Walter Furry Lewis was one of the most successful of the early bluesmen to re-emerge during the folk-blues boom of the 50s and 60s and enjoy a second career as one of the elder statesmen of the genre. Born in the Mississippi delta in 1893, he moved to Memphis and developed a warm and expressive singing style, with a smooth and lyrical guitar approach that combined slide and finger-picking techniques as he played at parties, in bars and on street corners. In 1927 he headed to Chicago, and made his first recordings for Vocalion, followed by further titles for Victor the following year, and a few more for Vocalion in Memphis in 1929 before the Depression brought a halt to his recording career.

He returned to sweeping the streets in Memphis and playing occasionally, until being rediscovered by music historian Samuel Charters in 1959, and recording a session for Folkways, which resulted in his first album release. There were further sessions in 1961 which led to albums on Prestige/Bluesville, establishing him on the burgeoning blues scene of the 60s, and enjoying a second career as a performer which lasted until his death in 1981. This great-value 46-track 2-CD set comprises most of the 53 recordings from the sessions mentioned which were released during the two eras covered, and it therefore captures in fascinating fashion the essence of his music as he expressed it across a gap of three decade, and its a fine showcase for one of the lesser-known, but important and intriguing personalities of blues.

REVIEWS

“This double CD collection gathers the bulk of his late-20s recordings in more than acceptable sound quality…” - Norman Darwen (RNR)