5 comments about Sonny & Brownie at Sugar Hill.

1. In the early 1960's San Francisco had a remarkable two block section called the Broadway strip. Here one could find clubs featuring most every ethnic variety of music - except the blues. When Sugar Hill opened in May of 1961, the void was filled. Terry and McGhee had a following in the Bay area from their concerts but now blues fans could see them in a club setting, which let their talent, authenticity, and charisma shine more brightly.
   
   The songs on this disc are all originals (I Got A Little Girl, however, is quite similar to Robert Johnson's I Got A Woman) and, though the duo had played in Europe and many big US cities, show how they dug deep into their souls as they continue to inovate and make each song better. Sometimes the songs have a more contemporary feeling, other times it sounds like they were playing like they did as young men (at the time of this recording Terry was 50, McGhee 47).
   
   The sound quality of the disc is outstanding. Many live recordings have too much audience and background noise. On this disc that noise is kept to an absolute minimum. Fantasy Records, which released the majority of Creedence Clearwater Revival's LPs, remastered this in 1991 and audiophiles will not be disappointed. The sound quality rivals - surprisingly - vinyl.
   
   Terry and McGhee are a duo that sound like more. If you've never heard them one listen is all it will take to make you a fan. This is traditional blues at its finest.



2. These guys are great together, get this CD and enjoy the blues live the way it's supposed to be enjoyed!



3. Sugar Hill was an upscale blues joint in San Francisco, and Sonny and Brownie played it just 6 months after it opened, this CD being the results of that engagement. And it's a beauty. Often on record dates with these two giants, Brownie takes most of the vocals, with Sonny singing 2 or 3 songs; on this one, Sonny sings just as much as Brownie. (Early in their career Brownie once told Sonny that if he wanted half the money he was going to have to sing, not just play harmonica.) Sonny is an old-time blues singer, preferring older forms, traditional verses, all done in his raspy, unrefined voice. Brownie is smoother in voice and likes to experiment a bit with the blues form. For example, BORN TO LIVE, sung by Brownie, is 32-bars long, with a bridge, though it's drenched with blues feeling. WORRY, WORRY, WORRY also is slightly different, and includes a "whomp" at the end of each phrase. Sonny sings JUST ABOUT CRAZY, which sounds very much like a work song, while I FEEL ALRIGHT NOW is a secular spiritual. Both men are in excellent form here. Blues fans should find a lot to love on this CD.



4. This December, 1961 recording captures Sonny and Brownie at the famous Sugar Hill nightclub in San Francisco.
   It ranks among their best albums, alongside "Backwater Blues" and "Live At The New Penelope Cafe", and both men perform some of their best songs.
   
   Brownie McGhee's melodic "Born To Live The Blues" has the audience clapping along, and the swinging "Keep On Walking", the terrific set-closer "Sweet Woman Blues", and Sonny Terry's energetic "Just About Crazy" are also among the highlights.
   But that could be said for almost the entire album, actually..."Sonny And Brownie At Sugar Hill" is one of the duo's best original albums, even without classics like "Walk On" and "I'm A Stranger Here" (those can be found on "Backwater Blues", which is sort of a companion volume to this one, having been recorded just a week later at the same venue).
   
   Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee split the lead vocals about equally, and Sonny plays his characteristic sturdy harmonica and sings gritty backing vocals on most of Brownie's songs (listen to the wonderful tough folk/blues shuffle "Baby, I Got My Eye On You" for a perfect example).
   Fans of the so-called Piedmont blues genre - or just acoustic country blues in general - should go for this fine album right away. It captures all of what made Sonny & Brownie so great.



5. This live album captures a pair of legends at their best. Sonny and Terry fueded through their long careers but perhaps those very emotions fueled their amazing energy on these tracks. If you in any sense consider yourself a fan of the blues, you *must* own this album.

   Best line:
   (Tie)
   "Have to take your Christmas in your overalls"
   "Rocks was my mother and father's pillows"
   "Hooray, Hooray, this woman is killing me"

   Best guitar:
   "I Feel Alright Now"

   Best Harmonica:
   "Born To Live The Blues"

   Best Sonny "Whoop":
   All of them ;)

   Tune That Is Impossible Not To Get Stuck In Your Head:
   "Keep On Walking"
   (Well, actually just about every track)

   Curious factoids for the Brownie McGhee fan -- Brownie in his later years had a bit of an acting career. Brownie played Toots Sweet in Angel Heart and appeared and played some wonderful guitar on an otherwise truly dreadful episode of Family Ties.

