The Dirty Dozens

Jimmy Rogers could hardly have had a more solid blues backgound. Born in Chicago, he was playing with the likes of Memphis Minnie and Sunnyland Slim while in his teens. In the 1950s, he joined the Muddy Waters set-up, becoming indispensible to the Waters sound. At the same time he recorded some well-received sides of his own. In later decades, as blues rose and fell in popularity, he took jobs in and out of music, always keeping food on the table. Left Hand Frank Craig started even earlier. Too young to play clubs when he started, he played in the streets for tips. Soon renowned as a reliable sideman he, like Jimmy Rogers, had the resilience to survive the ups and downs of a blues life. So... here were two men raised in the tough Chicago blues tradition who knew how to play hard - in life or in music. Even so, when label owner John Stedman told the guys to play dirty he didn't expect them to deliver the paint-stripping 'Dirty Dozens'. But then, who else would have thought to leave the tape running' Unless you visited the right South Side clubs in the 60s and 70s, you're not likely to have heard blues this raw or honest. As John Stedman says in his sleeve note, "Hell, go and find guys who can play and sing like Jimmy and Frank today' I think not. This is a little piece of history, a time machine, and ultimately I defy anyone not to just plain enjoy this set of recordings - two wonderful bluesmen, two unique human beings from a culture that seems almost lost now, just doing their thing to entertain the public and having fun - but at the same time rather more than that