Blues Kings of Baton Rouge

Various Artists
Blues Kings of Baton Rouge
Bear Family

The celebrated reissue label, Bear Family, recently issued this double-CD survey of blues from this Louisiana city. As Martin Hawkins, who produced this reissue and wrote the liner notes, this is not an exhaustive history of blues in Baton Rouge as we do not know what blues might have sounded like before the first recordings were produced in 1954. It covers the period of 1954-1971, with many of the 53 recordings compiled here originally produced by Jay Miller for Excello Records. There are also field recordings that folklorist Harry Oster issued on the Folk Lyric label, which was later acquired by Arhoolie Records.

Talking blues by Slim Harpo, "Blues Hang-Over" and an alternate take entitled "Talking Blues" serve as bookends for the recordings here. There are a number of classic swamp blues including "Bad Luck Blues," "Rooster Blues" and "Winter Time Blues" by Lightnin' Slim; and "I'm a King Bee," "Rainin' in My Heart," and "Baby Scratch My Back" by Slim Harpo. Also included are "They Call Me Lazy" and "I'm a Lover Not a Fighter" by Lazy Lester; "My Home Is a Prison" by Lonesome Sundown; and Hoodo Party' by Tabby Thomas; "Naggin'" by Jimmy Anderson; "Trouble at Home Blues," "Dark Clouds Rollin'," by Silas Hogan; and "Showers of Rain" by Henry Gray. These are lowdown, gutbucket blues with understated backing, and somber lyrics.

Also included are stunning country jam recordings by Butch Cage and Willie B. Thomas, the unique sober blues of Robert Pete Williams including "Angola Special," and a tribute song "Goodbye Slim Harpo"; and the down-home approach of Clarence Samuels. There is good value in the 53 tracks and nearly two-and-a-half hours of music. This is packaged as a digipack and includes a 52-page booklet with copious notes on each song from Martin Hawkins, author of "Slim Harpo; Blues King Bee of Baton Rouge." "Blues Kings of Baton Rouge" is a superb reissue that serves both as an introduction to the Baton Rouge down-home blues scene as well as an overall survey of this vital blues scene.

I purchased this CD. Here is Lightnin' Slim with Whispering Smith on harmonica.

Chickenbone Slim Chickenbone Slim

Chickenbone Slim
The Big Beat
Lo-Fi Mob Records

Chickenbone Slim is the alter ego of Larry Teves, a San Diego based musician who started playing guitar in 2011 after playing bass in many bands for many years. Years of playing in a variety of blues and rockabilly bands is reflected in the performances here where he is backed by Big Jon Atkinson on harmonica, guitar and bass; Marty Dodson on drums and Scot Smart on bass. Recorded at Greaseland Studios, Kid Andersen engineered and mastered this and played guitar on one of the nine songs here.

With austere, relaxed backing and Slim's relaxed, unforced and grainy vocals, some of the songs has an ambience similar to the Baton Rouge based 'swamp blues" of Lazy Lester, Lonesome Sundown and others. The opening title track features superb harmonica as well as Slim's own smartly, played solo while "Me and Johnny Lee" is an even better performance in this vein as he sings about being as lonely as he can be as after she broke his heart is just him and Johnny Lee. "Long Way Down" has a bit more grit in the manner of a Tony Joe White, and a biting guitar solo from Scot Smart, as he sings about meeting his lover on the long way down.

The country-flavored "Hemi Dodge," has Kid Andersen on guitar and mournful harmonica from Atkinson, while there is a folk performance with just his acoustic guitar accompanying his vocal on "Vodka and Vicodin," his best friends as he is out of luck. There is an insistent groove to "Long Legged Sweet Thing" as Slim hammers out his vocal against skeletal backing and strong harp, while "Man Down" has a West Side Chicago feel with a boogaloo rhythm.

The closing "Break Me Of a Piece" returns us to the swamp blues vein and ends a most entertaining album of gritty performances that evoke the golden period of fifties and sixties blues.

I received my review copy from a publicist. This review originally appeared in the November-December 2017 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 375). Here is a promo video for this recording.

