The 2008 movie Cadillac Records is the story of Chess Records. The Best of Chess is the original versions of the songs used in the Cadillac Records movie starring Beyonce, Mos Def, Solange, Jeffrey Wright, Raphael Saadiq and others. Cadillac Records chronicles the history of Chess Records, the pre-eminent blues label of the 1950s and 1960s co-founded by Leonard Chess and his brother Phil. Featured songs in Cadillac Records by Etta James (played by Beyonce Knowles), Muddy Waters (Jeffrey Wright), Little Walter (Columbus Short), Willie Dixon (Cedric the Entertainer), Chuck Berry (Mos Def), Howlin' Wolf (Eamonn Walker) and more.

Light: On The South Side gathers for the first time over 100 of Michael Abramson's photos taken on Chicago's south side in the late 70s. The 132-page hard back book features photos, an ephemera section, and an essay by Nick Hornby. Housed in a gorgeous slipcase with the 12X12 book is Pepper's Jukebox, a seventeen track compilation of the kind of funky Chicago blues heard from the stage and the Wurlitizer. The deluxe 2LP set is packaged in a sharp gatefold jacket with two inner sleeves crammed to the gills with label scans and stories from the bar stool.

'I knowed the Mississippi Sheiks. Yessir. Walked ten miles to see them play. They was high-time...makin' them good records, man.' - Muddy Waters

Between 1930 and 1935, The Mississippi Sheiks were the top selling group of its time, largely due to their hit Sitting On Top if the World, also recorded by Cream, Bill Monroe, Howlin' Wolf and many more.

Recorded and produced by Juno Award winning producer Steve Dawson, in Seattle, Vancouver, Ottawa and New York, this project fulfills a dream of Dawson's to pay tribute to the work of this unique and historic group.<P>Features exclusive recordings by <b>Bruce Cockburn, Madeleine Peyroux, <b>John Hammond, Kelly Joe Phelps, The North Mississippi Allstars, Oh Susanna with <b>Van Dyke Parks, Bill Frisell, <b>Robin Holcomb, <b>Jim Byrnes, <b>The Carolina Chocolate Drops, and more. Each track is specifically for this project and does not appear on any other release.<P>Rather than recreate the music, Dawson looked for artists who could re-interpret the music in interesting and refreshing ways. Ranging from traditional to the avant-garde, this tribute stands above others in quality and scope, and features artists well-known in blues, jazz, pop and rock genres.

Dawson enlisted a house band throughout the Seattle sessions to provide a coherency to the recordings. Featuring jazz legend <b>Wayne Horvitz (John Zorn, Zony Mash) playing keyboards, Keith Lowe (Bill Frisell/Fiona Apple) on bass and <b>Matt Chamberlain (David Bowie, Peter Gabriel) on drums, this incredible band backed up a number of the artists in a marathon session.<P>The CD is beautifully packaged and designed by Juno Award winning artist John Rummen, with extensive liner notes and information on all the performers.

This unique 12 x 12 - 2010 Classic Blues Artwork from the 1920's calendar has broad appeal to anyone interested in blues music or history. Within its pages is a huge treasure trove of original blues artwork from the earliest days of recorded Blues history. In addition, each calendar contains a free CD that cleverly matches up each month's artwork with the original recording it advertises. These songs make the calendar come alive! This year's CD has a total of 18 tracks and includes three newly discovered blues classics.

A good introduction to modern guitar-based blues, Pure Blues features classics by Muddy Waters, Freddy King, Bobby Bland, and John Lee Hooker, along with recent blues stars like Stevie Ray Vaughan and his followers Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Jonny Lang. While attributing classic status to Susan Tedeschi's "Just Won't Burn" may chafe some purists, this comp clearly wasn't intended for the die-hard blues fanatic. But as an introduction, it illustrates the blues tradition and its influence on rock (and rock's influence on the blues) quite nicely. For fans of the Allman Brothers (whose version of Blind Willie McTell's classic "Statesboro Blues" is included) or Eric Clapton's work with Derek & the Dominos or for dad at Christmas, this would make a good gift. Also, if this manages to inspire anyone to pick up Etta James's classic Tell Mama set, the folks at UTV will have done the world a service. --Mike Johnson

This well-chosen 11-track collection succeeds admirably in its attempt to represent the Mississippi, the river of blues. This deep, wide, multihued collection of blues combines an expansive chronological and stylistic sweep with a commendable attention to entertainment value through its emphasis on the unexpected. Bobby "Blue" Bland's awe-inspiring vocal on "St. James Infirmary," a masterpiece of American music, is an expected highlight, but selections like Ike and Tina Turner's 1969 take on the B.B. King standard "3 O'clock in the Morning" and the electrifying Luther Allison's "Part Time Love," a Motown gem from early in his career, provide satisfying surprises. Chris Thomas King's subtle but significant modernization of Robert Johnson's "Come On in My Kitchen," a performance both rootsy and progressive, is a perfect fit for the collection. Much of the music has a folksy feel, especially the work of Mississippi John Hurt, an acoustic purist until the end, who rolls through a back-to-the-basics "Make Me a Pallet on Your Floor," and that of voluntary European exile Memphis Slim, whose piano-powered "Stewball" features the legendary Willie Dixon on bass. Other legends, including John Lee Hooker and Junior Wells, are well represented, but it's Memphis Minnie, a seminal guitar star of the 1930s, who steals the show with her empowered "I Got to Make a Change Blues." --Michael Point