Search - Various Artists, Hopkins, Taylor :: Jewel/Paula Records Story:R&b

Stan Lewis, who owned a record shop in Shreveport, Louisiana, became the region's top independent record distributor and produced hits like Dale Hawkins's "Susie-Q" for other labels before finally launching his own Jewel Records in 1963. Though he had pop success with John Fred's "Judy in Disguise" and Nat Stuckey's "Sweet Thing," his emphasis was on blues and R&B, and that's what the new two-CD set showcases. At first he worked with blues artists who already had a track record--Big Joe Turner, Lightnin' Hopkins, Lowell Fulsom, Charles Brown, Ike Turner, Sunnyland Slim, Roosevelt Sykes, and John Lee Hooker are all represented on this anthology--and he got good if predictable results from them. --Geoffrey Himes