Review

The St. Louis blues scene has always been recognized, although it has never been a genre focal point the way that New Orleans or Chicago has been. Still, many pioneers of the blues have come from St. Louis, and many of them are featured on Twenty First St. Stomp. The compilation celebrates this area's rich blues history, featuring Henry Brown, "Stump" Johnson, and Walter Davis, among others. These songs are wonderful examples of the scene, from the delicate sorrow of Mary Johnson's "Black Men Blues" to the proto-R&B of "Stump" Johnson's "Bound to Be a Monkey." Like most classic blues compilations, the sound quality is pretty wretched, but that is almost to be expected from recordings this old. Blues fans who have never experienced this area's genre contributions should give this a listen -- this makes for an excellent primer on the St. Louis scene.