5 comments about Remember Me.

1. This is a great cd. A must have, in the top 50 of all-time blues albums.



2. Flailing on an old Gibson 135 with the now-familiar hill country drone accompanying his trilling voice and thick Mississippi accent, this record personifies the one man electric hill stomp. "I bought that damn guitar when I was fourteen," he says in the liner notes. Charles Caldwell passed before seeing the release of this album. At almost 6' 7", he was a man with a thunderous frame and a heart of gold. While recovering from chemotherapy, he built and painted a shed for his lawn-mower because he was restless. Into the night, he would play his guitar to cope with the insomniac pain that the cancer was causing him. Before Matthew Johnson orchestrated this recording, He was well known as a guitar player in Coffeeville and the other towns adjacent to which he lived in Mississippi. The record features T-Model Ford's touring partner Spam on drums, and was finally released February 24, 2004. Charles Caldwell is survived by four daughters and fourteen grandchildren. Please check out the website at www.fatpossum.com. All content copyright www.maximumink.com.



3. I saw this CD Heavilly advertised On FatPossum.com. Then I saw it in a local Music store and went for it. This is deffinately one of Fatpossums finest works. Charles caldwell's riff oriented guitar playing is deffinately raw but he doesn't hit any wrong or Buzzy notes, Plus his guitar gives off a big bassy sound that makes it raw yet pollished at the same time. Plus Caldwell possesses a very large and expressive voice that goes Beautifully with his guitar. Plus his songs are really really good. You can tell that they are bassed on traditional material, but he makes them so original that they are entirely his own. Some of the Highlights include his opener "haven't I been good to you?" the energetic "Old Buck" and his John Lee Hooker style stomp of "Walking through the woods". This CD easily makes a 5 star rating(if not better), and if you see it don't Hesitate to Buy it.



4. Charles Caldwell was a master Mississippi Country Bluesman. This Cd is the best Fat Possum CD I have heard(with all due respect to T-Model and Rober Belfour)since RL Burnside's "Burnside on Burnside". It's like listening to a modern cross of John Lee Hooker,Frankie Lee Sims & T-Model Ford.Original, but traditional at the same time(Real hard to do!). Mr. Caldwell died in 2003, leaving behind a wife , five daughters and many grandchildren. BUY THIS CD!! IT IS A CLASSIC OF MODERN COUNTRY BLUES!



5. It is a real shame that Caldwell was never recorded until the year before his death. There are a lot of undiscovered blues guys that Fat Possum has recorded, but a lot of them are interesting more as curiosities.

   Not so Charles Caldwell. Like Robert Belfour, he arrives with a well rounded sound. Not just a shouter and slasher of the guitar, Caldwell can play, carry a tune and get across a number of emotions. A stand out album.

2 comments about Pony Blues: His 23 Greatest Songs.

1. This is a great album, I highly recommend it to anyone even remotely interested in the blues.



2. This well-compiled 1999 Wolf collection is one of the best-sounding Charlie Patton-albums on the market. Wolf Records achieves a balance here, cutting down as much surface noise as possible without sapping the dynamics of the performance, and these 69 minutes of music include almost all of Patton's best songs.
   There are numerous fine Patton-compilations on the market, including Yazoo's "The Best Of Charlie [sic] Patton" and Recall's very reasonably priced double-disc "Screamin' & Hollerin' The Blues", but it is doubtful whether any of them are better than this one.

5 comments about Somebody Told the Truth.

1. This is excellent modern acoustic blues, and the issue of authenticity doesn't enter the picture at all. Upbeat, fun, well-played and (the boon of many modern blues) with good lyrics as well.
   
   However, I must stress that, despite what several reviewers have said here and on C&W's other albums, this is most definately NOT Delta blues. The performers are not from the Delta nor do they immitate its style. There is a Robert Johnson on this set but it's performed very much in the Piedmont style.



