Thank you for buying this record. What follows is its documentation: the
pressing identified, the matrix / runout transcribed by hand from the dead
wax, and the condition as assessed before it was listed. It is yours to keep
with the record.
— Paul, Vinyl Curator
Big Bill Broonzy
The Blues
1958 · EmArcy MG-36137 · Mono · US · LP · 33 1/3 RPM
Pressing details
| Label | EmArcy |
|---|
| Catalogue number | MG-36137 |
|---|
| Year | 1958 |
|---|
| Mono / Stereo | Mono |
|---|
| Country | US |
|---|
| Format | LP |
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| Speed | 33 1/3 RPM |
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| Genre | Blues - Chicago/Country Blues |
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| Producer | Bob Shad (supervision) |
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| Composer | Big Bill Broonzy |
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| Musicians | Big Bill Broonzy (vocal, guitar), Ransom Knowling (bass), Oett 'Sax' Mallard (alto sax), William 'Bill' Cassimir (tenor sax), Robert 'Bob' Call (piano), Judge Riley (drums) |
|---|
Matrix / Runout
Side A: MG-36137A-1
M MS1
Side B: MG-36137 B-1
M MS1
Condition
- Cover
- VG
- Vinyl
- VG+
Variant chronology
1958 - US EmArcy MG-36137 mono, blue deep-groove David Stone Martin drummer labels, etched A-1/B-1 matrices <- this copy
1958 - UK Mercury MMB 12003 mono
1958 - France Mercury/Barclay 7198 mono
c. 1965 - US EmArcy/Mercury reissue, later label design, no deep groove
This Pressing
1st US press (mono, 1958) - blue EmArcy David Stone Martin drummer labels, deep groove; etched MG-36137A-1/B-1 plus M MS1, matching the earliest documented runout variant.
The Album
Big Bill Broonzy was the great bridge figure of the blues: a prolific songwriter, commanding singer, and hugely influential guitarist who linked the prewar Chicago scene to the postwar folk-blues revival. Mercury recorded him on November 8-9, 1951, at Bill Putnam's Universal Recording Studios in Chicago, in two sharply contrasting settings. The first day strips the music to Broonzy's voice and guitar with only Ransom Knowling's bass, showcasing his rhythmic attack and direct, conversational storytelling. The second day adds a small horn-and-rhythm band, connecting his country-blues vocabulary to the sound of a postwar club combo. The tapes then sat unissued in Mercury's vaults until 1958, when they finally appeared with liner notes by Studs Terkel. By then Broonzy had become an ambassador of the blues to European and folk-revival audiences, and this set reveals the deep, hard blues foundation beneath that troubadour image. The songs, nearly all Broonzy originals, move through travel, separation, jealousy, hard labor, and resilience. Broonzy died of throat cancer in August 1958, just weeks before the LP's release, and it stands today as a vivid late-career portrait of an artist whose influence runs from Muddy Waters through the folk revival to the blues-rock generation that followed.
Tracklist
Side 1
1. Walkin' Down A Lonesome Road
2. Moppers Blues
3. Get Back
4. Hey, Hey
5. Willie Mae
6. Stump Blues
Side 2
1. I Know She Will
2. Hollerin' Blues
3. Leavin' Day
4. Southbound Train
5. You Changed
6. Tomorrow
The Label
This copy carries EmArcy's first-generation blue-and-silver label with the white David Stone Martin drummer illustration, curved 'LONG PLAYING HIGH FIDELITY' rim text, 'Mercury Record Corporation / Made in U.S.A.' attribution, and a pronounced deep groove. Mercury launched EmArcy in 1954 as its jazz subsidiary (the name phonetically spells 'MRC'), and this no-address drummer-label style covers the imprint's roughly 1954-60 LP era before the early-1960s redesigns. MG-36137 sits near the end of the 36000 series, which wound up around MG-36150 in 1958-59. The etched MG-36137A-1 / MG-36137 B-1 masters with M MS1 markings represent the earliest runout configuration for this title, so this is first-run 1958 stock, not one of the mid-1960s Mercury/EmArcy repressings that appear without the deep groove or with the plain 'Mercury EmArcy Jazz' logo sticker variant.
Fidelity
Mono cut from the 1951 Universal Recording Studios masters engineered by Bill Putnam, one of the finest rooms and engineers of the era; no mastering engineer is separately credited, and the M MS1 deadwax marking cannot be securely tied to a specific cutting engineer or plant. Mercury's 'Custom High Fidelity / Sound Margin Control' branding denotes its period in-house mastering chain rather than a later remaster. Clean deep-groove originals sound full-bodied and immediate, with the four combo tracks naturally denser than the eight sparse voice-guitar-bass performances. No Analogue Productions, Mobile Fidelity, Classic Records, or Speakers Corner audiophile edition of this title is known, so this US original sits at the top of the album's fidelity hierarchy, ahead of the later Mercury/EmArcy reissues and any CD transfers.
Notes
1958 EmArcy MG-36137 mono - original US first pressing. First-generation blue drummer-logo labels, 'Mercury Record Corporation' rim text, and deep groove place it in EmArcy's 1954-60 design era, predating the plain-logo sticker and mid-1960s redesigns. Etched A-1/B-1 matrices with M MS1 markings represent the earliest runout variant for this title, preceding the later stamped/variant-2 runouts. The jacket dates the sessions to November 8-9, 1951 and notes the tapes surfaced in spring 1958, corroborating the issue year; the LP appeared just weeks before Broonzy's death in August 1958.
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