Shake Your Boogie

One of the fiercest of the Mississippi blues singers, Big Joe Williams recorded this emotionally charged album for Arhoolie records in 1960. Williams accompanies his vocal lines on a 9-string guitar, using it to add percussive elements and a slapping bass effect. Singing autobiographical, traditional, and improvised blues tunes, Williams gives a forceful delivery steeped in the sound of the hot, humid delta country and of his life’s hardships. Many of the songs are infused with the emotional stress of a recent arrest, which he describes in “Greystone Blues.” Liner notes give a bio of the artist and detail the recording session.

Track Listing

101	Sloppy Drunk Blues	Big Joe Williams	02:48
102	Yo Yo Blues	Big Joe Williams	03:10
103	President Roosevelt	Big Joe Williams	03:53
104	Forty Four Blues	Big Joe Williams	03:10
105	Greystone Blues	Big Joe Williams	02:34
106	I Want My Crown	Big Joe Williams	02:25
107	Mean Step Father	Big Joe Williams	02:46
108	Brother James	Big Joe Williams	03:38
109	Shake Your Boogie	Big Joe Williams	02:21
110	Vitamin A Blues	Big Joe Williams	03:03
111	She Left Me a Mule to Ride	Big Joe Williams	02:35
112	So Glad	Big Joe Williams	04:17
113	Louisiana Bound	Big Joe Williams	02:44
114	Killing Floor Blues	Big Joe Williams	03:04
115	Throw the Boogie Woogie	Big Joe Williams	02:02
116	Dirt Road Blues	Big Joe Williams	02:18
117	Montreal Blues	Big Joe Williams	02:38
118	Take Me Out of the Bottom	Big Joe Williams	02:28
119	Thinking of What They Did to Me	Big Joe Williams	02:47
120	The Death of Dr. Martin Luther King	Big Joe Williams	02:51
121	Army Man in Vietnam	Big Joe Williams	02:59
122	Creole Queen	Big Joe Williams	02:00
123	Remember Way Back	Big Joe Williams	02:32
124	King Jesus	Big Joe Williams	01:43