When My Mama Was Living Is Choice Louisiana Red

In the 1970s when Kent Cooper first met the late Louisiana Red, Red was working at the Bayonne (New Jersey) Barrel Company and had given up music as the way to support his family. Red had recorded prior to that including an album for the Atlantic Atco subsidiary. Cooper wrote some songs including Sweet Blood Call, and Red recorded some of Cooper’s as well as his own that led to the critically acclaimed Sweet Blood Call and other albums on Blue Labor which also issued albums by Johnny Shines, Roosevelt Sykes and Peg Leg Sam during this period. Red’s career continued for many years, and he continued to record relatively regularly in the past couple decades with the recordings have a consistent quality despite variations in the musical settings and supporting musicians. When Louisiana Red passed, he was rightfully regarded as a great blues artist who had been a heir to the legacies of Muddy Waters, Elmore James and Lightnin’ Hopkins.

Labor Records has issued a new CD, When My Mama Was Living, that brings together 16 tracks comprised of one track issued on CD for first time and the rest being previously unissued selections or unissued alternate takes. On these selections he is sometimes backed by either Peg Leg Sam or Lefty Dizz with the exception of three tracks Peg Leg Sam is featured on. There is variety in the musical settings that add to the listenability of these performances.

While these may have not been issued previously, there is plenty of strong blues to be heard. Red was in strong vocal form at the time and put so much into delivering the lyrics. Walk All Over Georgia sets the tone backed only by his harmonica followed by his interpretation of Slim Harpo’s King Bee, where he plays spare trebly guitar and overdubbed harmonica. The title track is another selection where his harmonica provides the sole accompaniment and throws in an occasional whoop to accent the lyrics. 

Bad Case of the Blues is one of several selections that finds Red playing the manner of Lightnin’ Hopkins followed by a solo Peg Leg Sam Piedmont harmonica blues Little Susie James. Lefty Dizz adds support behind Red’s slide on Got a Girl With a Dog Won’t Bark, which adapts the melody of Shake Your Money Maker. Red’s playing on this previously unissued alternate take is a bit tentative sounding to this listener. Cold White Sheet is another Hopkins’ styled blues as he sings about can’t stand the city no more and would rather die on a southland farm, while Going Back to Georgia adapts the 44 Blues melody for his lyric about leaving those Northern gals behind.

You’ve Got To Move is the traditional sacred number in the style of Fred McDowell with Peg Leg Sam adding harmonica behind Red’s slide with Jim Robinson adding a second vocal. Peg Leg Sam sounds feisty on I'll Be Glad When You Are Dead You Rascal You, with plenty of crying harmonica. Cooper and Red’s Cold, Cold Feeling is another traditionally grounded blues strongly performed in the vein of Lightnin’ Hopkins. Red accompanies Peg Leg Sam on his spirited John Henry. This album closes with Red’s “Joanna.” This was recorded with a small group at WKCR and Red lays down nice slide guitar adding a some spoken interjections to his vocal.

This writer has long been fond of the Blue Labor Louisiana Red recordings and this new release of unissued songs and alternate takes is most welcome. Louisiana Red was in quite fine form during this period and When My Mama Was Living certainly stands up as an excellent release that lovers of down home blues will certainly appreciate.

I received a review copy from a publicist for the release. Here is a video of him in his Elmore James mood.

Excellent Rough Dried Magic Slim

It might surprise blues fans, but the Austrian Wolf label has issued 14 albums by Magic Slim & the Teardrops, way more than any other label. And these are not some run of the mill issues. Three of them have won WC Handy Awards and five were recorded at the legendary Zoo Bar which became Slim’s musical home some time ago. The 14th and latest Wolf album is Rough Dried Woman, which is subtitled “Magic Slim’s best 14 songs.” It is compiled from sessions recorded for Wolf between 1986 and 1992 and include 3 previously unissued live recordings. Present on all the recordings are Slim, his brother Nick Holt on bass guitar and second guitarist John Primer with four different drummers present on the sessions.

Magic Slim’s music is not fancy. It is pretty simple and direct with Slim’s emphatic driving guitar with its single note runs that show a bit of Albert King’s influence, the interaction with him and his second guitarist who during this period was John Primer, and brother Nick’s bass which originated the “lump ta lump” style made for the strong, immediately recognizable Teardrops sound. Nick passed away a little while ago and this CD is dedicated to his memory.

From the opening rendition of Big Mac’s Rough Dried Woman through the reworking of Buster Benton’s Spider in My Stew, to the concluding notes of Roy Brown’s Hard Luck Blues, this is typically solid Magic Slim recording. And the songs come from a variety of sources including Albert King, Lefty Dizz, Bo Diddley, Muddy Waters, Bonnie Lee and Roy Brown. In this strong grouping of blues a few tracks stand out. There is a terrific slow rendition of “Matchbox Blues as done by Albert King as well as the down-in-the alley, slow grind of the cover of Lefty Dizz’s Bad Avenue. Slim’s marriage of a Dust My Broom groove to Bo Diddley’s Before You Accuse Me, is an driving rocker while the medium tempo reworking of Eddie Taylor’s Bad Boy is similarly irresistible before the stunning live rendition of Hard Luck Blues.

One rarely will go wrong with a Magic Slim recording and Rough Dried Woman is one of the better ones by him.

This was a purchase.

Chicago's Blues Queen Goes Old School

Its been several years since Koko Taylor has had a new album. This is remedied by the new Alligator release, The Old School. As the title suggests, the recording is directed to hard-hitting, old-school Chicago blues and includes five interpretations (most definitely not copies) of older songs along with some originals that Chicago’s Blues Queen handles in her own hold-nothing back style. One track is by The Blues Machine, and the other eleven tracks have a studio band led by Criss Johnson and drummer Willie ‘The Touch’ Sutton and guest appearances from Bob Margolin, Billy Branch an Kaz Kazanoff. Most of the new tunes are from Koko and Gonna Buy Me a Mule is a striking song as she tells her man she’s gonna take the place of him and the jaunty warning You Better Watch Your Step, with Billy Branch (excellent throughout) playing some Jimmy Reed inspired harp. Bob Margolin adds slide guitar to Memphis Minnie’s Black Rat, and Lefty Dizz’s Bad Avenue. The arrangements of both tunes are a bit cluttered and the performances come off as too hectic. Criss Johnson who did the arrangements on this album, would have done well to have listened to Koko’s first Alligator album, I Got What It Takes, and have allowed more spaces in the backing, and not have come across overbearing like so much recent Chicago styled blues of the past few decades. I have no fault with Koko’s performances as she sings really well here sounding so at home with the material. Its also nicely programmed with very nice covers of a couple songs associated with Muddy Waters, Don’t Go No Further, and Young Fashioned Ways. Just wish the attempt at being ‘old school’ by the band had a bit more of a lighter, swinging groove than they play with here. If I was giving this stars, 4 1/2 to Koko and 3 for the backing, or overall 4 stars.