Various Artists
Barbecue Any Old Time
Blues From The Pit 1927-1941
Old Hat Records
24 song CD
20 page booklet
Once again, Old Hat Records is back with an excellent collection of early 20th Century music, and this time they're taking us to the barbecue pit. Trust me when I say that you don't hear this every day - 24 old blues tunes dedicated to eating barbecued meat. While it's unique, fun and amusing, it also provides an examination of early 20th Century culture, specifically how the migration of poor Southerners spread the influence of their food and music to other parts of the country. The full-color booklet gives a history of the music and the artists, and how barbecue became a phenomenon across the country.
Who couldn't fall in love with song titles like these: "Pork Chop Blues", "Pepper Sauce Mama", "Gimme a Pig's Foot and a Bottle of Beer", and "I Heard the Voice of a Pork Chop"? My absolute favorite track on the album, however, is the ode to pork by Blind Boy Fuller, entitled "I Crave My Pig Meat". It's a love song to his favorite food, and you can almost taste the smokey barbecue while he sings that pig meat is "something I do crave, I mean it".
MISH MASH Mandate: Barbecue Blues
Old Hat Records Website
