Ron Thompson From The Patio - Live at Poor House Bistro Vol. 1

Ron Thompson
From The Patio - Live at Poor House Bistro Vol. 1
Little Village Foundation

I first became aware of Ron Thompson some blues 45s by Richard Riggins and Schoolboy Cleve in the 1970s that he played on, in addition to being part of the band an Arhoolie K.C. Douglas album. Thompson had associations with a variety of other blues performers, including John Lee Hooker. In the 1990s, Ron played Fleetwood's in Alexandria, Virginia, with Mick Fleetwood's Blue Whale, and I was impressed by his straight-ahead slide guitar blues and gritty singing. I was also delighted to see him on the 2006 Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise, where he was one of the performers. Those were the only times I had the pleasure to see him perform, but I believe I did acquire one of his CDs, which I enjoyed quite a bit.

For some 14 years, which ended because of the health issues that led to his passing earlier this year, Ron Thompson had a regular Wednesday night gig at the Poor House Bistro in San Jose, California. This CD captures eleven numbers from his performances on June 4 and August 6, 2014. On those evenings, Thompson was backed by Scotty Griffin on drums, either Dave Chavez or Gary Rosen on bass, Sid Morris on piano, and Jim Pugh on organ. Kid Andersen, who produced this release, adds guitar to a couple of tracks while harmonica wizard Gary Smith plays harmonica on one. Thompson attacks the songs here with a robust, raspy vocal style and a driving guitar attack. The performances exhibit a relaxed intensity. The music never sounds rushed, and Thompson sings with plenty of grit as well as spirit.

Things open with a dynamic, straight-forward rendition of Howlin' Wolf's "Meet Me in the Bottom," adding harmonica to his rhythmically nuanced guitar. This number, like Lightnin' Hopkins' "Bring Me My Shotgun," display how he was able to develop intensity over a simple one-chord motif. The latter song also demonstrates how much he internalized aspects of John Lee Hooker's approach on a moving, brooding performance. He also played idiomatic originals such as "Mardis Gras Boogie" that might evoke for some listeners some of Hooker's Vee-Jay recordings. Other songs include taut doomy renditions of "Tin Pan Alley" and "Sinner's Prayer" with stinging guitar complementing the fervent singing. On the former number, Morris adds first-rate piano while Pugh adds atmospheric organ on the latter song. There is a capable reworking of Little Walter's "One More Chance With You" with Gary Smith adding harmonica.

The musical temperature cools down with a heartfelt cover of Don Covey-Bobby Womack's soul ballad "That's How I Feel," before Thompson recasts Buster Brown's "Doctor Brown" into a hot "Dust My Broom" slide guitar shuffle. More slide guitar is heard on "When You Walk That Walk," which may be more Hound Dog Taylor than Elmore James. Kid Andersen adds his guitar to fill out the backing on these last two tracks that close this recording. Ron Thompson was a significant part of the California blues scene for several decades, and the marvelous music captured here shows how much he will be missed. This recording allows us to appreciate his legacy, and one can hope that more will be forthcoming.

I received my review copy from a publicist. Here is a video collage of partial performances of Ron Thompson at the Poor House Bistro.

K.C. Douglas Mercury Blues and more

One thing about blues is that often a performer with modest talent is still capable of making moving music. One such gentleman was K.C. Douglas. Douglas, a Mississippi native born in 1913 near Jackson, moved to California to work in the Naval shipyards. Growing up he started playing music, first learning from an uncle, and then catch local musicians at Saturday Night getaways. At the same time he started listening to the records of Tommy Johnson whom K.C. met and played with him around 1940 in Jackson. Johnson’s music left its imprint that remained when K.C. moved to California.

After settling in California, he somehow ended up in Bob Geddins’ studios and recorded a song “Mercury Boogie” that was issued on Geddins’ Down Town label and became somewhat of a hit in the Bay area and parts of Texas and Louisiana. This song of course is better known by versions by the Steve Miller Band and Alan Jackson. Geddins though moved on from the downhome blues so it would be a few years before he would record again. At the very beginning of the folk revival he recorded for Cook and then two albums for Bluesville that were produced by Chris Strachwitz. In 1973 and 1974 Strachwitz assembled Douglas with a small group that included Richard Riggins on harmonica, Jim Marshall on drums and Ron Thompson on guitar. The result was an album on Arhoolie, “The Country Boy,” that subsequently has been issued on CD as “Mercury Blues,” with added unissued selections, including some from the early sixties that are solo or with an unidentified band.

The band here plays efficiently and supportively to Douglas’ heartfelt vocals and simple, rhythmic guitar playing. I know little about drummer Marshall. Riggins, who recorded as Harmonica Slim for Trix and Fedora, passed away few years ago while Thompson is still active in the blues world as a first-rate traditionally based multi-instrumentalist. His work on this recording as well with Little Willie Littlefield, Riggins and Schoolboy Cleve for the Blues Connoisseur label were amongst his earliest recordings who also spent several years with John Lee Hooker and Mick Fleetwood’s Blue Whale.

In any event, “Mercury Blues” is a solid unassuming but easily recommended recording of Mississippi blues performed by Douglas and his ensemble. There is a reworking of his “Mercury Boogie,” along with a nice rendition of “Catfish Blues,” and his original “Woke Up This Morning.” One of several recordings from the 1960s is the fervent “I’m Gonna Build a Web” is a solid, more modern, blues with an emphatic vocal and some nice piano and sax. Then there are three solo tracks including “Make Your Coffee, with some very adroit guitar. another 1960 solo performance, ”Night Shirt Blues,“ is an excellent original built around the ”Catfish Blues,“ and then followed by a fine rendition of Tommy Johnson’s ”Canned Heat Blues.“ Listening to these solo tracks are certainly going to encourage me to try to locate his Bluesville recordings which I believe were reissued as part of the Original Blues Classics series. These solo tracks are a bonus to the fine down home blues group heard here.

I won’t say that the music on ”Mercury Blues“ is essential to a blues collection, but it is strongly performed and delivered from the heart. The music here is certainly equal to anything produced by some of Douglas’ better known contemporaries from Mississippi such as Honeyboy Edwards and Son Thomas. I purchased this on sale from Arhoolie (http://chulasfronteras.com/) and I believe it is on sale (as I write this) at a bargain price but even at regular price is well worth it for folks who love real deal downhome blues.