Blind James Campbell And His Nashville Street Band –Blind James Campbell And His Nashville Street Band – Arhoolie Records CD 438

This 1995 23-song re-release of an original 1963 12-cut offering from Chris Strachwitz’s eminent Arhoolie Records highlights the astounding sounds of Blind James Campbell And His Nashville Street Band, offering cuts recorded in late October, 1962 and mid-April, 2963 in Nashville, Tennessee.  The expanded roll of tunes found here only allows the magic of this musical assemblage to shine even more brightly.

Campbell, a blues singer and guitarist, was a regular on the Nashville music landscape for many years dating back to the 1930s and into the 1960s.  Aligning himself with the phenomenal banjo and fiddle artist Beauford Clay, guitarist and fiddle man Bell Ray, Ralph Robinson on tuba, and George Bell on trumpet, Campbell and his sterling crew cross multiple genres including blues, jazz, old timey, skiffle, and jug band, presenting for consideration music, that while it certainly traditional in many senses, also veers into new waters.  For instance, instead of someone laying down a low-end framework on a washtub or upright bass, Robinson’s tuba formulates the heavy bass structures.

And while the tuba work is necessarily deep sounding by the very nature of the instrument, it is Campbell’s singularly rough utterances that plough even lower troughs than those provide by Robinson’s tuba ventures.

If you are a lover of traditional jug band music, acoustic blues, traditional old-time music, or the gifts of string bands, this supreme collection is for you.  In this reviewer’s mind, no better document of this stunning blend of early 1960s street band music can be found.

Upon the previously mentioned excellences, this collection is rightfully considered highly essential, indeed!