Leroy Carr's easy, midtempo piano blues sits at the crossroads of an earlier rural style and the more urbane city styles that would take hold as the 1940s dawned. Usually accompanied by guitarist
Scrapper Blackwell,
Carr was hardly a virtuoso pianist or singer, but he was always comfortably accessible, and his unhurried style influenced countless piano players. This collection from Snapper Records features 20 tracks recorded in the late '20s and early '30s, including his well-known "How Long, How Long Blues." Columbia Records' two-disc set called
Whiskey Is My Habit, Women Is All I Crave is probably the way to go for listeners seriously curious about
Carr's work, but as a single-disc introduction,
Prison Bound Blues does nicely. ~ Steve Leggett