Slim Harpo: Blues King Bee of Baton Rouge
Martin Hawkins
Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press
2016: 416pp

Its has been over 45 years since James Moore, aka Slim Harpo, passed away at the age of 45. It was a tragic early death for a blues performer who had just started crossing over to a broader National audience and about to go on his first European visit. Last year Bear Family issued a 5-CD box (near 7 hours of music), "Buzzin' The Blues," and Martin Hawkins, who wrote the book that accompanied that came with that set, has written a  biography of the short-lived, but influential, artist that takes us from his youth to the aftermath of his passing.

Hawkins traces not simply Slim Harpo's life, but provides the background both in terms of his ancestry and the history of the rural part of Baton Rouge that Harpo was born in. In addition to tracing his youth and development as a musician, he gives an overview of the blues and Black Music scene in the region along with the context of the segregated society. Emerging first as Harmonica Slim, his growth as a musician is set against the burgeoning swamp blues scene centered with Crowley, Louisiana producer Jay Miller as well as the more general context of small label Louisiana music.

Jay Miller had been recording folks like Lightnin' Slim before Harpo came to record with Slim. It was Miller who hanged his performing name to Slim Harpo and Hawkins traces the recording career of Moore, including his frustrations with Miller at times along with the commercial success that Harpo had on Excello. These frustrations led to a session for Imperial that was squelched by Miller and eventually to Harpo recording directly with Excello after a contract had expired, a factor that led Miller to discontinue his relationship with Excello.

In addition to fully tracing Harpo's recordings, he also describes the various clubs and performances Harpo made, including the ill-fated trip to Chicago made with Lightnin' Slim, Lazy Lester, Katie Webster and others that was the subject of a talking blues from Slim. Slim was popular on the southern fraternity circuit as well as playing Black and White clubs in Baton Rouge and playing armory shows with swamp pop acts like John Fred, or R&B shows with Bobby Bland and others. Included is a discussion of the live recording, that was originally issued on Ace in the UK and later in the Bear Family box, as Hawkins provides details on how the recording came to happen, how it was preserved and then considers the music from that live recording of him in his prime.

Towards the end of his career, he was just starting to break into the 'hippie circuit,' and Hawkins describes Harpo's time performing at Steve Paul's The Scene in New York City and similar performances, and he was about to tour Europe when he tragically died. Hawkins goes into some of the circumstances that likely contributed to the rupture of an artery that killed him, likely resulting from working on a car and something heavy falling on his chest.

Hawkins fills out a portrait of Harpo as a family man who was far from the stereotypical hard drinking blues artist some might have, He also worked at various employments to help sustain his family. In addition he interweaves Harpo with other members of Baton Rouge's blues scene (and the swamp blues scene in general) and artists such as Tabby Thomas, Lonesome Sundown and Lazy Lester have their music and careers discussed.

There is a full discography of Harpo's music along with a listing of recordings of other Baton Rouge artists, recommended listening and reading and a musical appreciation of Slim Harpo by Stephen Coleridge. Hawkins made use of existing interviews of Harpo as well as interviewed surviving members of his band, family members and others to provide this detailed, fully researched, yet highly readable account of a major blues artist whose career seems to been overlooked in recent years. Along with the Bear Family reissue, this superb biography certainly will help reestablish his reputation as a major blues original.

I purchased this. Here is Slim Harpo's recording of "Shake Your Hips," a song still popular with blues groups.

Smoky Greenwell Band Live at the Old U.S. Mint

Subtitled on its cover, "Smoky Greenwell's New Orleans Blues Jam," the Smoky Greenwell Band (led by the New Orleans harmonica player, saxophonist and vocalist) have issued a CD on Greenwell Records, "Live at the Old U.S. Mint." Greenwell is heard with his band of Pete Bradish on drums and vocals, David Hyde on bass guitar, and Jack Kolb on drums with guest appearance by Mark Pentone on guitar and Bruce 'Sunpie' Barnes on accordion and vocals.

There is nothing fancy about this recording of blues with an occasional zydeco touch. The Smoky Greenwell Band is a tight band that playing Louisiana Swamp Blues and Chicago blues except for the tracks with Sunpie Barnes that have a zydeco tenor. Greenwell impresses as a harmonica player throughout (the opening "Smoke Alarm" is an instrumental shuffle showcasing his tone and driving attack) and a capable saxophonist (as on "Peter Gunn"). Some songs have intriguing lyrics like "My Own Blues Club" where he sings about owning a club on Frenchman Street and the difficulties, especially after Katrina, that made him sell it. Set to a slow Excello type swamp blues groove, it has an earnest, if bland vocal.

