Henry Townsend Mule

Henry Townsend
Mule
Omnivore

Henry Townsend was the only blues artist to record in every decade from the 1920s to the first decade of the 21st Century. It was a career that had him record for Paramount and other labels before the depression, later participate in sessions with legends like John Lee 'Sonny Boy' Williamson, and Walter Davis, and then record for Folkways and Prestige before Adelphi issued an album in 1975. "Mule" was issued originally by Nighthawk Records in 1980 and warmly received by blues aficionados. Leroy Pierson, one of the co-producers of the original recordings and this reissue stated that the intention was to create an album worthy of his unique genius and secure him the recognition someone of his talent and historical purpose deserves. Omnivore has reissued this on CD augmenting the 13 recordings on the original recording. It also represented the transition of Townsend from being a blues guitarist and singer to becoming primarily a blues pianist.

I have the original vinyl LP, but it has been some time since I listened to it. Listening to this music again is a joy. Townsend's sober, thoughtful blues evokes his old partner, Walter Davis, more than anyone else even when his piano displays some of Roosevelt Sykes' influence. The opening "Bad Luck Dice" echoes some train blues as well as St. Louis Jimmy's "Goin' Down Slow," with his bittersweet singing and piano accompaniment. "Nothing But Trouble" is a slow minor-key blues where he lightly moans about his woman being somewhere else in another man's arm. Henry wrote "Tears Come Rollin’ Down" for Walter Davis. He remakes it here with a wonderful vocal from his wife, Vernell. Then there is the melancholic "Hard Road to Travel," also performed in his restrained style.

Yank Rachell, who adds mandolin to several tracks, plays supporting, rhythmic guitar behind Henry's pinched note playing on the peppy "Talkin’ Guitar Blues." Henry proclaims he is "I’m Just An Ordinary Man" waking up every morning with the same thing on his mine with the moody tone accentuated by his rumbling bass and single note arpeggios. After the piano solo "Alley Strut," Henry and Vernell share the vocal on "Can't You See," an appealing update of Jesse Thomas' "Another Friend Like Me," with Henry on guitar. Yank Rachell adds his mandolin behind Henry's guitar on the Walter Davis-styled "Dark Clouds Rising."

Among the previously unissued tracks are "The Other Night," with an energetic boogie-inflected piano, and the somber "Going Back To My Baby," with Norman Merritt adding guitar in a Townsend-influenced manner behind Townsend's piano and vocal. Henry is on guitar on "Goin’ Back Down South," which sounds lyrically to be an adaptation of  a John Lee 'Sonny Boy' Williamson recording. Yank Rachell is heard on second guitar. Townsend's music may not have the immediate appeal of a Big Joe Williams, Roosevelt Sykes or Lonnie Johnson, but his direct, sober performances and craftsmanship as a songwriter make for some superb blues listening, with the bonus of the additional songs.

I received my review copy from a publicist. This review appeared in the November-December 2018 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 381), although I have made minor changes. Here is Henry Townsend recorded in 2011.

The Blues Time Machine Takes Us Back To December 1976

This is my blues column from the December 1976 Buffalo Jazz Report which had Dexter Gordon on the cover to promote his appearance at the Tralfamadore Cafe in November. As I noted the first 58 issues of Buffalo Jazz Report (now Jazz & Blues Report) have been digitized and can be downloaded from the University of Buffalo Library system. The website for these archived issues is: http://digital.lib.buffalo.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/BuffJazz. 

Clifton Chenier is the undisputed master of zydeco music, a hybrid form which mixes the· cajun music of the French speaking population of Southwest Louisiana with blues. His latest album on Arhoolie, Bogalusa Boogie (1076), is his seventh for the label. It is as usual a thoroughly ingratiating set as Clifton's mastery of the accordion, his warm good-humored vocals (most of which are in cajun French) and a tight band, which features his brother Cleveland ori rubboard and 'the honking r'n'b tenor saxophone of John Hart, brew a musical gumbo that is one of his best sets. Highlights include Je Me Reveiller Ce Matin, a French version of B.B. King's Woke Up This Morning, with Clifton's accordian playing King's guitar part, One Step at a Time, where Clifton adds Jimmy Reedish harmonica and the stomping instrumental Ride 'Em Cowboy. Clifton is about to have a double album set released on Utopia and I can't wait for it. One warning about this music - exposure to Clifton's good time music can be addicting and his output for Arhoolie is uniformly high though this set is especially fine. 

Arhoolie is one of the finest labels of blues and folk music. J.C. Burris' One of These Mornings (1075) features the bluesy vocals and harmonica of Sonny Terry's nephew whose music is the dominant influence. This is a warm set which includes a couple of pieces where J.C. plays the bones. A highlight on this album, which was recorded live, is Inflation Blues. J.C. is unaccompanied.

Blues Classics is subsidiary of Arhoolie and has a catalog of excellent reissues. The latest release When Women Sang the Blues is a valuable reissue of women singing down-home, or rural, blues, as opposed to the vaudevile blues of Bessie Smith, Ida Cox and others. Excellent performances by Lillian Glenn: Chippie Hill (with excellent accompaniment from Georgia Tom Dorsey and Tampa Red), Memphis Minnie and Willie B. Huff are included. There are also two excellent collections of Memphis Minnie on the Blues Classics.

Nighthawk Records is a new label that apparently will  be specializing in reissues of rare postwar blues  records. Their initial release of four albums are of a uniformly high standard and produce many cases of the rural flavor city blues so popular among enthusiasts. As they all are fine releases, I will simply describe their contents and mention some of the performers heard. Windy City Blues: The Transistion (101) features one side of pre-World War 2 recordings including Pinetop Sparks' Everyday I Have The Blues (the first recording of the song) Washboard Sam, Sonny Boy Williamson and Robert Jr. Lockwood. The second side includes Lockwood, Tampa Red, and Tony Hollins in post-war recordings.

Chicago Slickers: 1948-1953 (102) features more classic Chicago postwar blues including Johnny Shines' classic Ramblin', and rare performances by Little Walter, Floyd Jones and Homesick James among others. These two Chicago antho-logies nicely complement Chicago Blues, The Early 50s (Blues Classics BC 8) and On the Road Again (Muskadine 100), two classic anthologies of Chicago Blues.

Lowdown Memphis Harmonica Jam (103) features Hot Shot Love's wild Harmonica Jam, six tunes by the great one-man band Joe Hill Louis, Walter Horton and Willie Nix (with a young James Cotton) that boogie up a storm. Detroit Ghetto Blues (104) includes Louisiana Red (as Playboy Fuller and Rocky Fuller). Baby Boy Warren (whose Hello Stranger is a remake of Sonny Boy Williamson 1's Mattie Mae and has Sonny Boy 2 on harmonica) Walter Mitchell, L. C. Green and other generally obscure names in a set of blues that reflects the influence of Sonny Boy 1 in the reworking of his songs, and in the various harmonica players who appear on these sides. Albums on the Blues Classics label incidentally complement these issues also.