Cannon's Jug Stompers - The Complete Works (1927-1930) (1989)

Circa 1925, Kentucky's Clifford Hayes inspired Tennessee guitarist Will Shade to form his Memphis Jug Band, which in turn inspired middle-aged Mississippi banjo man Gus Cannon to hook his homemade paraffin jug to a neck harness (like a racked harmonica) and form his extraordinary Jug Stompers. With sidemen Hosea Woods, Elijah Avery, and harpist Noah Lewis (who could play two harps at once, with mouth and nose), Cannon's Jug Stompers issued a skein of hits such as "Walk Right In" and "Minglewood Blues" (a version of which was recorded by the Grateful Dead) to cash in on the day's jugmania and resonate into the next millennium. Also notable in this definitive collection are "Going to Germany," the exasperated plaint of an indentured worker conscripted for warfare in some unknown land, and "Mule Get Up in the Alley," a cartwheeling sideshow of waggish vocals with kazoo and harp solos that must've made a young Bob Dylan smile. --Alan Greenberg