Lil Greenwood - Walking & Singing the Blues (circa 1953 [2002])

Those of you that regularly read my hastily written reviews and recommendations may recall that when raving about the Oxford American 12th Annual Southern Music Issue I cited Lil Greenwood as an artist that particularly impressed me. Accordingly, I've seen to it to follow up on looking into her career and I found the 2002 compilation of her songs from which the track "I'm Crying" was pulled from by the magazine. Walking & Singing the Blues is the fruit of various recordings under the Modern label in the early 1950s when she was working as a singer in California after moving out of her native Alabama. The reviews that I read indicated that the reason why she didn't take off is because of the conventional nature of much of the composition of the numbers, but what made me have a double take was her stunning vocals. She sure knows how to make it happen. Moreover, I'll dispute the reviews I read and say some of the songs had some genuine pep that surprises me that they weren't more popular, though they certainly had a good audience, such as "Grandpa Can Boogie Too" and "Come Back Baby." If you liked the magazine's compilation or if you're a fan of blues standards then you shouldn't hesitate to listen to Greenwood.

To be had here:
Lil Greenwood - Walking & Singing the Blues [256 kbps]