While the back cover does not credit Mark Pentone as a vocalist, he capably sings on "Jodie," a new contribution to the "Jody" group of songs. "Love's Gone" has Greenwell on sax behind Sunpie Barnes on a nice rocking zydeco number while he plays both sax and harmonica on the boogie woogie-laced "Leroy's Shuffle." Barnes is perhaps the most appealing singer on this. The album closes with a John Lee Hooker inspired instrumental "Back to the Boogie." It is a solid performance that is representative of an enjoyable recording well worth checking out.

I received my review copy of the CD only from a publicist. This apparently is sold as a CD/DVD and I cannot comment on the DVD. This review originally appeared in the November-December 2015 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 363).  Here is a video of the Smoky Greenwell Band performing at the Louisiana Music Factory.

Some Bluesin' By The Bayou

Pictured on the cover is Lazy Lester

The English Ace label has just issued one of a series of anthologies of recordings from legendary Louisiana record producers J.D. Miller and Eddie Shuler, Bluesin' By The Bayou. Half of the 28 selections previously were not released and the remainder were issued on small Louisiana labels like Rocko, Zynn, and Folk Star as well as Flyright LPs from the 1970s. 

There is a fair amount of what is now known as "Swamp Blues" along with several selections of zydeco. The performers range from the more famous swamp blues performers such as Slim Harpo, Lightnin' Slim, Lazy Lester, Lonesome Sundown, Silas Hogan and Whispering Smith as well as zydeco legends Clifton Chenier and Boozoo Chavis to obscure artists such as lies Boy Dorsey, Thaddeus Declouret, Talbot Miller and Joe Rich. 

There are some exception blues here including Lightnin' Slim's doomy, Stranger In Your Town, Lazy Lester's moody Late in The Evening, Silas Hogan's Sitting Here Wondering Jimmy Anderson's channelling of Jimmy Reed on I Want You, I Need You. There is an alternate of Slim Harpo's Excello recording That's Alright, as well as Clifton Chenier's Worried Life Blues, with somewhat chaotic backing. 

As usual with Ace reissues there are copious liner notes in the wonderfully illustrated accompanying booklet, with an overview and comments on the various performances by Ian Saddler.  It does have one incredible gaffe in the comments. He mentions that he thought that Big Fat Woman was previously unissued gem by Lightnin' Slim, but in fact had been issued on a Flyright vinyl LP as I'm Him. One minor point is that the vocal is clearly not that of Lightnin' Slim as it bears no relate ship to the voice on the two other tracks credited to him. Probably the singer on this tracks was Schoolboy Cleve.

The music on Bluesin' By The Bayou is at never less entertaining and there are, as indicated above, a number of exceptional examples of swamp blues that is readily recommended to anyone who loves fifties and sixties, southern down-home blues.

I purchased this CD.

Larry Garner Deserves To Play Before Standing Room Only

I am a big Larry Garner fan and have been frustrated that his career has never reached the heights his music deserved. His JSP recordings and Gitanes-Verve recordings displayed a laconic style as well as some of the most original and astute lyrics of anybody over the past few decades. The following review was written for the DC Blues Calendar back in 1998 and while I was not overly enthusiastic of this recording, Larry will always be one of my favorites. This is available as a download and he has other recordings on Ruf that strike me as stronger as well. I likely received a review copy of this from the label or a publicist.

One of the more distinctive blues stylists around, Larry Garner has certainly made many take notice with his perceptive songwriting and his subtle musical attack. His latest album, Standing Room Only (Ruf), is entertaining and probably his most musically up-front album. It, however, suffers from relatively pedestrian songs. Songs like Do Your Personal Thing and Keep the Money seem rather ordinary when compared to some of the gems on his older recordings. The highlights may be his renditions of Gatemouth Brown The Drifter, and Henry Gray swamp-blues, Cold Chills.

