A marvellous 4CD Boxset featuring Texas Alexander and friends. 92 tracks,all fully remastered. Compiled and annotated by Neil Slaven with full discography. Born in Jowett, Texas in 1900, he played with the best - one of his early collaborations was with the guitarist Lonnie Johnson. Where he developed ned his prodigious voice is unknown, but by 1927 he was in Dallas working as a warehouseman and moonlighting as a singer in local clubs and bars. He was discovered by one of those record company scouts who were looking for performers to emulate the success of artists like Blind Lemon Jefferson and Charley Patton. He was quickly guided to a recording studio where he recorded ten tracks. He had the uncanny luck to be accompanied on six tracks by ace guitarist Lonnie Johnson and on four by pianist Eddie Heywood. He had problems with keeping a regular tempo (probably because he usually sang unaccompanied) and few accompanists were better equipped to accommodate this. Those first sides were successful enough for him to be recalled early the following year - again with Johnson's backing. He was on his way. The following years would see him in collaborations with Lightnin' Hopkins, Lowell Fulson and the Mississippi Sheiks. He would endure the Depression, a short stay in jail (for murder) and indifferent health. He died in 1954, almost forgotten. His fame started to revive with the 'blues boom' of the 1960s. It's rarely wavered since. There are others here, too - 'Little Hat' Jones, Willie Reed and 'Suitcase' Johnson among them.
