Jean-Pierre Urbain Reviews CDs




HERMAN E. JOHNSON / SMOKY BABE
"Louisiana Country Blues"
Arhoolie 440

SMOKY BABE: I'm Broke and I'm Hungry / Too Many Women / Two Wings / Mississippi River / My Baby She Told Me / Rabbit Blues / Black Ghost / Ain't Got No Rabbit Dog / Bad Whiskey / Black Gal / My Baby Put Me Down / Going Back Home / Regular Blues / HERMAN E. JOHNSON: I Just keeps on Wanting You / You Don't Know My Mind / Motherless Children / Depression Blues / She's a Looking For Me / She Had Been Drinking / I'm Growing Older / Po'Boy / Leavin' Blues / Piano Blues / Where the Mansion's Prepared For Me

This album just came in at the last minute while I was preparing to send my material to our editor, but I couldn't resist! Both Herman E Johnson and Smoky Babe were discovered and recorded by Dr Harry Hoster in Louisiana. The Smoky Babe tracks which are reissued here, were initially available on a Folklyric LP 118, an Arhoolie LP 2019 and in Europe on 77LA. Born in Itta Bena Mississippi, Smoky Babe was discovered in Scotlandville in Louisiana where he was working at a filling station as mechanic. He passed away in 1975. What I've always found fascinating with Smoky's country blues is its enthusiasm, exuberance which invites you to stomp your feet or just stand up and dance, even when his blues are sad in text, they are joyful in the way they are communicated. The Smoky Babe cuts were recorded in February 1960 with Lazy Lester or Clyde Caysey on Harmonica (whose playing is reminiscent of Noah Lewis on Ain't Got No Rabbit Dog), or William and/or Sally Dotson on vocals both coming for a rhythmic and irresistible Rabbit Blues which is one of the highlights of this superb album. Rabbit Blues is an amazing song which was part of the traditional material from the South which supplied for example a framework for children's games or which was a lively feature of quilting time just before the winter, as explained in the liner notes by Harry Hoster. Sally Dotson is also responsible for part of the vocals on the comic Black Ghosts on which she dialogues with Smoky on the idea of being haunted by a black ghosts. In addition of being an great entertainer, Smoky Babe was also a nice musician who could produce some superb bottleneck sound (on Bad Whisky) in the best tradition of Northern Mississippi players. All in all, the country blues of Smoky babe is simply one of the most joyful I know of. Herman E Johnson, from Scotlandville Louisiana, who died in 1975 had only one full LP available on the market (Arhoolie LP 1060) which is entirely reissued here. Coming from a very religious family, but not being member of any church himself, Herman Johnson is in fact quite an original musician. His music is sober, intimate and even moving. These different characteristics are amplified by his use of a knife blade with which he produces a very expressive guitar sound and which often enables him to leave out words of songs and let his slide speaks, in a tradition which reminds us of Blind Willie Johnson. And this is maybe the most remarkable trademark of Herman Johnson's music: this ever present dialogue between him and his guitar. Unlike many artists who accompany themselves with their instruments, Johnson uses his instrument as a partner to produce some fascinating music. Louisiana Country Blues is again, like almost all of Arhoolie's reissues, a highly welcome release: two outstanding LP's on one CD, by , most importantly, two superb musicians. This is a run don't walk album!

THE BLUES OF BABY TATE
"See What You Done Done"
Original Blues Clasic CD567

See What You Done Done / Dupree Blues / What Have I Done To You / Baby, I'm Going / Hey, Mama, Hey Pretty Girl / When Your Woman Don't Want You Around / My baby Don't Treat Me Kind / Trucking My Blues Away / Baby, You Just Don't Know / Lonesome Over There / Thousand Woman Blues / I Ain't Got No Loving Baby Now.

