The Very Best of Jimmy Reed, The Essential Blues Collection

With his meteoric run of hits from early 1955 through late 1961, Chicago's Jimmy Reed reigned as the most popular bluesman of his day, rivaled only by fellow Mississippi transplant B.B. King. By the mid-'60s Reed was playing New York's Carnegie Hall and the Apollo Theater and touring England as a star. Reed's sweet, Delta-inflected singing complemented the cool, walking bass shuffles of his cleverly crafted songs, the finest of which are to be found in this tasteful contribution to Rhino's Blues Masters series. Included here are chart toppers like "You Don't Have to Go," "Ain't That Lovin' You, Baby," "Baby, What You Want Me to Do," "Big Boss Man," and "Bright Lights, Big City," all durable standards that influenced a generation of rockers from Bob Dylan to the Rolling Stones to Jimi Hendrix and earned Reed his proper place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. --Alan Greenberg