Stony Plain Records Announces New Compilation Series, "The Best of the Stony Plain Years" - First Sets from Joe Louis Walker and Long John Baldry Due June 17

                                                      

                                 

Stony Plain Records Announces New Compilation Series, The Best of the Stony Plain Years

First Sets from Joe Louis Walker and Long John Baldry Due June 17

EDMONTON, ALBERTA – Stony Plain Records announces it will begin releasing an exciting new compilation series of CDs, titled The Best of the Stony Plain Years, which includes tracks from the label’s vaults, as well as rare and previously-unreleased material. The first CDs as part of the new series will be albums from Joe Louis Walker and the late Long John Baldry, both set for release on June 17. Stony Plain Records has been releasing acclaimed and award-winning roots and blues music since 1976, and is independently distributed through Alternative Distribution Alliance (ADA).

2013 Blues Hall of Fame inductee Joe Louis Walker recorded three albums for the label: Witness to the Blues, Between a Rock and the Blues and Blues Conspiracy: Live on the Legendary Rhythm and Blues Cruise. Between a Rock and the Blues won The Blues Foundation’s “Blues Album of the Year” award in 2010.

An international blues all-star, Joe Louis Walker has recorded a number of celebrated albums in a wide range of roots and blues styles, with such guests as B.B. King, James Cotton, Bonnie Raitt, Taj Mahal, Steve Cropper, Branford Marsalis, Huey Lewis, Ike Turner, Shemekia Copeland and Duke Robillard, who produced Walker’s first two Stony Plain CDs. The 11 tracks on his Best of the Stony Plain Years reissue were compiled from all three CDs of his recorded output for the label.

British blues pioneer Long John Baldry (1941-2005) recorded for Stony Plain from 1991 up until his death. He started performing acoustic blues in London in the late 1950s and worked with fellow leaders of the British blues vanguard Alexis Korner and Cyril Davies in the early ‘60s.

Baldry was an inspiration to The Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton. He mentored Rod Stewart and Elton John, who both produced and recorded on some of Baldry’s early classic albums, Everything Stops for Tea and It Ain’t Easy. Both albums were re-issued by Stony Plain in 2012 with several bonus tracks and rare photos added and are still active in their catalogue.

Long John Baldry’s Best of the Stony Plain Years set includes songs from several of his label releases, as well as two rare and previously-unreleased tracks, plus a duet recorded live with the legendary Jimmy Witherspoon, “Time’s Gettin’ Tougher than Tough” (1995), with backing by the Duke Robillard band. Baldry and Witherspoon were long-time friends, dating back to when “Spoon” visited England on tour in the early 1960s.

Stony Plain Records President Holger Petersen contributes liner notes to each of the CDs by Joe Louis Walker and Long John Baldry, adding personal insights and memories to the compilations that promise to become collector’s items.

For more information, visit www.stonyplainrecords.com