01 - Needmore Blues
02 - Who's Been Tellin' You
03 - Airplane Blues
04 - Vernita
05 - Denmark Blues
06 - I'm A Tearing Little Daddy
07 - I Stayed Away Too Long
08 - Drop Down Mama
09 - The Woman I Love
10 - You Oughtn't Do That
11 - Easin' Back To Tennessee
12 - I'm A Tearing Little Daddy (Alternate)
13 - Blues For J. F. K.

Sleepy John Estes – guitar, vocals
Hammie Nixon – harmonica, jug

Having only sporadically left his rural hamlet of Brownsville, TN, for recording trips in Chicago and Memphis, blues guitarist and singer Sleepy John Estes must have found it a bit of a shock to make the 1964 American Folk-Blues Festival tour of Europe. Like most contemporary country-blues musicians from the South, Estes did ramble, playing country suppers and plantation parties as a solo act or with a minstrel show, but his exposure to the urban and transatlantic world was still minimal to nonexistent. As evidenced by both reportage and this document of his 1964 trip to Denmark, France, Sweden, Germany, and England, though, Estes mostly enjoyed his first trip abroad, having fun with his international hosts while still living up to his nickname by mysteriously nodding off on several occasions. Traveling with other blues luminaries such as Howlin' Wolf and Sonny Boy Williamson, Estes teamed up with longtime harmonica partner Hammie Nixon (who also plays the jug on a few tunes here) to cut a batch of numbers at studios in Copenhagen and London. The two cover classic Estes material like "Needmore Blues" and "Drop Down Mama" (most of the material here was originally recorded for Decca during the '30s), as well as newer cuts like "Denmark Blues." In fact, throughout the album, Estes updates many of the old songs with references to cities visited and friends made along the tour route. And while Estes' sinuously grainy voice and furtive guitar strumming perfectly reflect the kaleidoscopic nature of the trip, Hammie Nixon's high-lonesome harmonica makes light of the homesickness the two musicians reportedly felt. A great disc that's best heard after first checking out Estes' classic Decca sides. ---Stephen Cook, Rovi

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1. 38 Pistol
2. The Girl I Love
3. City Hall Blues
4. Time Is Drawing Near
5. God Can Use Me
6. Government Money
7. Working Man Blues
8. Mailman Blues
9. Mary Come On Home
10. I'd Been Well Warned
11. Pat Mann
12. Drop Down Mamma
13. Vassie Williams
14. Young Lawyer
15. Al Rawls
16. Lawyer Clarck
17. Martha Hardin
18. Rats In My Kitchen

When Big Joe Williams informed Bob Koester of Delmark Records the Sleepy John Estes was still living, Koester was naturally skeptical. No doubt, the improbability of Estes being alive kept blues researchers from looking for him. Discographies list 1941 as his last recording date. It was Chicagoan David Blumenthal who found him while making a documentary film in Brownsville, Tennessee. Estes was brought to Chicago for an exploratory recording session. On March 24, 1962 Sleepy John recorded most of the songs on this album including six previously unissued tracks not on the original LP release of Brownsville Blues. Four songs from this session were issued on John's first Delmark release The Legend of Sleepy John Estes (Delmark 603). However, most of the material on Legend was from the June, 1962 group session. The theme of Brownsville Blues is the many people and places of John's hometown. Here is the legendary country blues artist Sleepy John Estes singing as well as ever, still writing blues poetry, and playing guitar better than in former years. --- delmark.com

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1. Drop Down Mama
2. Stop That Thing
3. Drop Down
4. Someday Baby Blues
5. Brownsville Blues
6. Milk Cow Blues
7. Easin' Back To Tennessee
8. Street Car Blues
9. Little Laura Blues
10. Poor Man's Friend
11. Raildoad Police Blues
12. Working Man Blues
13. Jailhouse Blues
14. Lawyer Clark Blues
15. Mary Come Home
16. Airplane Blues
17. Fire Department Blues
18. Everybody Oughta Make A Change
19. Jack And Jill Blues
20. Liquor Store Blues
21. Floating Bridge
22. Mailman Blues
23. Mr. Tom's Blues
24. Need More Blues
25. Hobo Jungle Blues
26. Time Is Drawing Near

