Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee - Blowin' The Fuses (1996)

This mid-priced 12-track compilation album presents six performances from an early-'60s Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee appearance at the Troubadour (the album cover says 1961, the liner notes 1962), two studio recordings from the same era, and four bonus tracks recorded in 1944 and featuring Terry with varying combinations of musicians including Woody Guthrie, Alec Seward, and Cisco Houston. The Terry and McGhee live material is excellent, with McGhee's vocals and guitar playing carrying the tunes, embellished by Terry's inventive harmonica embellishments and occasional harmony singing. The studio tracks are more off the cuff than the live ones, notably the six-minute title track, recorded during a studio blackout.