This recently released album from in the OBCD series is a straightforward reissue of the Bluesville LP produced by the late Dr K.S. Goldstein and recorded in August 1961 in Spartanburg, North Carolina, by Samuel B. Charters who was actually searching for Pink Anderson and discovered Baby Tate which was living on the same street. Although maybe not as popular as some of his contemporaries, Baby Tate ranks among the best East Coast blues musicians from the post word war II period and certainly as one of the most interesting Carolina bluesmen that has been recorded in the 60's. Unfortunately this is the only full album that was ever published by this Georgia born musician who died too early in 1972 when he was still 53 years old. This album features some wonderful music in the best Piedmont tradition, although Baby Tate was also able to play in other regional styles. The album opens on a superb See What You Done Done and features 11 other cuts where we can appreciate how a beautiful singer and tasteful guitar player he was. When Your Woman Don't Want You Around is about his own story, while on the rest of the album he draws (musically or lyrically) from Pink Anderson, Willie Walker (on Dupree Blues), Buddy Moss (Baby, You Just Don't Know) and naturally Blind Boy Fuller, undoubtedly his greatest influence. Baby Tate was recorded again on different occasions by Pete Lowry in 1970 for his Trix label. Unfortunately, Lowry found these recordings not sufficiently representative of his great talent and decided to keep these unpublished, exception made of two sides which appeared on a Trix 45. The remaining available recordings of Charles "Baby" Tate are found on the Flyright LP 528 "Another Man Done Gone" (2x), on the Ash LP101 "The Blues" (3x) while he also appears behind Peg Leg Sam on Trix 3302 (now on CD). For details about his life and music, I recommend the two excellent books written by Bruce Bastin ("Crying for the Carolines", published in the Blues Paperback series in 1971 and "Red River Blues", published by Mac Millan in 1986). Pete Lowry was hoping to record him again for a full LP on his Trix label, but "Baby" Tate passed away before these sessions could take place. Many unreleased cuts are still somewhere in the Trix vaults and this is thus the only full length album available from this great country bluesman. Unreservedly recommended.

R.L.BURNSIDE
"MISSISSIPPI HILL COUNTRY BLUES"
Swingmaster CD 2201 (NL)

Miss Maybelle / House Up on the Hill / Gone So Long / Skinny Woman / See What My Buddy Done / Don't Care How Long You're Gone / Lost Without Your Love / Shake'Em On Down / bad Luck and Trouble / Just Like A Woman / Greyhound Bus Station / Crying Wont Make Me Stay / Rolling and Tumbling / Mellow Peaches / I Believe / Poor Boy / Poor Back Mattie / Jumper On The Line / Long Haired Doney.

Unlike many record companies active in the 80's, Swingmaster's goal was to promote and record mostly unknown, unrerecorded, forgotten, or simply overlooked traditional blues artists. They released very interesting LPs that, for me, rank among the best country blues recordings published in the 80's (Johnny Woods, James Son Thomas, Burnside, J.W.Warren, Big Boy Henry, ...). I'm thus really pleased to discover that Leo Bruin has finally decided to release some of his material on CD. The first artist in this new Swingmaster CD series is R.L. Burnside that finally enjoys a well-deserved recognition thanks to his recent excellent Fat Possum CDs. He is a regular visitor of Europe since the early 80's and Mississippi blues addicts hopefully remember his two excellent Swingmaster LPs published in 1982 and 1998. Both were out of print and this reissue is thus a very welcome release especially for all those who have just recently discovered this great musician. This CD contains a selection of 19 songs from these two LPs, recorded in 1980, 1982 (3 previously unreleased cuts), 1984 as well as 3 songs from the 1967 recordings Burnside did for Georges Mitchell. Exception made of "Rollin and Tumblin" where he is accompanied by Red Ramsey on harp, R.L.Burnside is alone with his guitar. His blues is mixing the influence of his teacher Ranie Burnette with the sound of Fred McDowell to produce a highly rhythmic and obsessing sound which became well-known as the bluesstyle of the Hill country of North Mississippi. This is particularly well exemplified on "Miss Maybelle" , "Coal Black Mattie" which he both picked up from Ranie Burnette, but also on "Jumper On the Line", "Poor Boy", "Skinny Woman", ... R.L.Burnside has always been building a large part of his repertory around songs popularised by Muddy Waters, Lil'Son Jaskcon and other greats, but his obsessing and percussive guitar work coupled to his expressive vocals make him a unique artist on the contemporary blues scene. From what Leo Bruin recently told me recently in Utrecht, it seems that the production/reissue of other CDs with material from the Swinsmaster vaults will depend on how well this one sells. They still have unissued recordings by Henry Townsend (which could be the second CD in this series) and enough unpublished material for a full length album by James Son Thomas as well as many other things which were never published given the too low sales potential. So if you want to have a chance to hear these things you know what you have to do! "Mississippi Hill Country Blues" is an excellent release by one of the last true Mississippi bluesman. It contains some of the best solo recordings Burnside made up to now. I hope that this album will find its way on to your CD player, you won't be disappointed.

