The Definitive Collection 1941-62

Arthur ‘Big Boy’ Crudup was a Mississippi Delta blues guitarist, singer and noted songwriter who was often known as “The Father of Rock ‘n’ Roll”, because even in the early ‘40s he was playing in a style which unmistakeably provided many of the essential roots of the musical revolution that was still more than a decade distant. He wrote classic songs like “That’s All Right Mama”, which became Elvis Presley’s first commercial recording, and other songs covered by Elvis like “My Baby Left Me”. He was a vital bridge between acoustic country blues and the electrified urban sound he developed after he hoboed his way to Chicago, and was among the first blues artists to play with bass and drums accompaniment. This great value 94-track 4-CD collection comprises all the records he made which were commercially released during the period covered by the anthology, encompassing his recordings which came out on the Bluebird, RCA, Checker, Trumpet, Champion, Groove and Fire labels. It gives a thorough and entertaining overview of the two key decades of his primary recording career.