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Penitentiary Blues
Prison
Bars All Around Me 
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The Greatest Blues
Show On Earth! (Fuel 2000)
Penitentiary Blues:
Songs To Do Hard Time By (Fuel 2000)
For
the last few years the Fuel 2000 label has been
an extremely active reissue label cranking out dozens
and dozens of blues, soul, gospel and rock collections.
Form a blues standpoint they've been a bit spotty;
issuing on one hand numerous decent budget priced
CD's but also making available some more important
historical releases like amazing live sets by Robert
Pete Williams ("Long Ol' Way From Home: The
Chicago Sessions"), Mississippi John Hurt ("D.C.
Blues: Library of Congress Recordings"), J.B.
Lenoir & Sunnyland Slim ("Live in '63")
among other important collections. These latest
releases fall somewhere in the middle with the 16
track budget priced "Penitentiary Blues"
falling in the spotty category while "The
Greatest Blues Show On Earth!" contains 15
very strong live performances from some of the biggest
names in blues.
"The Greatest
Blues Show On Earth!" seems to be a
companion to "Sold Out! The Greatest Rock &
Roll Show in the World" which Fuel 2000 issued
a couple of years back. The music, as mentioned,
is often very good but the glaring problem is that
there is no information given on the source of these
recordings. The exception is a typically solid Lightnin'
Hopkins' performance in "One Eyed Woman"
recorded at the Atlanta Blues Festival, probably
in the 70's I'm guessing, and Albert Collins' "Frosty"
recorded at Mount Fuji in 1992 (issued in it's entirety
on "The Iceman at Mount Fuji" on CD and
DVD). Others we can figure out like the wonderful,
charming "Mojo Boogie" featuring J.B.
Lenoir and Sunnyland caught for posterity playing
for an intimate crowd at Nina's Lounge on the West
Side circa 1963 (issued on the above noted "Live
in '63"). Also from 1963 is Sonny Boy Williamson
and The Animals doing "Night Time Is The Right
Time" live at the Club A Go Go which has it's
own rough hewn charm. As for the rest I don't know
the source but there is some very good performances
including an epic nine minute version of "Gambler's
Blues" by Otis Rush, a scorching "Stormy
Monday" by Etta James, Albert King delivering
a passionate "Born Under A Bad Sign",
the underrated Fenton Robinson delivering his signature
"Somebody Loan Me A Dime" and Buddy Guy
& Junior Wells doing their thing on a thumping
"Messin' With The Kid." Sound throughout
is generally quite good.
"Penitentiary
Blues" subtitled "Songs To Do Hard Time
By" collects 16 prison themed blues, certainly
a theme with a rich history in the blues. The music
itself is hard to fault but falls short from a thematic
standpoint. First of all a theme such as this deserves
more than a mere 44 minutes to do it proper justice
and a more imaginative collection certainly could
have been assembled. Where for example is Fred McMullen
and Curley Weaver's harrowing "De Kalb Chain
Gang", Robert Pete Williams' heartbreaking
"Pardon Denied Again" and Calvin Leavy's
classic "Cummins Prison Farm" (where he
still currently resides), to name just a few? Still
there's some good ones here including pre-war gems
like Blind Lemon's plaintive "Penitentiary
Blues", Bukka White's classic "Parchman
Farm Blues" sung by a man who spent time in
that notorious institution (his other prison songs
like "When Can I Change My Clothes" and
"Sleepy Man Blues" are equally harrowing)
and Leroy Carr's "Christmas In Jail, Ain't
That A Pain" featuring the impeccable guitar
of partner Scrapper Blackwell. Post-War highlights
include Lightnin' Hopkins haunting, laconic "Prison
Blues Come Down On Me" (his "Grosebeck
Blues" would have been another good choice),
Big Joe Williams teams up with Lightnin' and Sonny
Terry on the wonderful, loose jam of "Chain
Gang Blues" while Junior Wells closes out with
the moving "Prison Bars All Around Me."
Solid notes are provided by Bill Dahl although,
unfortunately, session details are lacking.
(Jeff
Harris)
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Roosevelt Dean: Touch
Somebody's Hand
(Independent)
Go
to any small or mid-size city and you'll no doubt find
an active blues scene with usually one blues veteran
that the whole scene revolves around. As is often the
case most of these guys aren't all that well known outside
their respective cities; Cleveland has the incredible
Guitar Slim, Rochester has Joe Beard and Syracuse has
Roosevelt Dean. Dean has quietly released a number of
strong records but "Touch Somebody's Hand"
is his best and most ambitious to date.
Like
his contemporaries, Guitar Slim and Joe Beard, Dean
came from the South but did not start playing blues
until he came to Syracuse, New York, in the sixties.
Dean has been flooring audiences in Syracuse for years
and has been well honored in his hometown. Despite the
honors, some good reviews in blues magazines like Living
Blues and some out of state touring Dean is flying under
the radar when it come to national recognition. He's
still issuing his own CD's including notable ones such
as 2000's "Blue Heaven" and 2003's excellent
"Somewhere 'Round Georgia." "Touch Somebody's
Hand" is Dean's finest yet and will hopefully garner
the kind of national exposure Dean deserves.