CAME SO FAR
Various Artists
Music Makers Recordings MMCD1294 (USA)

MARIE MANNING: Hard Luck and Trouble / BISHOP MANNING: Gospel Train / CAPTAIN LUKE: Rainy Night in Georgia, I Don't Want No Woman/ JOHN LEE ZEIGLER: Going Away / J.W WARREN: Have You Seen Corinna?, Looking for My Woman / RUFUS MCKENZIE: Whooping the Blues / MACAVINE HAYES: Sweet Little Angel, Goodbye Johnny B. Goode/ LUCILLE LINDSEY AND GUITAR GABRIEL: Fly Around Heaven All Day, Trying to Make 100 / SAMUEL TURNER STEVENS: Marching Through Georgia, T for Texas/ BISHOP MANNING: Questionnaire Blues / BIG BOY HENRY:Vellevina/ PERNELL KING AND GUITAR GABRIEL: Late in the Evening / GUITAR GABRIEL: Key to the Highway.

This album is the second compilation (after the fascinating "A Living Past" MMCD 9401, still available) released by the North Carolina based Music Maker Recording foundation led by Tim Duffy which presents living traditional blues and gospel artists recorded over the recent years in the fields, in their homes, living rooms, ... Exception made of Guitar Gabriel and Big Boy Henry, which ranks among best the living traditional Carolina bluesmen still around, I guess that most of the names featured on this CD will sound rather unknown outside a too small circle of contemporary traditional blues fanatics although many of these musicians, including the asthonishing singer Captain Luke, were the subject of a series of excellent articles Tim Duffy wrote for Living Blues in 1993 (issues 107/108). The name of some other musicians featured on this disc may sound more familiar to country blues lovers thanks to their previous recordings like J.W.Warren, discovered and recorded by Georges Mitchell in 1982 (published on an excellent Swingmaster LP), or John Lee Zeiglar (who recently played Utrecht and which appeared on a Georgia Blues anthology almost 20 years ago). There are however some other extremely interesting musicians on this anthology and my personnal favourite discovery is clearly Bishop Manning (and his wife Marie Manning) playing here some superb Piedmont guitar on "Questionnaire Blues" while Marie Manning's powerful vocals are well illustrated on "Hard Luck and Trouble". Bishop Manning is a former bluesman who "has converted his music to songs in praise of the Lords", he also sings and plays harmonica on a stunning "Gospel Train". "Came So Far" would actually need a track by track review as each song calls for a comment. From the numerous enjoyable moments of this album, I will just mention that J.W.Warren plays a superb -too short- story song he had already recorded for Mitchell in 1982 "The Escape of Corrinna", here entitled "Have You Seen Corinna?", featuring his superb slide sound which he apparently gets from using an old jack-knife. All in all, I cannot recommend enough this CD and congratulate Tim Duffy for his continuing work as producer, researcher and musician (he plays himself some nice guitar behind Captain Luke, Macavine Hayes -with an amazing "Goodbye Johnny Be Good!"-, Big Boy Henry and Guitar Gabriel). The CD comes with interesting sleeves notes containing lyrics transcriptions and is illustrated by great photos taken, among others, by Tim Diffy and Axel Kustner. While many people might identify country blues with Keb Mo or some talented white revivalists nowadays, it is really a pleasure to see CDs like this being published. The sound is absolutely wonderfull and I really hope that this set anticipates further comparable releases. Unreservedly recommended!

