If you’re already sweating through your shirt and regretting every summer plan you made, Craft Recordings and Bluesville Records aren’t here to help. They’re here to make it hotter. On August 1st, two stone-cold blues reissues—At the Gate of Horn by Memphis Slim and Back on My Feet Again by Furry Lewis (no relation to Taffey Lewis)—drop on 180-gram vinyl. The dog days just got a new soundtrack.
Craft Recordings and Bluesville Records charged into 2025—and damn, it shows. We were fortunate enough to review some of their heavyweight blues reissues this year, and let me tell you: these pressings absolutely demolish the ratty, beat-to-hell copies you’ve been dragging around. Mississippi John Hurt and Lonnie Johnson with Elmer Snowden? They sound cleaner, sharper, and more alive than anything else hitting the shelves lately.
This isn’t your usual half-baked reissue cash grab. The collaboration between Craft and Bluesville is firing on all cylinders, delivering vinyl that captures the raw power and soul of the blues without draining your bank account. Seriously, these are some of the best blues reissues available today—affordable, authentic, and cut from a cloth that honors the music rather than milking nostalgia.
And just when you thought they might slow down, these labels dropped Buddy Guy’s incendiary 1968 live debut This Is Buddy Guy! and Scrapper Blackwell’s 1962 comeback Mr. Scrapper’s Blues. We got early copies and they hit like a freight train—dynamic, gritty, and absolutely essential. The Buddy Guy reissue? Hotter and nastier than his cameo in Sinners—that vampire flick set in Mississippi, 1932, where the blues is more bloodsucker than soul. This is the real, raw deal. If you’re sleeping on these, might as well go back to your playlists and call it a night.
Furry Lewis Back on My Feet Again 180G LP — Bluesville Series Vinyl Reissue
Walter E. “Furry” Lewis was a Memphis-born country blues guitarist and songwriter who cut his teeth in the late 1920s and kept the flame alive well into the ’70s. Born somewhere between 1893 and 1899—because, you know, record-keeping back then was more “best guess” than fact—Lewis made his first recordings in Chicago in 1927 for Vocalion Records. A year later, he was back home recording alongside the Memphis Jug Band and other local legends.
Furry’s style was a mix of fingerpicking and slide guitar, a sound rooted deep in Delta and country blues traditions. He put out solid hits like “Kassie Jones” and “Judge Harsh Blues” before disappearing from the scene. But thanks to the folk blues revival of the ’60s, Lewis was pulled out of retirement, recorded fresh sessions at Memphis’s Sun Studio for Prestige/Bluesville, and got rediscovered by a new generation.
Back On My Feet Again is Furry Lewis returning to form in 1961, a time when the blues were balancing between tradition and revival. Originally released on Prestige Records, this album features Lewis’ trademark finger-picking and slide guitar, revisiting early staples like “John Henry” and “Big Chief Blues” alongside traditional tunes and newer songs. Pressed on 180-gram vinyl at QRP with Acoustic Sounds’ involvement, this reissue comes in a faithful replica tip-on jacket—respectful to its roots without fuss. It’s a solid slice of Memphis blues history, delivered with the rawness and honesty that Lewis was known for.
Where to pre-order: $32.99 at Amazon
Memphis Slim At The Gate of Horn 180G LP — Bluesville Series Vinyl Reissue
John Len Chatman, better known as Memphis Slim, was a blues pianist, singer, and composer who practically wrote the playbook on jump blues bands—think sax, bass, drums, and his piano leading the charge. Born in Memphis, Tennessee, Slim started recording in 1940 under his father’s name, Peter Chatman, before switching to the stage name that stuck. His early years were spent grinding away in honky-tonks and gambling joints across West Memphis and southeast Missouri before settling in Chicago in ’39, where he quickly became Big Bill Broonzy’s go-to piano man.
Memphis Slim’s early 1940s sessions for Bluebird gave us classics like “Beer Drinking Woman” and “Grinder Man Blues,” establishing his signature sound. But his real claim to fame came with 1947’s “Nobody Loves Me,” later known as “Every Day I Have the Blues”—a track that’s been covered so many times it’s practically the blues anthem. If you want the real deal on Chicago blues with a little Memphis soul mixed in, Memphis Slim’s your guy.
At The Gate of Horn landed back in ’59 on Vee-Jay Records, a record that proves Memphis Slim wasn’t just banging keys — he knew how to write ’em too. From slow blues ballads to numbers that actually move, this album holds tracks like “Steppin’ Out,” a song so good blues rockers can’t stop ripping it off. The reissue keeps the original Studs Terkel liner notes intact (because some things shouldn’t be messed with), is freshly remastered, and pressed on heavyweight 180-gram vinyl at QRP, thanks to Acoustic Sounds. It’s all wrapped up in a replica tip-on jacket, no frills, no nonsense—just the blues done right. If you’re still spinning worn-out copies, this one’s a serious upgrade.
Where to pre-order: $32.99 at Amazon
Related Reading:
- Buddy Guy This Is Buddy Guy! & Scrapper Blackwell Mr. Scrapper’s Blues Vinyl Reviews: All-Analog Mastering, 180-Gram Pressings
- Mississippi John Hurt Today! Vinyl Reissue Review
- The Empire Struck First: How Streaming Killed (And Accidentally Resurrected) Physical Media
- Bluesville Records And Craft Recordings Kick Off 2025 With Lonnie Johnson And Mississippi John Hurt Vinyl Reissues