Big Bill Broonzy called John Estes' style of singing "crying" the blues because of its overt emotional quality. Actually, his vocal style harks back to his tenure as a work-gang leader for a railroad maintenance crew, where his vocal improvisations and keen, cutting voice set the pace for work activities. Nicknamed "Sleepy" John Estes, supposedly because of his ability to sleep standing up, he teamed with mandolinist Yank Rachell and harmonica player Hammie Nixon to play the house party circuit in and around Brownsville in the early '20s. The same team reunited 40 years later to record for Delmark and play the festival circuit. Never an outstanding guitarist, Estes relied on his expressive voice to carry his music, and the recordings he made from 1929 on have enormous appeal and remain remarkably accessible today. Despite the fact that he performed for mixed black and white audiences in string band, jug band, and medicine show formats, his music retains a distinct ethnicity and has a particularly plaintive sound. Astonishingly, he recorded during six decades for Victor, Decca, Bluebird, Ora Nelle, Sun, Delmark, and others. Over the course of his career, his music remained simple yet powerful, and despite his sojourns to Memphis and Chicago he retained a traditional down-home sound. Some of his songs are deeply personal statements about his community and life, such as "Lawyer Clark" and "Floating Bridge." Other compositions have universal appeal ("Drop Down Mama" and "Someday Baby") and went on to become mainstays in the repertoires of countless musicians. One of the true masters of his idiom, he lived in poverty, yet was somehow capable of turning his experiences and the conditions of his life into compelling art. ---Barry Lee Pearson, ampya.com

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01. Sleepy John Estes - Someday Baby Blues (3:06)
02. Sleepy John Estes - Everybody Oughta Make a Change (2:53)
03. Sleepy John Estes - Stop That Thing (2:47)
04. Sleepy John Estes - Drop Down Mama (3:17)
05. Sleepy John Estes - Married Woman Blues (3:20)
06. Sleepy John Estes - I Ain't Gonna Be Worried No More (3:10)
07. Sleepy John Estes - Working Man Blues (3:04)
08. Sleepy John Estes - Special Agent (2:55)
09. Sleepy John Estes - Down South Blues (3:13)
10. Sleepy John Estes - Clean Up at Home (2:39)
11. Sleepy John Estes - Milk Cow Blues (3:05)
12. Sleepy John Estes - Diving Duck Blues (3:18)
13. Sleepy John Estes - Street Car Blues (3:18)
14. Sleepy John Estes - The Girl I Love She Got Long Curly Hair (3:00)
15. Sleepy John Estes - Broken Hearted, Ragged And Dirty, Too (3:17)
16. Sleepy John Estes - Whatcha' Doin' (3:05)

John Adams Estes, 25 January 1899, Ripley, Tennessee, USA, d. 5 June 1977, Brownsville, Tennessee, USA. This influential blues singer first performed at local house-parties while in his early teens. In 1916 he began working with mandolin player Yank Rachell, a partnership that was revived several times throughout their respective careers. It was also during this formative period that Estes met Hammie Nixon (harmonica), another individual with whom he shared a long-standing empathy. Estes made his recording debut in September 1929. He eventually completed eight masters for the RCA Records company, including the original versions of ‘Diving Duck Blues’, ‘Poor John Blues’ and the seminal, often-covered ‘Milk Cow Blues’. These assured compositions inspired interpretations from artists as diverse as Taj Mahal, Tom Rush and the Kinks. However, despite remaining an active performer throughout the 30s, Estes retired from music in 1941. A childhood accident impaired his eyesight and by 1950 he had become completely blind. The singer resumed performing with several low-key sessions for Hammie Nixon, before reasserting his own recording career in 1962. Several excellent albums for Chicago’s Delmark Records label followed, one of which, Broke And Hungry, featured a young Mike Bloomfield on guitar. Estes, Nixon and Rachell also made a successful appearance at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival and the three veterans continued to work together until 1976 when Estes suffered a stroke. --- oldies.com

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