Ernie Wilkins contributed two scores to the "Harry James...Today!" album, of which "End of Town Blues" is the first. It's a very bleak sounding work, delving into the deeper nature of the blues beginning quietly and desolately before segueing magnificently into an all out blues performance with an explosive band backing James at his most creative. Big washes of dynamics are set against the quietly dejected sounding source of the beginning measures. It's that quiet solitude that gradually takes over the work and concludes on a note of pessimism.