2. These guys are fantastic, and this recording does a great job of capturing their partnership. Every track on this CD is strong, and it's a good one to start with if you don't own any of their other material. You can't go wrong buying this CD.



3. Cephas & Wiggins speak to me where I live. I don't think they could put out a bad album if they tried! My two favorite songs on this album are STACK & THE DEVIL AND RAILROAD BILL. You can't ever go wrong by buying their music.
   
   These two are truly great Bluesmen. More power to them!



4. I bought this as my first Cephas & Wiggins disc and it was definitely worth it and I'll try others. The is stripped-down, raw delta blues played in a modern studio and it sounds as good as you would expect. It's a happy collection of songs, good for the soul but light enough that it's not distracting if you need to get some work done while it plays in the background, and not annoying at all if you leave it repeating all day.



5. In today's overproduced, overhyped world of music, it is refreshing to hear two really talented guys play acoustically. I love the combination of old chestnuts like "Stack and the Devil," "Railroad Bill," "Last Fair Deal," and "Darling Cora" combined with new, refreshing stuff like "Pimp in the Pink Suit" and "Forgiveness." This is great roots music that doesn't try to hard for that studio sound, but at the same time shows some excellent musicianship. The great ones always make it look so easy...

5 comments about 1928 Sessions.

1. I am a long time fan of Mississippi John Hurt. His music is legend. I bought this CD to add to my blues collection. It has great songs on it. The only drawback, and this depends on the listener I guess, is that there is so much static it is difficult to catch the entire nuance of the music. This probably can't be avoided since the recordings are from his original sessions. I would like to think that one day someone will be able to filter out the static without loosing the music. It is almost like listening to those large thick old records on the turntable. All in all I am glad I purchased it.



2. Hey now, Mississippi John Hurt was a black man from Avalon Mississippi who made exceptionally beautiful music. He died in 1966. John Hurt the actor is a white Englishman who appeared in the Elephant Man movie in 1980. Do the math and perhaps a little more homework next time.



3. Let me help you out- the music and the man-Fantastic! nevermind the movie. All of this material is available on the Avalon blues 1928 complete okeh recordings for 9.98 or so. And it is in excellent sound quality. Best you can ask for to be honest. Forget this overpriced set of the same music.



4. Super-smooth honey-man. One of the first true cross-over artists who made it big on the silver screen and in the old spooky 78s. I first stumbled across Mississippi in his ground breaking movie starring across from a youthful Betty Grable, playing the part of a ranch hand to her saucy flophouse mama. John's role in the Elephant Man belied the Delta blues raging inside. But it was his dual roles in Up the Yazoo that convinced me.

   Master of the finger-roll scracth, John brought the tinkling joy of the carnival to every role he touched. The Elephant Man marked his only solemn role. This was offset, of course, by the film's stunning soundtrack. Eight sides delicately woven into the fabric of the film. I would recommend this collection to any serious movie buff, not to mention any lover of Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk music.

   The David Lynch crowd will also find much to celebrate in this collection. Bringing the delicacy of Blue Velvet and the grunge of Dune, all served up with the sweet pine scent and verve of Mississippi John Hurt.




5. Okay, ignore the first nimrod's review. Let me help you out on something-- GO BUY THIS NOW. Mississippi John Hurt was an angel among early recorded country blues singers. His voice is like honey in a jar with the sun shining through it. His guitar playing is drop-dead gorgeous. An absolute master of the alternating thumb-picked bass, his other fingers must have looked like they were dancing as he played these glorious, raggy refrains. By all accounts, Hurt was a gentle and kind person, and this comes through clearly on his 1928 sessions. These are the only recordings Hurt made in the pre-war era, and after he made them he returned to his life of sharecropping and obscurity for the next three and a half decades. Fortunately for us, he was rediscovered (in his hometown of Avalon, Mississippi)by some stalwart blues researchers and went on to enjoy a succesful revival amidst the folk rock explosion of the 1960's (in which all manner of hippies glommed on to these musical greats, apparently only so they could dilute it and foul it up.)At any rate, there are other reissues of these sessions-- a recent one on (I believe) RCA/Bluebird and of course, on the fine, fine Document label (the best source for all researchers and collectors of this music,) but I am only familiar with the Yazoo edition, so I can't judge variations in sound quality from reissue to reissue. In the 1960's, up to his death, Mississippi John Hurt appeared at numerous events, including Newport Folk Festivals and TV appearances and made several albums worth of recordings, most of which are in circulation and are also highly recommended. Don't die without hearing this wonderful collection of songs.