Music Maker Recordings, 41 East 62nd Street, New York, NY 10021, Tel 212-2074016, Fax 212-2074434.
Distributed in Europe by All Blue Record Service (Tel/Fax +32-51-72 29 54).

GUITAR GABRIEL
"VOLUME 1."
Music Maker Recordings MMCD 0494 (USA)

Here Comes the Devil / Blues for Dorothy / Old Man Rivers / You Got to Watch Yourself / Old Fashioned Love / Leave My Goat Alone / Let's Talk it Over / Dr. Buzzard /Let it Roll / Here Comes Grandma / Hospital Blues / Back in the Western Days / Two Brothers

Singer and guitarist Guitar Gabriel, born Robert L. Jones, recorded first in Pittsburgh in 1970 under the name of Nyles Jones (published on Gemini 7101). He was "rediscovered" by Tim Duffy who brought him back on the US and European scenes and published a number of his recordings on Karibu a few years ago. Here he comes with a new set recorded in April 1994 in Lucy Duffy's living room. Simply entitled "Volume l ", this is one of the most interesting albums I've heard over the last months. He is very efficiently accompanied by Tim Duffy on guitar, Michael Parrish on piano, Mark Levinson on flugel-horn and upright bass and Ardie Deans on drums. Don't expect this set to be a simple continuation of his previous recordings but well a fascinating illustration of the multiple facets of Guitar Gabriel's life and musical personality (storyteller, musician, performer, ...) The result is a blend of music styles that are seldom heard nowadays. Intimate and totally personal is the best way of describing Guitar Gabriel artistic performance on this album. He plays both early jazz tunes, story songs, ballads, low down blues, ... and invites the listener to follow him in his music, his words, his somtimes astonishing stories (such as "You Got to Watch Yourself" about which the cover mentions "Advisor Warning! This track contains explicit sexual material!"...). "Blues for Dorothy", more in line with his earlier recordings, is a moving song dedicated to his late wife which introduces some Hopkins' flavour, while "Back in the Western Days" is more akin to what one could expect from a North Carolina based musician. I can just advise you to really check this set out, the sound quality is great, the music is personal and quite different from much of what we've been used to listen to over the recent years. We should thank again Tim Duffy's efforts for making such an album possible.

Little Freddie King
"Swamp Boogie"
Orleans 1611
Cleo's Back / Mean Little Woman / Swamp Boogie / I Use To Be Down / San Ho Zay / Bus Station Blues / Kinky Cotton Fields / Baby Got it All / What I'd Say / I'm Gonna Haul Right off and Cry / The Great Chinese / Cast Squall Blues

Fans of rural, Down Home and real stuff should be happy these last years as many labels have produced a bunch of nice CDs by mostly overlooked, unknown or forgotten blues musicians (Little Jimmy Reed, Willie Foster, Robert Lowery, ...) And in this sense, we can only welcome this new set by Little Freddie King. Born Fredrick Martin in Mc Comb Mississippi in 1940, he grew up listening to the music of his father musician, Muddy, B.B.King,... He received his nickname in the 60's and played with Polka Dot Slim, Snooks Eaglin,... After an album for Ahura Mazda in the 70's, he kept however his day job as a mechanic although he toured Europe with Bob Diddley and John lee Hooker in the mid-70's. In September 1994, Carlo Ditta proposed him to record an album and the result is entitled "Swamp Boogie" with a bit less than 40 minutes of straighforward down home blues. Contrary to what might be expected from his nickname, I wouldn't call this album a Freddie King influenced musician although one find a cover of a Freddie King tume. Actually, this album reflects all his different influences and his experience mixing some down to the earth stuff (Baby Got it All, I'm Gonna Haul Right Off and Cry), some Hopkins touch (Bus Station Blues), some good old swamp stuff (I used to Be Down) or the Bo Dilldley-ish The Great Chinese. The album closes on a Delta rooted acoustic Cat Squall Blues, actually a remake of Catfish Blues. From the liner notes we learn that Little Freddie King has spent much of his time trying simply to play, to teach and explain the blues in colleges and workshops instead pursuing some hypothetical fame, and that's what we actually hear: a honest musician playing some enjoyable and refreshing unpretentious down home stuff. Thanks to Carlo Ditta for putting out this album. Recommended.