When the album lists the producer as Jim Gaines (The Genius) you know something is up. Whatever his genius, Gaines has produced a record that is superficially exciting, but somewhat lackluster when compared to any of Garner earlier albums. In fact JSP has just repackaged, Too Blue, Garner’s second album, and a listen to these performances will perhaps enable some to understand just why Garner has become a favorite to many who know that the blues is more than simply loud guitar pyrotechnics.

Here is Larry Garner performing.

Lazy Lester Rides Again

Leslie Johnson, better known as Lazy Lester, is the remaining member of the four giants of Louisiana Swamp Blues that recorded for Jay Miller at his Crowley, Louisiana studios and which were issued on, and distributed by, the Nashville based Excello label. The others were Lightning Slim, Lonesome Sundown and Slim Harpo.; Lester who sang “They call my lazy, but I am just tired,” played on numerous sessions including his own recordings such as Sugar Coated Love, I’m a Lover Not a Fighter, and recordings Miller produced, including many accompanying Lightning Slim.

Ace Records (of England) has just reissued Mike Vernon’s Blue Horizon issued Lazy Lester Rides Again. It was originally released in 1987 and were I believe Lester’s first post-Excello recordings. He was touring England at the time and Vernon used members of several English bands to back him and they provide understated, effective backing. This release fortunately was the first by him over the past couple decades and he remains a vigorous performer who is still rooted in the distinctive style he gained fame for.

Swamp blues is a style rooted in Jimmy Reed’s style and employs very simple walking blues boogies and slow moody blues with the use of echo and treble as well as crying harmonica to add an evocative moody atmosphere, especially on slower tempo numbers. For this recording, Vernon allowed Lester to remake three of his recordings as well as take his turn on other swamp blues and classic blues themes. So we get a remake of his Sugar Coated Love, as well as Nothin’ But the Devil. He played behind Lightnin’ Slim on the original recording.

Outstanding is the remake of the philosophically tinged “The Same Thing Could Happen To You,” while Bob Hall adds some rollicking piano to I Hear You Knockin’. Other standout tracks include the remake of King Karl’s swamp pop classic Irene, and Jimmy Rogers’ Out On The Road. On the latter tune he plays guitar while Tim Elliott plays harmonica, emulating Lester’s style.An unexpected delight is the swamp blues reworking of WC Handy’s St. Louis Blues, as well as the instrumental Blowin’ a Rumba.

The present reissue contains a number of bonus tracks which are mostly alternate takes of the originally issued recordings. Some of these have mistakes and Vernon discusses how this recording was made at length in the copious notes provided in the accompanying booklet. I Ain’t Glad, was an original by Lester and Vernon with a lyric that was a bit of a tongue twister which was not issued at the time. Lester’s harp was added after the original recording, but it was some more recent digital repair that enabled it to be issued for the first time here. The closing tune is an instrumental Rockin’ With Lester, an extended two harmonica instrumental with Tim Elliott’s chromatic harp added to Lester’s harp. Still unissued from these sessions is a rendition of the deep soul classic The Dark End of the Street, that still, after 24 years, is deemed unusable.

The original release of Lazy Lester Rides Again was a WC Handy Award winner in 1988 and the additional takes and tunes are a bonus for listeners today. Lazy Lester still is with us, and still delights blues audiences at festivals and concerts. His music has been immortalized by the remarkable roots concert series, The Ponderosa Stomp, which takes its name from one of Lester’s Excello recordings (the recording was titled Pondarosa), and at which Lester is one of the regular performers. Long may Lazy Lester Ride.

I purchased this CD.

Great CD Celebrating Louisiana Blues and Zydeco Benefits Neuroscience Research and Treatment.

Louisiana is home to so much good music that has played a significant role in helping folks recover from some of the disasters, natural and man made, the state has suffered in recent years. One of the many great musicians from the state, Buddy Flett, had a near fatal bout with encephalitis that left him in a medically induced coma. When he awoke, he had lost the ability to walk, talk, and play the guitar but with the help of his family, both kin and the musical community, he was able to play guitar at his own benefit. His own struggle to get back to health inspired the formation of the Northern Louisiana Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Foundation to fund neuroscience research in Louisiana. And this cause led to a variety of performers contributing their talents to “Louisiana Swamp Stomp” (Honeybee Entertainment), whose proceeds will benefit the Foundation. 

