The Blues Of Brooks Berry And Scrapper Blackwell - My Heart Struck Sorrow

Released in 1963 on the Prestige Bluesville label, this album serves as a poignant document of the acoustic blues tradition centered in Indianapolis. Recorded during the early 1960s folk and blues revival, the session brought together the legendary guitarist Scrapper Blackwell, who was experiencing a career resurgence after years of inactivity, and the lesser-known singer Brooks Berry. The record functions as a preservationist project, capturing the intimate, unadorned interplay between Blackwell's sophisticated fingerpicking and Berry's traditional vocal delivery.

The album is representative of Prestige Bluesville’s broader mission to archive regional blues styles that were often overlooked by mainstream labels during the height of the electric Chicago blues era. The design follows the label's standard aesthetic of the period, favoring functional, documentary-style photography and clear typography to emphasize the authenticity of the field recording. While it did not reach a wide commercial audience upon its release, it is regarded by musicologists and blues historians as a vital piece of the Indiana blues legacy, showcasing Blackwell’s influential role in shaping the piano-less, guitar-driven sound of the Midwest.