ROBERT LOWERY
"A Good Man is Hard To Find"
Orleans OR 1411

Louisiana Blues / If I had Possession Over Judgement Day / Good Man is Hard To Find / Hobo Blues / Snake Hippin'Mama / My Baby's Callin'Me / Watch You While You Sleep / Last Fair deal Gone / Sittin'On Top of the World/ Move on Little Girl / When the Saints Go Marching In/ Mojo Hand.

Recorded in New Orleans in 1992, this is the second album of Robert Lowery for the NO based Orleans Records of Carlo Ditta. Born in Arkansas in 1932, Robert Lowery moved to California in the mid-50's. Although he was remarked in the 70's for his excellent singles on Blues Connoisseur, it wasn't until a few years ago that his first debut full album was released on Orleans Records, consisting of fields recordings done by Carlo Ditta (Earthquake Blues) just in front of his home in Santa Cruz. On these sides, as well as on his previously issued recordings, he showed himself as an authentic and deep rural blues artist much influenced by the sound of Crudup, Stackhouse, Muddy, Wolf, Hooker, Hopkins and naturally Robert Johnson which clearly was his main man. Here he is again with a set consisting of five originals and six covers wonderfully backed by the harmonica of Virgil Thraster, the upright bass of Raphael Semmes and the subtle piano of Katie Webster without fogetting his own stomping foot. The results is a real pleasure of deep down ural stuff. His laid-back, sometimes declamatory, vocal style is reminiscent of prewar delta musicians while his guitar, maybe not as rich as during the 70's, sometimes evokes people such Hopkins (on Watch You While You Sleep) or Robert Johnson and Stackhouse when he picks up his bottleneck. His music can also be highly rhythmic as shown on the up tempo Snake Hippin' Mama on which Thraster plays some excellent and really very efficient harp. The addition of Katie Webster on tracks such as Hobo Blues or Sitting on the Top of the World brings a welcome variety in this very enjoyabe album. It has become popular to produce "counrty blues" album these years, but what differentiates this album from much of what we hear nowadays is the authenticity of the music. Kudos for the sidemen which are there just as they have to be: efficient, following Lowery, answering his guitar, supporting the beat, enriching the music. Although this album has remained surprisingly overlooked in the blues world since it appeared a bit more than a year ago, this is definitely one the best rural/down home blues album I've heard over the last two years. Highly recommended!

LIGHTNIN'HOPKINS
"Autobiography in Blues"
Rykodisc/Tradition TCD 1002
In the evening / Trouble In Mind Time / Mama and Papa Hopkins Time / The Foot Race Is On Time / That Gambling Life Time / When the Saint Go Marching in Time / Get Off My Toe Time / 75 Highway Time / Bottle Up and Go Time / Short Haired Woman Time / So Long Baby Time / Sante Fe Blues Time

"Country Blues"
Rykodisc/Tradition TCD 1003

Long Time / Rainy Day Blues / Baby / Long Gone Like a Turkey Through The Corn / Prison Blues Come Down On Me / Backwater Blues / Gonna Pull A Party / Bluebird, Bluebird / See See Rider / Worrying My Mind / Till The Gin Gets Here / Bunion Stew / You Got To Work To Get Your Pay / Go Down Old Hannah / Hear My Black Dog Bark

