Shake ’em Down

Bukka White recorded Shake Em On Down in Chicago on September 2 1937 for Vocalion, singing and playing guitar in a driving solo performance. The session was supervised by Lester Melrose during Whites first major commercial recording period. Released by Vocalion in 1937, Shake Em On Down became Bukka Whites breakthrough record and one of his defining prewar sides. Its forceful rhythm and shouted vocal made it a standout Mississippi blues recording of the late 1930s. Shake Em On Down became a blues standard after Whites 1960s rediscovery and was later recorded or adapted by artists including Mississippi Fred McDowell, R.L. Burnside, and Led Zeppelin. The song remains one of the core links between Delta blues, hill-country blues, and later rock interpretations.