Among the all star talent on “Louisiana Swamp Stomp” are such world-famous headliners as Buckwheat Zydeco, Percy Sledge and the Aces Band and guitar legend Sonny Landreth and the equally amazing, if less publicly known icons Henry Gray (who spent considerable time infusing Howlin Wolf’s band with his signature piano) and Lil Buck Sinegal (an integral part of Clifton Chenier’s and then Buckwheat Zydeco’s outstanding groups). Others on this include Carol Fran, herself a stroke victim a few years ago, Little Freddie King, Dwayne Dopsie, Buddy Flett himself, Larry Garner, and Charlene Howard with supporting musicians include Billy Flynn, Sean Carney, Jonn Richardson, and David Egan.

Little Freddie King with Lil' Buck Sinegal in back

Chicago harp player and singer, Omar Coleman, the only featured performer not from Louisiana, backed by Billy Flynn on guitar and Kenny Smith on drums, turns in a strong rendition of Slim Harpo’s “Scratch My Back,” catching that swamp blues flavor of the original, while he takes some melodic liberties on Lightnin’ Hopkins’ “Mojo Hand.” Pianist Henry Gray delivers two strong piano blues performances, the slow topical “Times Are Getting Hard” about too much taxes and ain’t got a job, while “How Can You Do It,” is a rocking shuffle. Lil Buck Sinegal provides a rocking take on “Don’t You Lie to Me. 

Carol Fran at 2008 New Orleans JazzFest

Carol Fran sings the blues in French on “Tou' Les Jours C'est Pas La Meme (Everyday Is Not The Same),” with some nice piano from David Egan, while her “I Needs To Be Be’d With,” has nice guitar from Mary Christian.Little Freddie King takes us down in the gutter with a superb, doomy swamp blues “Can’t Do Nothin’ Babe,” while Percy Sledge does a fine rendition of “First You Cry,” a terrific southern soul ballad Buddy Flett and David Egan wrote. “Swamp Stomp,” is a instrumental that features Sonny Landreth’s slide guitar, Lil Buck Sinegal’s guitar and Gerald St. Julien’s accordion although the playing gets a bit messy at times. “Traveling Man,” is a superb zydeco performance, in the vein of Clifton Chenier, from Dwayne Dopsie. 

Larry Garner’s strong blues “It’s Killing Me,” has a melodic flavor akin to “As the Years Go Passing By,” with terrific organ from Buckwheat Zydeco and a typically fine Garner lyric and vocal. His “Ms. Boss,” with some rollicking piano as Larry sings about bringing breakfast to his baby in bed, and she know show to love Larry, so that’s why Larry calls his Ms. Boss. One performer I was totally unfamiliar before this recording is Charlene Howard who really belts out a slow soul-blues “Send Me Someone To Love.” Flett himself sings and plays guitar on Livin’ Ain’t Easy,” with nice slide guitar as Flett sings fervently with the same never say die attitude that enabled to recover from his serious health issues.

“Louisiana Swamp Stomp” contains a number of first-rate performances and is never less than entertaining. Special kudos to the producers, Paul McCarthy, MD, and Kenny “Beady Eyes” Smith for making this happen and for having this benefit such a worthy cause as the Northern Louisiana Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Foundation whose website is www.brainhelp.org and from which you can purchase this CD.

I received a review copy from a publicity firm for this release.

Kenny Neal is "Hooked On Your Love"

With his health issues apparently (and thankfully) behind him, Kenny Neal has a new Blind Pig release, “Hooked On Your Love,” that is certain to please his existing fans and garner him some new ones. The twelve performances find him with his brothers and friends like Vasti Jackson and Lucky Peterson as Kenny’s immediate recognizable vocals and guitar brings warmth and good times to the listener. Easy swinging grooves are mixed with his own laconic approach that goes down like a smooth scotch.

Neal’s restrained approach that works with the opening title cut that celebrates of his love and the philosophical “Bitter With the Sweet,” when he sings about life not always champagne and rose, have to take the bitter with the sweet.” “Down in the Swamp,” reminds me of some of Tony joe White’s numbers as Kenny sings about being the bayou where the alligators play and plays some nice harmonica (oddly uncredited in the personnel listing. For some reason, Kenny is credited with composing the old OV Wright classic “Blind, Crippled & Crazy,” and obviously Kenny can’t match Wight’s gospel rooted soul shouting, but he does deliver a nicely paced performance with effective use here, as elsewhere on this, of backing vocals. Also the solo here is a fine example of how marvelous paced Kenny is as a player. Just like his vocals, he never rushes the notes. Its followed by another cover, this time of Little Milton’s hit “If Walls Could Talk,” an ironic lyric that Kenny ably handles.

