Long John Hunter Border Town Legend

Long John Hunter
Border Town Legend
Alligator Records

Long John Hunter's exhibitionistic electric blues is fields removed from Cephas and Wiggins. With years of playing all night at the Lobby in Juarez, Mexico, across the border from El Paso. His gigs became legendary as he would swing from the rafters or stroll outside with his long guitar chord. So were his
45s for the New Mexico Yucca label. A couple years back, the now defunct Spindletop label issued his first cd, and this new follow-up, "Border Town Legend," is now on Alligator. 

Long John Hunter is an old fashioned Texas guitar slinger and vocalist. While B.B. King is his original influence, his cutting, guitar shows as much influence from T-Bone and other Texas based blues guitarists. One track, "Long Star Shootout" is a playful guitar battle with Hunter's guitar opening and closing, while sandwiching solos from Derek O'Brien, Johnny Nicholas, Joe Kelley and young Guitar Jake Andrews (son of Sam Andrews, guitarist for Janis Joplin and Tracy Nelson). His gritty singing is a strong point, too. His phrasing is right on the button, and the slight rasp in his vocals goes down like a smooth ale. In addition to his own playing, Art Lewis, his fabulous saxophonist, gets several spots to lay down some tough tenor solos including on the rousing "Ole Red" and his down in the alley spot on "Arkansas." 

While his covers of "Grits Ain't Groceries" and "Everybody Knows," are solid, they don't add anything to the better known originals. The strength of this collection is the originals, like the jaunty "Nasty Ways," co-authored with producers Tary Owens and Jon Foose, or the opening "T-Bone Intentions." Matched with some of Austin's finest players, it is a welcome straight, no chaser Texas blues album which will not disappoint those who have seen hirn live or heard his earlier recordings.

This review appeared in the March 1996 Jazz & Blues Report. I received my review copy from Alligator Records. I see Amazon sells this as a CD-R but it is available used from various, and one can listen to this recording on various streaming services. Here Long John Hunter performs a Gulf Coast classic, "Irene."