speaking of blues libraries, the booklets included in the Putumayo collections are well illustrated and informative, but if you want a more in-depth resource you simply have to get the 3rd edition of The All Music Guide to The Blues! It's fantastic. Edited by a trio and comprising the work of more than 200 writers, this 750 page volume is a wealth of information.

It begins with an instruction page called "How to Use This Book." I thought, isn't that rather like the instructions on the peanuts bags on an American Airlines flight -- "Instructions: Open packet, eat nuts." However, it turns out that there's a lot more in here than you might think. The instructions alert you to that. Then a list of each contributor. Then a section with definitions and next...the bulk of the book is devoted to an alphabetical listing of biographical write-ups of almost every blues, or blues-related person you can imagine. Even the great Various Artists has his own listing! Each biography is filled with appropriate data, including a critical listing of their most important, or representative recordings. As you might imagine, the bio on Various Artists is slight...but that discography takes up more than forty pages!

There are no pictures, but that is about the only complaint I have. Well, okay, Colin Linden isn't listed...but Ry Cooder is! Maybe the 4th Edition will find room for the Canadian guitarist.

So you've read the instructions, and navigated through to the end of the biographies. Flipping back and forth, each entry reminding you of someone else you should look up. It's not the kind of book you read front to back...no...you dive in anywhere and when you do...be ready for a long session. It's fascinating. Finally you're ready to put the book down...but what's this? Almost fifty pages of essays on the history of the blues. Charts showing the flow of styles, and directing you to performers in a variety of sub-styles. Piedmont Blues, Blues Harmonica, the Blues Reissues, the Blues Box-set. You name it, and the All Music Guide people thought of it. Except, of course, for Colin Linden's entry...and some pictures.

The subtitle is The Definitive Guide to the Blues, and the Third Edition of The All Music Guide to the Blues is about as definitive as they come. And it still manages to be fun! Highly recommended!