Introducing our major series on the Modern Records downhome blues sessions, these vibrant and historic juke joint recordings were made by Joe Bihari and Ike Turner in deep South locations between late 1951 and early 1952. by John Broven If the Coen brothers are looking for a follow-up to their phenomenally successful film, O Brother, Where Art Thou? then they need look no further than the story behind Modern Downhome blues field sessions of the early 1950s. The location would still be the Deep South, and so would the allusion to Homer's epic, 'The Odyssey'. A vivid opening snapshot to our new series is given by notewriter Jim O'Neal, the founding editor of Living Blues magazine: "The tale of their [the Bihari brothers] exploits in the land of cotton has all the elements of a Dixie docu-drama, complete with an indignant Southern heroine [Lillian McMurry of Trumpet Records], a double-dealing native talent scout [Ike Turner], small town sheriffs and police, subterfuge, disguise, raiders, traitors, spies, and clandestine operations. ...show more

Introducing our major series on the Modern Records downhome blues sessions, these vibrant and historic juke joint recordings were made by Joe Bihari and Ike Turner in deep South locations between late 1951 and early 1952. by John Broven If the Coen brothers are looking for a follow-up to their phenomenally successful film, O Brother, Where Art Thou? then they need look no further than the story behind Modern Downhome blues field sessions of the early 1950s. The location would still be the Deep South, and so would the allusion to Homer's epic, 'The Odyssey'. A vivid opening snapshot to our new series is given by notewriter Jim O'Neal, the founding editor of Living Blues magazine: "The tale of their [the Bihari brothers] exploits in the land of cotton has all the elements of a Dixie docu-drama, complete with an indignant Southern heroine [Lillian McMurry of Trumpet Records], a double-dealing native talent scout [Ike Turner], small town sheriffs and police, subterfuge, disguise, raiders, traitors, spies, and clandestine operations.

But no shots were fired in these skirmishes, and the only casualties were in lost record sales revenue, broken contracts, violated trusts, and one unfortunate blues artist's shattered career. The Biharis' battle wagon was a flashy new Cadillac, their artillery a four-channel Magnecord tape recorder, and their ammunition reels of magnetic tape and rolls of cash." Ace Records is packaging these historic - and musically great - recordings into The Modern Downhome Blues Sessions. For this first volume "Arkansas and Mississippi, 1951-1952" we are concentrating on the recordings that Joe Bihari and his young talent scout accomplice Ike Turner made between November 1951 and January 1952 in North Little Rock, Arkansas-.-and in Greenville and Canton, Mississippi. The featured artists are enough to make any self-respecting blues collector salivate with anticipation: Elmore James, Boyd Gilmore, Drifting Slim, Junior Brooks, Sunny Blair, Houston Boines, Charley Booker and Ernest Lane.

Otis "Red" Boyd is the odd man out, with a rare example of Mississippi big band music - it's almost downhome jazz. 15 I LOVE MY LITTLE WOMAN Boyd Gilmore 16 RAMBLIN' ON MY MIND Boyd Gilmore 17 I BELIEVE I'LL SETTLE DOWN Boyd Gilmore 18 IF THAT'S YOUR GIRL Boyd Gilmore 19 RAMBLIN' ON MY MIND Boyd Gilmore Modern Records' partner Joe Bihari had made his first field trip to the South around September 1951 following the terminal breakdown in relations with Sam Phillips. This was after Rocket "88" by Jackie Brenston and Ike Turner ended up on Chess instead of Modern, and became a #1 R&B smash hit. Until then Phillips had been recording Modern's Memphis-area artists including B.B. ...show less