At the Crossroads: The Blues of Robert Johnson by Jr. John Hammond (CD, Oct-2003, Vanguard)

Album Features
UPC:	015707975124
Artist:	Jr. John Hammond
Format:	CD
Release Year:	2003
Record Label:	Vanguard
Genre:	Blues

Track Listing
1. 32-20 Blues
2. Milkcow's Calf Blues
3. Traveling Riverside Blues
4. Stones in My Passway
5. Cross Road Blues
6. Hellhound Blues (Hellhound on My Trail)
7. Me and the Devil Blues - (live)
8. Walking Blues
9. Come on in My Kitchen
10. Preaching Blues (Up Jumped the Devil)
11. Sweet Home Chicago
12. When You Got a Good Friend
13. Judgment Day (If I Had Possession Over Judgment Day)
14. Rambling Blues (Rambling on My Mind)

Details
Contributing Artists:	Robbie Robertson, Levon Helm, Charlie Musselwhite, Mike Bloomfield
Producer:	Fred Jasper (Compilation)
Distributor:	Bayside Record Dist.
Recording Type:	Studio
Recording Mode:	Stereo
SPAR Code:	n/a

Album Notes
Personnel: John Hammond (vocals, guitar, harmonica); Billy Butler, James Spruill (electric guitar); Robbie Robertson (guitar); Charlie Musselwhite (harmonica); Mike Bloomfield (piano); Garth Hudson (Hammond B-3 organ); Jimmy Lewis (electric bass); Bobby Donaldson, Levon Helm (drums); The Nighthawks.Recorded between 1964 & 1989. Includes liner notes by Bruce Winkworth.Personnel: John Hammond, Jr. (vocals, guitar, electric guitar, harmonica); Jimmy Thackery, Robbie Robertson (guitar); Wild Jimmy Spruill, Billy Butler (electric guitar); Mark Wenner, Charlie Musselwhite (harmonica); Michael Bloomfield (piano); Jimmy Lewis (electric bass); Levon Helm, Pete Ragusa, Bobby Donaldson (drums).Liner Note Author: Bruce Winkworth.Recording information: Newport Folk Festival (1964); Sound Byte Studios, New York, NY (1964).If Robert Johnson could look down from heaven or up from hell, he'd likely find it very interesting that John Hammond, Jr. had covered his songs. Here is a white guy, after all, who sounds like a black blues singer and chooses -- of his own free will -- to frequently return to the repertoire of an obscure black guitarist/singer from the 1930s. At the Crossroads collects this musical meeting of the minds -- or souls -- by gathering 14 of Hammond's Johnson covers, recorded between 1965 and 1978. Like Johnson, Hammond relies mostly on solo acoustic guitar. In this way, it's easy to certify his versions of "Come on in My Kitchen" and "32-20 Blues" as the real deal, or, as a folk enthusiast would say, "authentic." At the same time, renditions of "Milkcow's Calf Blues" and "Stones in My Passway" are less raw and penetrating than Johnson's, and one could easily say that Hammond's real gift is that of a popularizer of rural acoustic blues. The last four cuts include full-band takes of "Sweet Home Chicago," "When You Got a Good Friend," "Judgment Day," and "Rambling Blues." While these cuts surely won't pass the purity test, they're nonetheless lots of fun. At the Crossroads is a cross-cultural, racial, and generational document, and offers a good one-stop look at one artist's nod toward another. ~ Ronnie D. Lankford Jr.