5 comments about The Complete Bukka White.

1. What did Bukka White have on his mind when he recorded this session ? A lot. But he managed to put it down into 12 tracks! (plus the first 2 from another session).
   This was my first introduction to Bukka White, and also probably my first introduction to classic Blues. It all began with getting Iggy Pop's Nude and Rude, wherein he mentioned listening to Bukka White in his hotel room when he was approached with his 'best of' project. 'Bukka' just got stuck on me somehow and as destiny would have had it, I found this album dumped in the movie section of a store.
   It would be another week before I listened to it. At first it sounded all weird, too profound and maybe a bit too earthy. But as I reached to 'Strange Place Blues' I could feel I'm officially hooked. This song had something too personal about it, it just made too much sense to me.... something felt different. Anothe song I'd talk about is 'Sleepy Man Blues' , which is such a powerful song, because it is so simple, it gets right into your head and refuses to leave! And I will omit saying anything about Fixin' to Die, because a lot has been written and said about it, my contribution wouldnt take away or give anything to it.
   This album, is one of the most compelling sessions ever recorded. It cant be made to look cheap by clinically comparing it with other recordings of Bukka or any other bluesman.
   If you have a knack for good music, then this album would do you good.



2. The most common themes in blues are whiskey, women, and hard times.
   These themes are often used as metaphors to mean something more profound.
   Blues is poetry of the highest order and with that being said, Bukka White was like the T.S. Elliot of the blues.
   The Complete Bukka White is an example of Bukka's prolific lyrics and brilliantly complex bottle-neck guitar style.
   On this essential compilation, there are 14 tracks recorded between 1937 and 1940. Bukka deals with such themes as serving time, sex, alcoholism, as well as depression. SLEEPY MAN BLUES is on of the earlest and most eloquent songs about the physical reaction to depression. Bukka asks himself; "I Wonder what's the matter with my right mind, it keeps me sleeping all the time." FIXIN' TO DIE BLUES is about the paranoia of death. Bob Dylan covered this tune on his very first record.
   All of the tunes on the Complete Bukka White still stand up today. SHAKE 'EM ON DOWN has been covered by everyone from Leadbelly to Mississippi Fred Mcdowell.
   The Complete Bukka White should be in any music lover's collection.
   He was pure, direct, and way ahead of his time.



3. It's too bad that this 14-track collection omits Booker White's earliest sides, including the two religious songs that he recorded for Victor in May, 1930. Catfish's 20-track compilation "Shake 'Em On Down" and Document's similar "Aberdeen Mississippi Blues" are better choices, really, since they include the six non-Vocalion sides that this collection does not.
   
   But having said that, this is indeed an impressive 39 minutes of music. Booker White (his name was misspelled by the label) sang in a loud, very rough baritone voice, and played his steel-bodies National guitar like a stringed drum, and he penned some truly classic country blues tunes. People often forget about White when they throw names like Charlie Patton, Son House, Robert Johnson and Tommy Johnson around, and that's a shame, because everybody with an interest in "classic" country blues ought to hear B.B. King's older cousin Booker White and his powerful, strongly rhythmic guitar playing.
   
   The best of these 20 tunes belong in the all-time pantheon of prewar blues songs, and if anything could ever match the intensity of Son House's razor-edged "Death Letter", it must be the sound of Booker T. Washington White growling the incredibly stark, personal, open-wound lyrics to the desperate "When Can I Change My Clothes" and the hopeless "Parchman Farm Blues" in his ragged, raspy voice.
   "Shake 'Em On Down" is another classic, and White displays some impressive slide guitar prowess on the 1939 Library of Congress recording of "Po' Boy"...
   Oh no, wait, the L of C recordings are missing as well.
   Come on, just get the Document compilation instead.



4. The first song I heard by Bukka White was 'Fixin' To Die Blues' on a blues anthology disc. With his rhythmic playing and voice that expresses a wide range of emotion, he was one of the consumate blues men. He had quite a story to tell, and there isn't a single song on this disc that doesn't lure you in to his telling of the human condition. A must for anyone that can appreciate what this Black American art form truly is...emotions and strife set to music. Recommended!



