If someone is a truly obsessive
blues collector -- the kind who loves to check out even the most obscure artists -- chances are that he/she owns some
Delmark releases.
Delmark's
Bob Koester has not limited himself to the bigger names of the
blues; he has been great about recording lesser-known bluesmen, and he has been willing to reissue little-known yet worthwhile recordings that many other labels would never bother with. Take
Bye Bye Baby, for example. Much of this 2002 release focuses on some 1962 and 1963 sessions that Birmingham, AL, resident
Patrick Cather produced for the late
Robert McCoy, a gifted but obscure singer/barrelhouse pianist with a
Leroy Carr-ish approach. Those sessions resulted in two ultra-rare LPs:
Barrelhouse Blues and
Blues and Boogie Classics, both of which
Cather released on his own
Vulcan label. Only about 400 copies of
Barrelhouse Blues were pressed, and
Blues and Boogie Classics only sold about 100 copies. Why would
Koester reissue recordings that sold so little and devote an entire CD to an artist whom only the most knowledgeable
blues collectors are aware of? It comes down to two things:
Koester's honest-to-God love of the music and the fact that the late
McCoy, although far from a star, had a lot of talent.
Cather put out a quality product -- not a commercially successful product, but a quality product nonetheless. Although
McCoy's
Vulcan sessions are the CD's main focus,
Delmark also provides several bonus tracks (which include a few 1958 rarities and some previously unreleased mid-'60s duets with drummer
Clarence Curry). The sound quality of the bonus tracks isn't very good, but since
McCoy (who died in 1977) only recorded sporadically, collectors will welcome them with open arms. And all things considered,
Bye Bye Baby paints an attractive picture of the underexposed Alabama bluesman. ~ Alex Henderson
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