Lightnin' Hopkins was certainly the most prolific, both quantitatively and qualitatively speaking, Texas blues musician of the post world war II period. These two CDs are straightforward reissues of the Tradition LP's which were published back in 1960 with material originally recorded by Mack McCormick during different sessions in 1959 in Houston. Other tracks recorded during these sessions were also published on 77LA, Candid, Arhoolie, Everest. At the time these sessions were held, Hopkins's commercial recording career had started to wane and it was mainly thanks to the interest and enthusiasm of Mack McCormick, Chris Strachwitz, Samuel Charters and Paul Oliver that Hopkins was brought to the attention of the new growing white folk revival audience. If his early sides for Gold Star, Aladdin, or Herald are without any doubts the very best things he recorded in his career, it was surprising to discover how easily he could adapt himself and his music to an acoustic set-up. While the electricity of the instrument was moved away in order to please the audience of the folk revival, his music remained almost unchanged, real and direct, utterly personal, rough-edged. He made dozens of albums for this new audience, and these sides, among the first he recorded in his new career, rank among the best. Almost 40 years later, the magic still works and his music demonstrate once again what a huge talent and essential musician he was and how well , maybe more than anyone else, his personality summarises what being a blues musician could mean: storyteller, entertainer, poet, improviser. Hopkins' idiosyncratic style is so intense that he was able to capture both the black (in the 40's) and the white audiences (later) with the same intensity. The sleeves notes are simply (slightly) edited versions of the original ones, the song credits are still a bit strange (all the tracks but one from TCD 1002 are credited to Hopkins and McCormick !!) and we could have hoped to see some more tracks from the old British 77LA LP added (or some other of the 65 sides Mack McCormick recorded in 1959), but for those who don't owe the original Tradition LPs, it's really a good opportunity to enlarge their CD collection with some fine stuff reissued with a good sound quality.

COREY HARRIS
"BETWEEN MIDNIGHT AND DAY"
Alligator ALCD4837 (USA)
Roots Woman / Pony Blues / Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning / Early in The Morning / Feel Like Going Home / I'm A Rattlesnake Daddy / Between Midnight and Days / Bukk's Jitterbug Swing / Going To Bronwsville / Write Me a Few Lines / She Moves Me / Bound To Miss Me / 61 Highway / Catfish Blues / I Ain't Gonna Be Worried No More / It Hurts Me Too.

When I first heard a while ago that Bruce Iglauer was planning to release an acoustic country blues album by a new discovery, a rather young African-American artist, I must admit I was a bit sceptical. I was thinking that we would again get a new example of those musicians which I see much more as highly technical acoustic blues revivalists than anything else. I must now confess my surprise when I received and listened to the debut album by this 1969 born African-American musician which grew up in Colorado, went to college in Main and moved to Cameroon in North Africa at age 21. After his return from Africa, he worked in Louisiana teaching French and English in public schools and met several younger African-American blues players. Whether this background and these experiences are responsible for what he actually is, is a possible explanation. The other one I see is simply that Corey Harris is a very talented musician with a natural sense of rhythm and powerful vocals which are rarely met in contemporary acoustic blues recordings. The 16 tracks of this album were recorded in 1994 and consist of three originals and a bunch of very well chosen covers. It seems clear that he will rapidly emerge as one of the most interesting young bluesmen of today's scene. His music is blending the influence of the great masters with his personal background. There aren't many musicians out there who can play McDowell ("Write Me a Few Lines", "61 Highway"), Petway ("Catfish Blues"), Muddy ("Feel Like Going Home", "She Moves Me"), or Patton ("Pony Blues", one of the best version I've heard in the recent years)... with so much talent and, more importantly, without suffering from revivalists' clichÈs mostly characterised by a high level of technical skill but also too often lacking substance and deepness. Corey Harris is also an excellent singer whose voice is surprisingly powerful and deep for such a young musician. If you couple this with a very effective guitar work and intelligent sense of the rhythm (on McDowell's songs for example) you discover why he succeeds where some others have failed: he knows how to use variations in the tonality and the intensity of both his bottleneck and his voice. Those who've had the opportunity to catch him live during his recent visit to Europe will hopefully not disagree: Corey Harris has got something of his own to say and is certainly someone from which we'll hear much more in the near future. Recommended!

Jean-Pierre Urbain