5. I first heard Booker "Bukka" White on a compilation and finally got around to picking up this CD awhile back. What the listener is treated to is good, old-fashioned, country blues, highlighted by White's strong, straight-ahead rhythms and vocal intensity. His raspy/quavery vocals are a perfect accompaniment to his chugging guitar style, and White is backed up on most of these songs, recorded mainly in 1940, by Washboard Sam, who provides strong rhythmic counterpoint to the sound White gets from his National steel guitar. Although I like all the tracks on this CD, "Parchman Farm Blues", the first Bukka White song I ever heard, is still my favorite.

4 comments about Medicine Show Man, Vol. 2.

1. Pink Anderson's "I Got Mine" and "Travelin' Man" are both fantastic. However, the rest of the material on this disc is not quite as great as the stuff on the first and third volumes of Anderson's recordings on the Bluesville label. That is the sole reason I'm giving this disc four stars, and not five. Pink's few recordings with Simmie Dooley from the heyday of Country Blues are fantastic, and one should definitely seek them out. Listen to Frank Stokes' "I Got Mine" and then Pink's version. They are quite different, but both are highly memorable.



2. Pink Anderson, a songster in the style of Mance Lipscomb, Blind Willie McTell and Mississippi John Hurt rather than a bluesman, spent 42 years as a medicine show man, entertaining the crowds with slyly witty songs. This album, the second of three wonderful recordings made by Bluesville in 1961, features this repertoire.

   He sings with great elan and enjoyment, even if his fingers sometimes slip a little. Highlights include "In the Jailhouse Now (recorded by Blind Blake and Gus Cannon), "Chicken" (also recorded by Bill Williams) and the wonderful "Travelin' Man" (similar to Luke Jordan's classic version). "Greasy Greens" is full of innuendo and performed with gusto, whilst, just to raise the tone at the end, "I'm Going to Walk" is a gospel tune.

   This is a delightful album: recommended without hesitation. If only Pink Floyd could play like this!




3. I'm prejudiced when it comes to brother Pink being that we're both from Spartanburg, SC where he is well remebered. That said, objectively speaking this is one of the more entertaining of the Pink collections. The songs here are rather funny and clever and it captures the spirit of being at his old house on Spartanburg's South Forest Street (where he actually recorded these tunes) entertaining his neighbors. "I've Got Mine," He's In the Jailhouse Now," "Greasy Greens" and "Travelin Man" (the latter is actually a PC remake of a minstrel show tune) will give you the feeling of old fashioned fun.



4. This blues album is very high quality blues! Pink Andersoninspired Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd, to so entitle the psychedelic rockband, fighting off other titles such as the abdabs, and sigma 6, syd named his band after Pink Anderson, this legendary blues artist who's music is found here, and Floyd Council, yet another blues artist, thus coming up with Pink Floyd.

   This album will be something that will stick with you for life, and you ears will be blessed with the great blues sound of the south.

   Simon recommends this album, and a great buy here at Amazon.Com.

4 comments about Down and Out Blues.

1. Sonny Boy Williamson, who played with everyone from Robert Johnson to Robbie Robertson, earned his fame fronting the King Biscuit radio show with Robert Lockwood, Jr. in the early 40's. Although he stole the name of another great blues harmonica player Williamson developed his own style of harmonica and this album, with a lineup including Lockwood, Muddy Waters, Luther Tucker, and Otis Spann, is a great example of mid-period Chicago blues.



2. If you don't want to dig deeper into your pockets for Chess Records' double-disc "The Essential Sonny Boy Williamson", this could be what you're looking for.
   
   "Down And Out Blues" is one of the finest albums ever from the renowned Chicago blues label Chess Records. First issued in 1959, it is 34 minutes worth of some of the best electric blues ever recorded...Aleck "Rice" Miller (Sonny Boy Williamson II) was the best songwriter of all the legendary Chess artists, an elegant and expressive singer (in spite of his hoarse, slightly nasal voice), and a tremendous harmonica player. Claims that he sold his soul to the Devil in exchange for not having to breathe while he performed were once recounted with utter seriousness in the liner notes to one of his 60s LPs.
   
