Show 48: Alphabet Blues, Pt. 8: Fat Possum
Fat Possum is the jolt in the label story: the moment when North Mississippi and related raw blues were sold with punk energy and outsider edge. The show asks what gets gained, and what gets bent, when old forms are marketed as dangerous again.
I'm your host. For today's 48th episode of the Copacetic Communion Blues Show, we will be resuming our Alphabet Blues series, where I aim to spin, for you, every significant blues record label from A to Z. Last week we covered Dust-to-Digital to Excello, and in tonight's show we'll hear from the blues artists of Fat Possum Records, Fire Records, Fortune Records, and J.O.B. Records. I've been looking forward to today's feature on Fat Possum just about as much as I did for the Arhoolie, Chess, and Document shows, as they were responsible for showcasing aging, rediscovered blues artists in the 1990s and giving them the artistic freedom they deserved for being journeyman musicians for nearly half a century. We'll begin today's show with a handful of tracks by Junior Kimbrough, R.L. Burnside, and T-Model Ford. Now here's Kimbrough's unforgettable track "Meet Me in the City."
| # | Track | Artist |
|---|---|---|
| Ask Her For Water | T-Model Ford | |
| Awful Dream | Lightnin' Hopkins | |
| Bacon Fat | Andre' Williams | |
| Boogie Chillen | R.L. Burnside | |
| Coal Black Mattie | Ranie Burnette | |
| Fannie Mae | Buster Brown | |
| Five Long Years | Eddie Boyd | |
| Glad I Don't Worry No More | Sunnyland Slim | |
| Goodnight Irene | Robert Cage | |
| I Feel Alright | Junior Kimbrough | |
| I'm Going to Dig Myself a Hole | Arthur Big Boy" Crudup" | |
| If I Had Wings, Pt. 1 | T-Model Ford | |
| Jumper on the Line | R.L. Burnside | |
| Keep on Snatchin It Back | Cedell Davis | |
| Let My Baby Ride | R.L. Burnside | |
| Mean Old 'Frisco Blues | Arthur Big Boy" Crudup" | |
| Meet Me in the City | Junior Kimbrough | |
| Meet Me In The City | Junior Kimbrough | |
| Muskadine Blues | Little Walter,Baby Face Leroy Foster | |
| My Head Can't Rest Anymore | Baby Face Leroy Foster | |
| One of These Days | Cedell Davis | |
| One Way Out | Elmore James | |
| Play A Little While | J.B. Lenoir | |
| Rock Me Momma | Arthur Big Boy" Crudup" | |
| Rollin' & Tumblin' | R.L. Burnside | |
| Sad Days, Lonely Nights - Full Band Version | Junior Kimbrough | |
| Sallie Mae | T-Model Ford | |
| Save Her, Doctor | Eddie Boyd And His Blues Band | |
| Shake That Thing | Lightnin' Hopkins | |
| Shake Your Money Maker | Elmore James | |
| Something Inside of Me | Elmore James | |
| Sweet Woman from Maine | Robert Lockwood | |
| Telephone | Snooky Pryor | |
| The Old Number | T-Model Ford |