New Vinyl Reissues from Skip James and Jimmy Reed

Vinyl records may not be the most convenient way to listen to music, but I am convinced they are the best way to listen to music. I am more intentional about what I want to listen to, and I sit down in front of the speakers and listen. I love looking at the cover art, and reading the liner notes. Sure, I stream music in the kitchen while cooking and listen in the car, but it's just not the same. I also like the process of creating a vinyl record, and all of the skill and craft that goes into making a physical disc. If you are interested in learning more about what actually goes into cutting vinyl, check out our articles and interviews with Scott Hull [Tape Op #113], and Third Man Pressing [#127].

Craft Recordings has recently released vinyl reissues of several blues classics including Skip James' Devil Got My Woman, and Jimmy Reed's Live at Carnegie Hall. Devil Got My Woman, James' fourth album, is a Delta blues classic, and was the last before he died in 1969. It's impossible not to hear the massive influence he had on the genre, and artists that followed in his footsteps. James' unique guitar playing and haunting voice paint a picture of Mississippi in the late '60s that is hard to match.

Jimmy Reed at Carnegie Hall is a recreation of his setlist played at the famed venue. Due to contractual and technical limitations of recording the actual performance, Reed and his band went into Bell Sound Studios in New York City and Universal Recording Studio in Chicago to play the songs from the performance, including the one of Reed's most well-known tracks, "Bright Lights, Big City."

Both albums are released in partnership with Acoustic Sounds, the album has been (AAA) remastered from the original tapes by Matthew Lutthans at The Mastering Lab, and pressed on 180-gram vinyl.