I first visited Memphis in 1990, and it struck me that radio stations played loads of music from the area. Soul, rockabilly, blues, gospel, country, and jazz – if there was a Memphis kinship, it was in heavy rotation.

Granted, I haven’t been everywhere, but the only other place I’ve had a similar experience is New Orleans. As in the Crescent City, Memphians take pride in their musical melting pot, and its blues strain is documented in The Memphis Blues Box, an exhaustive set subtitled Original Recordings First Released on 78s and 45s, 1914–1969. At 20 CDs with 534 tracks and a 360-page hardcover 12×12 book (weighing eight pounds), Germany’s Bear Family label may have outdone itself.

The package kicks off with an interview with trumpeter/bandleader W.C. Handy, whose 1912 track “Memphis Blues” was the first blues tune ever published. Next, the popular Memphis Jug Band’s 1927 tracks feature multi-instrumentalist Will Shade. The band crops up again three years later (on Disc 8), intermingling with tracks by Jimmie Lunceford’s swing band and Memphis Minnie, the “Queen of the Blues,” who “played guitar like a man.”

For context, it’s worth pointing out that cuts like Blind Mamie Forehand’s haunting “Wouldn’t Mind Dying If Dying Was All” (1927), accompanied only by husband A.C. Forehand’s bottleneck guitar, pre-dated Robert Johnson’s recordings by 10 years.

This is not a guitar compilation, but blues and guitar go hand in hand, so there are ample six-string highlights; early cuts by then-disc-jockey B.B. King date back to ’39, and his slide-playing cousin, Bukka White, is featured on “Parchman Farm Blues.”

One of the earliest songs considered rock and roll, 1951’s “Rocket 88” by Jackie Brenston, features Ike Turner on piano and Willie Kizart on overdriven guitar. One-man-band Joe Hill Louis sings “Hydramatic Woman” and plays lead on Rufus Thomas’ “Bear Cat,” in response to Big Mama Thornton’s hit “Hound Dog.” Future Muddy Waters sidemen James Cotton and Pat Hare, on harmonica and gnarly guitar, respectively, team on “Cotton Crop Blues.”

Little Junior Parker’s original version of “Mystery Train” features Floyd Murphy, brother of Matt “Guitar” Murphy, and Elvis Presley’s 1955 cover of the song is also included, as is his first release, “That’s All Right,” with guitarist Scotty Moore on both. The line between blues and rockabilly is further blurred with Carl Perkins’ “Matchbox” and “Boppin’ The Blues.”

Modern soul-blues instrumentals round out the excursion, with Albert King’s “Overall Junction” and Booker T. & the MGs’ smash “Green Onions,” featuring Steve Cropper’s stinging solo. Hours of indigenous cuts, culminating with Ike and Tina Turner, end up with an odd-but-fitting entry in the Stax catalog – “Walk Right In” from 80-year-old jug-band banjoist Gus Cannon’s “comeback” album.

The aforementioned Will Shade, an important figure and sometime bandmate of Cannon’s, died in ’66 without latching onto the folk and blues revival or getting the recognition he deserved. On the other hand, Furry Lewis did get exposure to rock audiences after his recordings in the ’20s and ’30s, but not before a dry spell and some hard times. In 1916, Lewis lost a leg trying to jump a freight train. From 1922 to his retirement in ’66, he worked as a street sweeper in Memphis. But he eventually recorded again, appeared at folk festivals, toured with Leon Russell, and even opened for the Rolling Stones. Lavishly illustrated, expertly chronicled, with personnel credits and session details, this is as impressive as any anthology I’ve seen.

I need to acknowledge the passing of an important figure in blues, folk, and rock, albeit largely behind the scenes. Eugene Denson (who went by “ED” in writing – pronounced “Ed,” not E.D.), a label head, record producer, and manager, died April 12 at the age of 84. Born in Washington, D.C., he went to University of Maryland, where he became involved with blues and folk music. He was road manager for the Blues Project and later managed Country Joe & the Fish.

Co-founding Takoma Records with John Fahey in ’59, the pair produced Bukka White’s first record in 23 years and also introduced Leo Kottke and Robbie Basho. In ’72, Denson co-founded Kicking Mule with Stefan Grossman; its roster included Grossman, Reverend Gary Davis, Happy Traum, John Renbourn, Duck Baker, and Mike Bloomfield.

“He was one of the good guys – always fair and honest,” says Fish guitarist/keyboardist David Bennett Cohen. “You have to realize that during the ’60s, we were all learning our crafts, making it up as we went along. Managers were the same. We just got lucky. When I later did my instructional guitar albums for Kicking Mule, ED was always there, encouraging me and pretty much letting me do what I wanted. I have to say that ED trusted us, which was worth its weight.”

In 1980, Denson moved to Humboldt County, California, where he worked as a civil liberties lawyer, often defending clients busted on marijuana charges. One called him “our gentle warrior.”

© 2014 Dan Forte; all rights reserved by the author.

This article originally appeared in VG’s September 2024 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.