Varese Records
2001
Mr. Dixon's Workshop
About This Album
As a handy compilation of the prolific producer/songwriter/musician/A&R man's work for his non-Chess label clients, Mr. Dixon's Workshop is a captivating exploration into how productive Willie Dixon was on the '60s Chicago blues scene. While many of these tracks have appeared on other anthologies, specifically The Cobra Records Story box set, and some, like Otis Rush's "I Can't Quit You Baby," are ubiquitous, others are far more rare, making this a terrific collection of some relatively difficult to find music from one of post-war blues' most essential musicians. Charles Clark's pre-Howlin' Wolf version of "Hidden Charms," along with Jessie Fortune's "Too Many Cooks" ---the latter featuring young guitarist Buddy Guy and Big Walter Horton on harp -- popularized later by Robert Cray, are just two of the dusty gems found here. Guy also shows up on an early, earthy 1958 solo recording of "Sit and Cry the Blues." The fascinating final track, a previously unreleased studio session, is comprised of three alternate takes and shows the development of Otis Rush's "My Love Will Never Die" from a stark, solo piano-based ballad to the raging slow blues with horns it became, which puts the listener in an intriguing fly-on-the-wall position.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12 and 13)

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