Rambler's Blues - Lonnie Johnson

One of the towering figures of the blues, Lonnie Johnson] is rarely put in the category of the other blues greats, men with household names such as {$Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker, and it's hard to understand why. A mesmeric guitarist, a gifted singer and a great songwriter, Johnson is revered among blues enthusiasts despite his rather slim recording output. �Ramblers Blues", a budget collection of Johnson's work, is a decent enough overview of the guitarist's output, containing the classic title track and fifteen other top-drawer performances, but it's hard to see the purpose of the collection. As a scattershot �best-of', it's fine, but it's under strong competition from both Document and Columbia, who offer superlative collections of Johnson's work, and there seems little point in selecting this disc as a sampler of the artist. ~ Thomas Ward, All Music Guide