Appalachian blues ... comes in a variety of styles, from vaudeville, piano blues and boogie, string-band dance blues, guitar and harmonica-based down-home blues, ragtime blues, East Coast rhythm and blues, and so-called White Mountain blues. Artists include people such as Bessie Smith, Cripple Clarence Lofton, Cow Cow Davenport, Pinetop Smith, Josh White, Reverend Gary Davis, Jaybird Coleman, Luke Jordan, Dinah Washington, and James Brown.

The Appalachian Mountains cut diagonally across the Eastern United States from New York to Mississippi, with Appalachian counties in thirteen states. The general consensus, why the ‘Blues’ have never, or took so long to emerge from this region seems to be , in contrast with the cotton belt of the Deep South, there wasn't a sufficient black population in the mountains to sustain a viable blues tradition.

Unfortunately, there are many documented artists that never had a chance to record, and they remain ‘unknown except in the memory of musicians who happened to have been around at the time. They recall a thriving blues tradition, even though the anecdotal evidence appears to indicate the opposite. It could be argued that the extent of recording is simply a question of whether or not record companies wanted to expend cost and the energy to seek out musicians in such relatively inaccessible environments and what they chose to record once they got there.

Swamp pop originated around 1955. The Cajuns and black Creoles who pioneered the sound were generally born between 1935 and 1940, when mainstream American culture and values were taking the place of local folk traditions, including 'old-time' accordion and fiddle music.

Although many swamp musicians played Cajun and black Creole music as children, they generally regarded the music of their parents and grandparents as outmoded to be replaced by the new, more urban sounds of R&B and early rock ‘n’ roll.

A fairly obscure genre, swamp pop maintains a large audience in its south Louisiana and southeast Texas homeland, and a small but passionate cult following in the UK, and Northern Europe. Direct from the US, with Rob and Dee, we’re delighted to be streaming this great production: