I’m Jimmy Reed

It’s routinely hailed as the first great blues album but, as was the case with most bluesmen of his generation, singer, songwriter, guitarist and harmonica player Reed’s enormously influential debut LP was really a collection of single sides he’d recorded between June 1953 and its release in March 1958. But what a collection! With Mississippi-born Reed joined in the Chicago studio by the likes of drummer Earl Phillips and celebrated blues guitarist Eddie Taylor, his electrified songs, including ‘Ain’t That Lovin’ You Baby’ and ‘Honest, I Do’, inspired a generation of artists while the album became a must-have for every self-respecting blues fan. Remarkably enough, the deceptively simple-sounding, yet poetic, songs and Reed’s distinctive delivery, honed by years of hard-scrabble busking, still pack a real punch to this day, especially given the lovingly hi-res remastering we can hear on this reissue, quite possibly the best version ever of an essential album.