Cookie McGee's Right Place

With all the attention being given some of the emerging female singer-guitarists, I would be hard-pressed to find a release as consistently satisfying both vocally and instrumentally as the debut album by Dallas, Texas’ Cookie McGee. Once again it is John Stedman and his JSP label who is responsible for releasing her Right Place.

McGee grew up as neighbors to the Freddie King family, and played in various bands with Freddie‘s kids, including Freddie Jr. after King passed away. She played in and around Dallas for several years. spent 1986 in New Orleans playing with Ernie K-Doe and Jean Knight until tiring of the musical rat race and laying down her guitar for several years. It was Tutu Jones that asked her to pick up her guitar for the 1997 Freddie King birthday tribute which resulted in Right Place which was produced by Andrew “Jr. Boy” Jones.

While Freddie King may have been an obvious influence, this writer hears more of B.B. King‘s influence than Freddie. The tight backing group here also evokes the sound of B.B.‘s recordings from the late sixties and early seventies, not simply because of McGee‘s solid, incisive guitar, but the splendid backing she receives Ron Mason‘s keyboards being particularly noteworthy as he fills out the bottom as well as contributes some telling solos. She matches her fretwork with a natural, appealing vocal style that renders her tales of relationships gone bad quite believable.

She contributes four originals including the opening One Way Ticket, which she got for her mistreating man and the crisp instrumental, Groovin‘ in Garland. The other songs are covers songs by other JSP artists including a very soulful reading of Percy Strother‘s Your So Called Friends, where she entreats her man not to let his friends break them apart; producer Jones’ amusing You‘re a Dog, with drummer Tommy Hill providing an amusing second voice to respond to the lyrics, and Jimmy Morella‘s Blueswoman for Life, a rocking shuffle that Roy Gaines also recorded on his recent JSP release. The album closes with a topical blues, Bottom‘s Falling Out, a commentary about the hard times for some now that the politicians in D.C. have basically eliminated the safety net.

The superior material along with the strong performance turned in by Ms. McGee make Right Place a most auspicious debut. Like her fellow Dallas blues players, Jr. Boy Jones and Tutu Jones, one suspects that she will be the latest JSP discovery‘ to capture the attention of one of the major American labels. She‘s got the talent and the voice that deserves to be heard.

The above review appeared in the DC Blues Calendar, either in December 1998 or early 1999. Unfortunately this release did not lead to her capturing the attention of other labels. It would be over a decade before she would have another release, One Way Ticket, on the Austrian Wolf label. Both CDs are available as well as available as downloads. I do not recall if I received a review copy or purchased this. Here is Cookie performing.

Andrew Jones Gets Real

Its been a few years since Andrew ‘Jr. Boy’ Jones has had a new release out. The Canadian Electro-Fi label has just released the Texas guitar slinger’s latest disc, Gettin’ Real, with some muscular guitar and husky vocals from the one-time Freddie King band member. His first release was for JSP and led to a solid subsequent release for Bullseye Blues. Having this new release from him is certainly welcome.

Jones makes no attempt to break new ground by recycling blues-rock as rock here. Instead what we have on this collection is some straight-ahead Texas blues along with two jazz-inflected soul-funk instrumentals. The opening Struggle, sets the table here with an insistent vocal of a lyric about losing his job and things being unsettled on the home front accompanied by some searing guitar. John Street’s keyboards add to the feel of the People Say I’m Crazy, as Jr. Boy sings about how this woman breaks his heart so many times yet still crazy to love his woman. He tells his lady his tired of her Negative Talkin’, as Cheryl Arena adds some down home harmonica with Street rollicking on piano. The rest of the rhythm, bassist, Tommy Tucker and drummer, Jamie Byrom keep things in the pocket.

The old Wilson Picket groover Don’t Let the Green Grass Fool You, is given a driving instrumental treatment as Jr. Boy opens with some tasty mix of jazzy chording and single note runs which would be interesting if he also employed this approach backing some of his vocals here. Don’t Get It Twisted, has a slow funky groove with a melody suggestive of Mustang Sally, as Andrew wonders who is driving his new car and wearing his new suit. A nice change of pace is afforded by the soulful ballad Good Lovin’. This varied and entertaining disc closes with some more jazz-inflected playing on an instrumental rendition of What’s Going On.

Given what passes for blues today, it is refreshing to listen to such a strong, straight-forward blues recording that doesn’t claim to break new ground. All it does is deliver straight blues to the listener.


I likely received my review copy from Electro-Fi. This review was written in late 2009. This should be readily available.