"Touch
Somebody's Hand" is Dean's most polished effort
filled out with some punchy horns, female backup singers
and a wide variety of styles. Rosie, as his friends
call him, tackles straight up blues shuffles, soulful
R&B and even goes to the pulpit for some inspired
gospel. Backed by a rock solid band who really know
how to lay down a groove, Rosie sings his tunes (he
wrote all but four of the fifteen tracks) in a rich,
heavy yet soulful voice and steps out occasionally for
some tasty, understated guitar solos. This is a well
produced outing, more polished than his prior records
but not overproduced and provides a nice contrast to
Rosie's more down home, earthy delivery. Rosie really
knows how to tell a story in his songs, putting them
across like he's singing them directly to you whether
on the cautionary "Whiskey & Gin" an intense
blues shuffle with ominous horns and stinging guitar
or warning about those "Big Fat Woman" on
this infectious, loping blues number. There's plenty
of diversity as Rosie and the band deliver some thumping
funk on "I Been Watching You" driven by those
fine riffing horns, croons some aching R&B on "Step
Into My Heart" or goes to church on the moving,
intimate "God" with just Rosie on piano and
his band amening in the background as he sings about
Iraq, 9/11 and drugs among a few other things on his
mind. Also worth noting are fine covers of Muddy's "Honey
Bee" featuring some blistering fret work from Nicklas
Humez who's a real standout throughout plus first rate
originals like "Blues Man" and the shuffling
R&B of "Stay Away." The disc wraps up
on another spiritual note with the uplifting "Touch
Somebody's Hand" that brings things to a rousing
finish.
Like
many fine, veteran bluesmen Roosevelt Dean has been
issuing his own CD's and hustling local gigs for years.
With the blues industry in poor shape there's fewer
labels willing to take chances on lesser known artists,
even one of Dean's caliber. It comes down to the fans
to support blues like this and you could no better than
grabbing a copy of "Touch Somebody's Hand",
one of the first great blues records of 2006.
(Jeff Harris)
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John Long: Lost
& Found (Delta Groove)
Country
blues is deceptively simple and while there's
many modern day practitioners, few really capture
the feel of the music as it was played in the
1920's and 30's. On "Lost & Found"
John Long displays an uncanny feel for the old
time blues on his astonishing and long overdue
debut.
So who is John Long and how could such an
amazing talent stay hidden for so long? As mentioned,
this is Long's debut having previously cut a lone
cut on an obscure compilation, a few appearances
on other people's sessions and a handful of demos.
Long began performing in the early 60's with his
brother Claude playing mainly rock & roll
and R&B. Like many he began to dig deeper
investigating the greats from the 1920's and 30's
and receiving first hand pointers from Big Joe
Williams and Homesick James. Opportunities were
few, as they still are, for a solo acoustic bluesman
so Long toiled at a day job and played gigs when
he could. Long's years of woodshedding have paid
off as he emerges on "Lost & Found"
fully formed, a master country blues player who's
music sounds natural and effortless.
The
problem with many modern day country blues performers
is that the music often comes across as too stilted
or too academic as if they've learned all the
right notes from the old records but none of the
feeling. Don't get me wrong there's a number of
fine players on the scene including the ageless
John Hammond, Paul Geremia, Corey Harris and Alvin
Youngblood Hart who's perhaps the best I've heard
in recent years. Add John Long to that rarified
list, who's debut compares favorably to Alvin
Youngblood Hart's classic debut, "Big Momma's
Door" (1995) which set the benchmark for
modern day country blues records. Like Hart, John
Long is the total package, an exceptional, percussive
guitarist and an outstanding vocalist. In fact
if it wasn't for the lack of clicks and pops you
could almost mistake these sides for a cache of
newly discovered pristine 78's. In addition Long
is a first rate songwriter, having penned all
twelve tracks filled with plenty of sly humor
and heartache. Long also plays some fine harmonica
and is joined on a few tracks by pianist Fred
Kaplan, former frontman with The Hollywood Fats
Band and currently leader of The Hollywood Blue
Flames. Working with a backlog of some 40 years
worth of songs, it's not surprising that there's
not a bum track in the bunch. The disc opens with
driving, percussive "Hokum Town" as
Long pointedly sings: "With you and your
father I just can't win/You hate people 'cuz the
color of their skin/I'm packin' up/Leaving on
this bus outside." Among the many highlights
include the infectious, humorous "Pressure
Cooker ('Bout To Blow)", sings about that
"screaming" "Hell Cat" featuring
rolling barrelhouse piano from Kaplan, blows some
sweet harmonica on "Stranglevine" backed
again by Kaplan's tasteful playing and gives us
two fine versions of the poignant "Leavin'
St. Louis" with a solo and piano version
to wrap up a tour-de-force performance. Long has
fully integrated his influences into a unique
voice but under the surface one can hear the echoes
of greats like Big Joe Williams, Tommy Johnson
and Robert Johnson who so clearly inspired him.
"Lost
& Found" is hands down one of the best
acoustic debuts in some time and should finally
get the word out about John Long who's be waiting
in the wings far too long.
-Check
out these related links:
Delta
Groove Website
(Jeff
Harris)
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