Like many baby boomer blues buffs, my early music collection was culled from the discount 45 rpm bins of department stores, as well mom and pop record shops. Early in the game, I quickly realized there were certain labels you bought, even if you were unfamiliar with the artist. Those labels included Chess, Excello, Duke, Fire and Atlas. You couldn’t lose with Atlas’ blue and silver 45s. The problem was, though, Atlas singles were extremely hard to find. Until I listened to this CD, I had no idea how much great material was on the New York label. The majority of these sides were waxed in the late 1950s, often using NYC’s top session players. While he’s not mentioned in the notes, guitarist Wild Jimmy Spurriel is on a number of tracks and he absolutely eats up his instrument on James Wayne’s stunning “This Little Letter,” and Louisiana Red’s, “I Done Woke Up.” Other great small combo blues tracks can be heard from Mojo Watson (“You Know You Don’t Want Me”) and Charles Walker (“Down Hearted Blues”). H-Bomb Ferguson does a creditable imitation of Roy Brown, especially on “Rock H-Bomb Rock” and “Down Hearted Blues.” Jimmie “Chickee” Horn (Chickee was a female impersonator) is also a fine big city blues wailer and he does it up on “Hello Little Girl.” The previously unknown Hattie Green contributes several great tracks especially the risqué, “Green Light Baby.” Like most collections, I can’t possibly comment on every track, but there are no losers here period. I can’t think of anyone with an interest in blues who won’t be blindsided by this CD.