Matchbox Bluesmaster Series Set 12: Blues Like Showers Of Rain - a compendium of the finest British Country Blues Artists

"Whilst the electric blues boom of the mid-60s (Clapton, Mayall etc) is well documented, the acoustic country-blues scene is less so. This set traces the remarkable work of the Bristol-based Saydisc label and its role in the development of homegrown British country blues… It’s a fascinating story that continues today with the digital release of the entire Bluesmaster Series of LPs, including this uniquely British set. This album will appeal to all blues fans (especially those with a soft spot for British blues) as well as many folk enthusiasts." Ian Lomax (Jazz Journal)

"Mike Cooper's fingerpicking is marvellously intricate… John James's playing is scintillating… Jo-Ann Kelly's performances are hair-raisingly impassioned…Dave Kelly's playing is expert… notable contributions from Ian A. Anderson, Steve Rye, Wizz Jones, Chris Thompson and others" Trevor Hodgett (RnR)

"For lovers of British Country Blues this extensive collection will be like Christmas morning squared. It is all presented in pristine sound. The kicker is that it isn't all just country blues. There are acoustic blues guitar guys, jug bands, piano players, rags, a bit of hokum and a few surprises to boot… These are talented artists all. From skilled guitar finger-pickers to goofy jug bands to energy-charged piano masters… This music draws you in… Damn, these guys can play!... I barely scratched the surface of the treats in store here. Everything here is well worthy of a listen… Not a lemon in the bunch! Saydisc has done a real "bang up" job with this compilation." Blues Blast Magazine (USA) (Greg “Bluesdog” Szalony)

“This, the twelfth (and concluding) 6-CD set of Matchbox reissues, documents not the original US blues recordings of the 1920s and 1930s but the British music scene which they inspired. Ian Anderson (later editor of Folk Roots, but in the late 1960s a sparkplug firing up the country blues scene in Bristol and beyond with his own performances and indefatigable promotional activities) introduces the set with a characteristically enthusiastic and highly informative essay. “Suddenly in 1968 the blues and folk worlds found that they had produced a number of artists singing the country blues of the 1920s and ’30s perfectly in the idiom, but with a quality and personal involvement which lifted them far above the level of mere copyists,” is how he remembers this heady time, and (the best of) the passionate, committed music caught on these six CDs of British blues and associated music goes some way towards vindicating his claim. The British Blues Revival is justly celebrated for its respectful and spirited championing of a cruelly neglected artform (and for its spawning of rock behemoths such as the Rolling Stones and Cream), but on the evidence provided by these CDs, its major achievement was in sending a whole generation of listeners back to the originals of Robert Johnson, Bukka White, Sonny Boy Williamson et al."  London Jazz News, Chris Parker

“To say that the Matchbox Bluesmaster series is special would not even come close in describing their importance: these twelve sets have made up one of the finest (and historically important) packages of original blues ever released. To any blues fan, these sets are surely simply the Golden Nuggets of the blues! Every one of these discs contains absolute blues gems - diamonds to any blues lover of course, but also to those yet unaware of the impact the blues has had on so many areas of modern music… Years ahead of what was to develop into what we now term blues-rock, the artists featured throughout this set brought a standard like never before to the British and European blues scenes. Throughout, the recorded sound is of the very highest standard, and this is not so much a history of British blues of the I 960s, it's a set that truly demonstrates what put British blues on the map: not so much where it began, but when British blues really did equal the best of blues, anywhere… Totally unmissable, it's thanks to our friends at Saydisc for releasing every one of these sets, because this is the blues and how!” Blues In Britain, Pete Clack

"I wasn't too familiar with the British "country blues" scene of the 1960s and early 1970s, and based on its American counterpart I didn't expect much.  Thus I was very pleasantly surprised at how generally good the music was, much better than most of its white American counterpart.  There were a lot fewer of the annoying mannerisms of so many of the American artists and a lot less superficiality.  The British performers really made an effort to get into the spirit and style of the original music and largely succeeded.  Of course, there were some exceptions, but on the whole this is very enjoyable both from a musical and historical standpoint.  And you are the star of the show!  I didn't realize you had recorded so much way back then.  Excellent notes too by you and Ian A. Anderson.  I hope this set gets some recognition and awards.  I liked the jug band tracks too, with a serious blues sound rather than the corny hokum approach of so many American revivalist jug bands." David Evans, Professor of Music Emeritus, The University of Memphis and author of Big Road Blues

"This, the twelfth (and concluding) 6-CD set of Matchbox reissues, documents not the original US blues recordings of the 1920s and 1930s but the British music scene which they inspired. Ian Anderson (later editor of Folk Roots, but in the late 1960s a sparkplug firing up the country blues scene in Bristol and beyond with his own performances and indefatigable promotional activities) introduces the set with a characteristically enthusiastic and highly informative essay. “Suddenly in 1968 the blues and folk worlds found that they had produced a number of artists singing the country blues of the 1920s and ’30s perfectly in the idiom, but with a quality and personal involvement which lifted them far above the level of mere copyists,” is how he remembers this heady time, and (the best of) the passionate, committed music caught on these six CDs of British blues and associated music goes some way towards vindicating his claim. The first two CDs stand head and shoulders above the last four. They are taken from two Matchbox albums, Blues Like Showers of Rain, recorded in Frenchay on the outskirts of Bristol in 1968. Singer/guitarist Jo-Ann Kelly is pictured on the album sleeve, but it is her brother, Dave Kelly, who kicks the first volume’s proceedings off with a spirited visit to Eli Green’s “A Few Short Lines”, setting his wailing vocals against driving bottleneck guitar. Jo-Ann Kelly interprets her chief inspiration Memphis Minnie’s “Nothin’ in Ramblin’” with great panache and does an unaccompanied version of “Black Mary”…

The third CD features Cooper and Anderson picking their way through a selection of familiar country blues numbers (anomalously attributed on the original album not to individual blues composers but “trad.”). Cooper’s guitar playing, as ever, is simply faultless throughout…

CD 6 is mostly Peabody (highlights: neat rags with great mandolin playing from Dave Griffiths), but is notable chiefly for containing four cuts by the eccentric but adept ragtime pianist Quentin Williams, whose intriguing originals are as quirky as his suggestion that they are played with “plyers and a molewrench”. Full review here- Chris Parker, London Jazz News

Various Artists, “Blues Like Showers of Rain” (Saydisc) – The final offering in Saydisc’s excellent Matchbox Bluesmaster series is a 6 CD anthology focussing attention on some of the British country blues performers who were playing their trade on vinyl between the years of 1966 and 1976. The great Jo-Ann Kelly and her brother Dave of Blues Band fame set the ball rolling in fine style with their impassioned renditions of Memphis Minnie’s “Nothin’ in Ramblin” and Eli Green’s “A Few Short Lines” respectively, and this beautifully packaged collection also boasts excellent contributions from long forgotten figures such as The Panama Limited Jug Band, bottleneck guitarist Mike cooper and eccentric Bristol pianist Quentin Williams. - Kevin Bryan, Sale Messenger