Saturday Night Blues is a compilation album of recordings by Canadian blues performers, released by Stony Plain Records and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in 1991."The continued blues revival added a cheery note; Stony Plain Records celebrated 15 good years in business". Edmonton Journal, January 2, 1992. Subtitled "The Great Canadian Blues Project, Volume 1", the album was released as a tie-in to the CBC Radio program Saturday Night Blues, and was compiled from a mix of previously released material, new unreleased recordings and performance tapes from the CBC Radio archives."Northern blues package a meaty meal". Edmonton Journal, December 8, 1991. It was one of the first significant compilations of the work of Canadian blues artists."Mining for great Canadian blues". The Globe and Mail, January 6, 1992.
The album was a cowinner, with Loreena McKennitt's The Visit, of the 1992 Juno Award for Best Roots and Traditional Album."Here's who took top music prizes". Vancouver Sun, March 31, 1992.
A sequel album, Saturday Night Blues: 20 Years, was issued in 2006.
Critical response Mark Miller of The Globe and Mail gave the album a mixed review, calling some of the songs excellent but criticizing the album for including only one woman and only one artist from the vibrant blues scene in Quebec. Helen Metella of the Edmonton Journal reviewed the album positively, writing that "these 20 cuts acknowledge the tremendous variety and top drawer quality of northern blues."
Track listing
References