The Pee Wee Crayton Collection 1947-62

Pee Wee Crayton was a blues guitarist, singer and songwriter who was one of the leading figures of the West Coast blues school during the post-war decades. He was one of several blues artists who made the move from Texas to California in the Depression, and inevitably he became an associate of the pioneer of the West Coast style T-Bone Walker, but although Crayton was undoubtedly influenced by him, he developed a highly distinctive sound, playing in an aggressive style which encompassed some daring technical innovations, as well as having a somewhat contrasting smooth vocal style. Over the years, he recorded for a number of labels, scoring his biggest successes in his early years with the Modern label, as he reached the R&B Top 5 with “Blues After Hours”, “Texas Hop” and “I Love You So”. Other notable recordings were done later with the Imperial and Vee-Jay labels, as he sought to re-establish his chart presence in a changing market for blues as rock ‘n’ roll invaded the R&B charts. This great value 55-track 2-CD set primarily comprises A and B sides recorded during this period for the 4 Star, Gru-V Tone, Modern, Aladdin, RIH, Hollywood, Imperial, Post, Vee-Jay, Fox, Jamie, Guyden and Smash labels plus selected from his 1960 LP on the Modern subsidiary Crown. As such it’s a solid representation of his output across his primary recording career, and an entertaining introduction to the work of an artist who has not had the recognition he deserves.