   On this wonderful slice of gritty blues, Miller is backed by men like Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, Jimmy Rogers, Fred Below, and Otis Spann in a virtual blues summit, but Miller is always front and centre, his rhythmic harp blasts alternating with quivering solos and fills. His standard combo (bassist Dixon, drummer Fred Below, guitarists Robert "Jr." Lockwood and Luther Tucker, and top-notch piano player Spann) is smouldering behind him on songs like "99" and "Let Me Explain", and while Miller's lyrics can easily stand alone, such tremendous backing makes them shine even brighter.
   
   "Down And Out Blues" includes several of Rice Miller's best and best-known songs, like "Don't Start Me To Talkin'", "Fatterning Frogs For Snakes", and "All My Love In Vain", as well as a few lesser-known but often equally impressive numbers. "Wake Up Baby", a swaggering mid-tempo shuffle with a jazzy feel and tremendous lyrics, is a slightly more dignified (and musically more interesting) version of the hilarious folk song "Three Nights Drunk"...it is unique to this CD, and it's a mystery why so many compilers have missed that one.
   (I have to mention that the song which is listed - here and on the cover and in the liner notes - as "Keep It To Yourself" is not the song which is usually known under that, but rather one which is called "Please Forgive". It has somehow made it unto this album under the wrong title, being listed in the Chess files as "Please Forgive (Keep It To Yourself)". Great song, though...apart from this album, it only appears on Charly's fabulous box set "The Chess Years", which isn't in print at this time.)
   
   This CD is currently only in print in Asia, I believe; an expanded version which features several bonus tracks. But you can get it as part of a twofer-package with the 1965 album "In Memorium".
   Almost every song is available on one or more of the various MCA/Chess compilations, of course, but Sonny Boy's first album is nice to have anyway. It is one of the best blues LP ever issued.



3. You can find any of these tracks on many of the dozens of sony boy's compilations. The exciting thing about this release is that this is an original album of the late fifties. That means that many of the artists that were influenced by Sonny Boy, first got to listen to him via this album. In fact, John Mayall once said that this is one of his all time favourite albums. All these recordings are from Chess, and are among the best lyrics ever written in blues history.



4. Sonny Boy Williamson was the first blues artist I started listening to, and he opened a world of exciting music for me. Sonny Boy was one of the major artists at Chess Records and Little Walter's greatest competitor in the 50's on blues harmonica. He had a delta background from the south, and soon developed an urban Chicago sound when he moved north in the early 50's. This album is a great starter to get into this man's many great songs. What was so great with Sonny Boy Williamson was not only his singing and playing, but he also wrote a lot of classic songs with exciting and intriguing lyrics. He was a bandleader at the stature of Muddy Waters and a good arranger too. Among my all-time favourites are 'I don't know', 'Fattening frogs for snakes' and 'Cross my heart'. Escpecially the last song, which is a slow intense blues, gives you a feeling what the blues is all about. The harmonica solo on this song is one of the best I have heard on record by any artist. This album is a must-buy for the music lover.

1 comments about Drinkin' TNT and Smokin' Dynamite - Vintage Songs About Drugs and Booze.

1. Not only was the late La Melle Prince (Decca Recording Artist 1969) a songstress and an international performer, she was also a songwritre as well, of which, her writing skills are portrayed here on (track #6) "Get High." Overall, this CD compilation is a jewel to have in your collection, especially if you love 1940's style ranchy jump blues music; as well as, big band jazz & blues and country music too...
   
   Prince would always say, that her lucky number was always #7 (and my lucky #9 or an inverted #6 = #9...six degrees of separtion...humm, A. D. Burleigh) and yet we see another unusual example of this...I guess 'on the record' she was right, once more... (La Melle Prince, born January 7, 1927 Kennett, Missouri - presumed death 1991 Los Angeles, California).
   
