This weekend marks the fourth anniversary of Be Bop Wino's appearance on the rocking interweb. The first music post (a cassette of Savoy and National movers and groovers) went up on Sunday, the 23rd of September 2007. A couple of years down the line the blog got taken down but reappeared in its current vinyl-only format, which I think is preferable to the old blog. I would like to thank all contributors and collaborators who have done so much to turn Be Bop Wino into something that I never anticipitated it would become when I started it four years ago.
Many thanks to those of you who take the trouble to comment. I've learned a lot from many of those comments. And thanks also to those of you who have corresponded via email over the years. It's been fascinating to hear from fellow bloggers, deejays (both club and radio), musicians from R&B revival bands, record retailers, relatives of the original 1950s musicians, journalists, researchers and fellow enthusiasts.
Here's the Be Bop Wino anniversary playlist. Some of these tracks may still be found somewhere on the blog, but others have been and gone. So for your listening (but not downloading) pleasure we present a round dozen platters from back when R&B was R&B.