Here we have another classic blues album which has been remastered and issued on Craft Recordings/Concord, but I must confess Scrapper was new to me and I had to undertake some research. Apparently back in the 1920’s he was in a musical partnership with pianist Leroy Carr. The duo quickly gained a following—touring across the US and releasing over 100 sides, including “How Long, How Long Blues” which was the biggest blues hit of 1928. He also had a solo career, recording songs like “Kokomo Blues,” which would later inspire Robert Johnson’s “Sweet Home Chicago.” However, Carr was a severe alcoholic and just two months after their last session together he died of nephritis, and not long afterwards Scrapper stopped recording.
However, the Fifties saw a folk blues revival and Scrapper again found himself in demand. After an album for 77 Records in 1960, he then recorded this album for the Prestige Records’ Bluesville imprint. Recorded solo, with Scrapper providing acoustic guitar on many of the songs, and piano on others, we get to hear songs such as “A’ Blues,” “Little Boy Blues” and “Little Girl Blues”, as well as a song he originally recorded with Carr nearly 30 years earlier, “Blues Before Sunrise.” I’ve seen that song credited to John Lee Hooker, who did record it, but it was written by Carr and has also been covered by the likes of Clapton, B.B. King, Muddy Waters and Champion Jack Dupree, not a bad lineage.
This is old-fashioned acoustic blues where the recording has been cleaned up, and the original allowed to truly shine. For any fan of the genre, this is a wonderful discovery by someone who life was cut short not long after this album was originally released in 1962, when Scrapper was a victim of a mugging, otherwise I am sure he would be much more well-known.
Rating: 8/10
Links:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/2424/francis-blackwell
https://craftrecordings.com/