   *Note, you can also find one of Prince's rare and most noteworthy stand out song performance's heard on the historical 3 CD (Box Set) 'From Where I Stand: The Black Experience In Country Music.' The song entitled "The Man That Made A Woman Out Of Me" is referenced on Disc #3 ('Forward With Pride') track #7; and was produced in 1969 by the late Country Music Famed Record Producer Owen William Bradley and recorded at his historical recording studio "Bradley's Barn" in Nashville, TN. Also, with the legendary world-renowned male quartet singing backing vocals, The Jordanaires. Prince, is and 'was' considered one of the most intriguing, distinct and unknown artist on this CD album collection (Nominated for a ?1998 Grammy (Album Package and Notes) produced by the Country Music Foundation and Warner Bros. Records, Inc. (Feb. 1998)).
   
   *Note, forthcoming... in (2006-) her nephew A. David Burleigh, is currently working on the memoirs and a pending screenplay of her life; thus, highlighting one of her key songs "The Man That Made A Woman Out Of Me").
   
   --A. David Burleigh (aka: "Big Dave") an 'AmeriCanadian' Record Producre/ Artist/ Singer-Songwritre.

5 comments about A Ass Pocket of Whiskey.

1. If you're debating between Pocket of Whiskey and Mr. Wizard, I recomend getting Pocket of Whiskey. Although both are good and raw, Pocket of Whiskey definitley has a more groove oriented style to it. More melody too. It's about as raw and pure as you can get.



2. Another reviewer here claims that RL didn't make any money from this release. Not true. This was his all time best commercial success, and paid him enough to put a new roof on his house, a roof under which lived his wife, 12 children, and several grandchildren, and a roof that had been a long-time-a-leakin.
   
   Unfortunately, he's no longer with us. The truth about the music on this CD is mixed. There is some good, raw rockin' here. There is also some annoying noise, and the record approaches parody. But sometimes the best way to parody life is to simply hold up a mirror.
   
   What both blues and rock really were at their heart from the very start is a lot of sweat, noise, booze, sex, profanity, and all around hell-raising. It was always the commercial record companies that cleaned it up for public consumption, gave it a haircut & shave, made it into boy scout music, made some of the nastiest, rowdiest musicians in history look like the Beach Boys. The insanity captured on this record may actually be more akin to what really happened in house parties when Robert Johnson was banging away and screaming in the middle of the night about satan & booze & sex! No commercial record ever captured that reality, not even close, and you'll never see nor here it in any 'House of Blues'. But it is a reality, and one that most modern white suburban blues hounds don't know a whole lot about, and probably never will.
   
   Just buy the damn thing (or steal it) and shut up!



3. Although I liked the traditional blues rhythm and the singing, with the heavy sound calls for a better lead man. If you can't do better yourself, you have no business critiquing music, but any serious guitarist with a year's experience and a fuzz box could do better. Don't waste your money.



4. First of all I'm only 15 and I am a huge blues fan (talk about Weird) and I Just can't under stand why more people me age arn't into this stuff (Especially Burnside, and this album). Especially since this album isn't really a true blues album (it is catagorized under Rock). Plus it has all the searring guitar tones crued lyrics and raw energy that makes this perfect for kids my age. The're all stuck on the System of a Down and Metallica crap, they just say I must not Know what rock is or something. But really, this is every bit as raw and nasty as the music they listen to. And much, much, much more intresting than all that power cord crap. This album puts bands like System of a Down and Metallica to utter shame!! SO PLEASE, IF YOU ARE MY AGE AND YOU LIKE ROCK GET THIS ALBUM YOU WILL LOVE IT!!!



5. What we can say about this experiences of R.L. and other new musicians of our times??Fantastic!! I'm a bluesfan,and i really know something about the history of the blues,his influences,his hard way to become a rythm recognized all over the world.Here in Brazil we are really tasting a same experience with funk music that took all the places,all of the social slices,and this musical style as the blues,come from the underground,at U.S.,they called ghettos,here we call the "favelas(slumbers)"and whatever the funk musics goes,they causes a chaos,discrimination attitudes from a great part of people,etc...etc.. But what we cannot forget is the capacity of this kind of music,to transformate,influenciate,a great number of members of this new generation!And what R.L. did is to recognizes this influences of modern styles and put it together with our great blues,to create a new kind of music that is,undoubtedly a phenomen!!! We are in front of perhaps,one of the great bluesman of ever!!! This man is teaching how we must do,to be in tune with the musical modern tendences of the New Era!!! Great cd,of a great bluesman of the past and new millenium!!!!!!