“Things Gotta Change” is a soulful ballad with a message about a baby not having shoes on her feet, got to pray for a helping hand, and the need love one another but the backing may be a bit too smooth. The backing provided on William Bell’s “New Lease on Life,” is more emphatic which suits Kenny’s vocal here. Kenny’s rendition of “Ain’t Nothing You Can Do,” isn’t far removed from Bobby Bland’s original recording and Kenny’s can’t emulate Bland’s leaps and cries, but he conveys a suitable legacy. “Old Friends” is a nice swamp-pop number with lazy harp and a country-ish feel, while horns and a second-line groove provide “Voodoo Mama,” with a livelier flavor as Kenny plays some nice slide (I presume on lap steel guitar).

The CD closes on a nice shuffle “You Don’t Love Me,” where Kenny plays guitar and harmonica as he tells his baby to get on her merry way. Its a solid way to conclude this very solid collection of performances that touches a variety of musical bases but always showcasing Kenny Neal’s distinctive style of blues.



The review copy was provided by Blind Pig Records

Chicago Bob & the King Bees Playing Some Stingingly Good Blues

Born in Louisiana, Bob Nelson grew up in a musical family and remembers his father taking him to barbecues and fish fries where he was exposed to blues, cajun and zydeco. Taking up harp at the age of 8, he would later be tutored by Slim Harpo and Lazy Lester who along with Jimmy Reed and the two Sonny Boy Williamsons are his main influences. He spent his summers with an aunt in Chicago and met most of the great blues legends playing there in the 1960s. Muddy Waters gave him his nickname ”Chicago Bob.” He toured with Luther “Snake” johnson, and John Lee Hooker as well as performing on his own. In recent years he moved to Atlanta where he has been based. In the 1990s he recorded for KingSnake, Ichiban and HighTone, and now Roy Roberts’ Rock House Records has issued “Rock Them Blues,” backed by the North Carolina band, The King Bees. This is apparently a recording from several years ago that is at last being issued.

The music here is pretty straight forward. Nelson sings without any annoying mannerism, suggesting James Cotton at times. He may not be among the harp virtuosos, but his direct, simple crying attack enhances the overall performances. The King Bees provides restrained, solid, backing for Nelson. The opening “Locksmith Blues,” is an original where Bob’s baby has a locksmith change her lock for free but the part that hurt was him keeping a key, while poor Bob has to knock on his own door. Quit Me Baby,” originally down by the late Silas Hogan, is one of several swamp blues covered here and is a nice easy going shuffle, and followed by a restrained rendition of Sonny Boy Williamson’s “Too Close Together.” Roscoe Shelton’s “Think It Over,” is a particularly fine performance with a first-rate vocal and notable playing from Champ Young’s organ and Hound Dog Rob Baskerville’s guitar here. At the same time, Penny “Queen Bee” Zamgani’s bass and Russ Wilson’s drum, provides the welcome, understated foundation. Another Silas Hogan tune, “Goin’ in the Valley,” is a terrific swamp blues performance by everyone, with fine harp in the manner of Hogan’s harp player, Whispering Smith. The title track, a Nelson original, has some of this same lazy swamp blues flavor. Again one can’t underestimate the importance of the King Bees playing to the success here because it is so easy to overplay such material. “Comin’ Back Strong,” mixes the swamp blues with a dash of Muddy Waters, while there is an appealing cover of Slim Harpo’s wistful, “Dream Girl.” “Juke Joint,” is a down home, if occasionally messy, rendition of Little Walter’s “Juke.”

“Rock The Blues,” shows Chicago Bob Nelson to be a genial, engaging blues performer who is heard on a very entertaining release with a number of very strong performances. It can be purchased through Rock House Records website, http://rockhouserecords.com/index.html.

For purposes of FTC regulations, I received a review copy of this CD from a member of the King Bees.