The Rough Guide to Jug Band Blues

Jug bands were one of the phenomenons of 1920s and 30s blues, their members being so poor they literally blew on jugs, puffed on kazoos, bashed out rhythms on boxes and created a raucous, street-party sound. As the jug bands got record deals, often guitar and banjo were added. Yet the sound was never tempered and these odes to sex, booze, running wild and hard times can be seen as precursors to what rappers rhyme on today. Indeed, the recordings here have remained influential across the last century – firing up both British skiffle and US folk revival jug bands in the 1950s. Today their songs and sounds can be found in the repertoires of old-time acts such as Old Crow Medicine Club. The recent BBC TV series American Epic both celebrated the Memphis Jug Band and had rapper Nas recreating their sound.
However, 73 minutes of a music that was originally designed to be heard on individual 78s can ultimately feel a little exhausting. Finally, I feel recognition should be given to labels such as Arhoolie, Bear Family, Yazoo, Shanachie, Third Man who have done all the hard work of seeking out the original 78s, remastering and reissuing them, only for the UK's copyright laws to allow compilers to list these tracks under the public domain.