Original Rolling Stone

Yazoo's Original Rolling Stone is a wonderful disc containing 14 of the 17 sides Robert Wilkins recorded before the war. Wilkins was one of the great country-blues artists, and these songs -- including "Rollin' Stone," "That's No Way to Get Along," "Jailhouse Blues" and "I'll Go with Her" -- became legendary, not only because the songs were terrific (which they are) but also because the performances are intense and haunting. Original Rolling Stone features these songs in the best fidelity possible, along with some fairly good liner notes, making this the best package of his most influential recordings. ~ Thom Owens