Robert Ealey If You Need Me

Robert Ealey
If You Need Me
Topcat

Robert Ealey is somewhat of a legend around the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and has made several recordings before this. Backed by a variety of Dallas area musicians (including Mike Morgan, Sumter Bruton and Tone Somner) and special guests (Coco Montoya), he has produced a set of blues that covers a wide range of stylistic bases, from Chicago blues to Texas jump, and even a Tex-Mex flavored number. 

Ealey is an appealing vocalist with a slightly slurred diction. He can put forth a nice Chicago shuffle, as on the opening Turn Out the Lights, or the slow I Had a Dream, both with Hash Brown’s full-bodied harp, and the jump-flavored groove on She’s a Rocket works well (perhaps attributable to Bruton’s T-Bone Walker flavored guitar that kicks it off and Johnny Reno’s booting sax). Also appealing is the Tex-Mex flavored Tica. The title tune is a soulful ballad with Reno ripping off a tough sax break, but one can imagine another vocalist handling this a bit more forcefully. The small group instrumentation gives a novel flavor to The River, a thinly disguised reworking of Percy Mayfield’s River Invitation, but Ealey is not convincing here, and the backing falls apart. 

Certainly an engaging album which makes accessible a stalwart of the Dallas region’s blues scene, but Ealey comes off as only a workmanlike vocalist on this.

This review originally appeared in the March 1995 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 199). Robert Ealey passed away in 2001. I likely received a review copy from the recording copy, a publicist or the publication. Here is Robert Ealey in performance.

Blues From Elmo Texas With Henry Qualls

Here is a review that likely appeared in the DC Blues Calendar. It was an excellent recording that Chuck Nevitt, a Dallas, Texas blues lover produced for his Dallas Blues Society label. I purchased my copy and this is still available. It is still in print. Blue Beat Music still shows it in print, but it also available from other sources including ebay. I am not sure whether the contact information for Dallas Blues Society Records is still good. Chuck still participates in the Blues-L internet list.

Those interested in down home blues will find a full plate on the Dallas Blues Society's wonderful release by Henry Qualls, Blues From Elmo, Texas. Backed by a sympathetic trio that includes rhythm guitarist Hash Brown's steady work, Qualls is featured on a variety of songs that include several classics associated with other Texas blues greats like Lightnin' Hopkins (Shotgun Blues) and Little Son Jackson (Rockin' and Rollin' aka as Rock Me), an instrumental rendition of Blind Willie Johnson's Motherless Children, along with his rocking adaptation of the traditional Long Gone. 

When he turns the old Newbeats hit, Bread and Butter, into a stomping blues or tears into an instrumental like The Elmo Stomp, Qualls and his group gets a rocking groove going that suggests some of the energy of a Hound Dog Taylor, though his band is a bit less prominent than Taylor's band, the House Rockers. He more than ably covers Jimmy Reed's Can't Stand to See You Go along with Lowell Fulson's Reconsider Baby while his slide playing is moving on the instrumental Death is Moving Across the World. 

Qualls' slightly gravelly singing certainly helps make the lyrics standout, while his deliberate, considered playing is quite effective. This album is a gem. And those wanting to hear him first might check out the four songs Qualls has on the Cannonball collection, Dallas Blues collection. You may have to contact the Dallas Blues Society directly at P.O. Box 190406, Dallas Texas 75219 for information on how to obtain this [214-5212583] (I obtained my copy from Blue Beat Music {www.bluebeatmusic.com}.

Here is a video of Qualls performing Long Gone. Sorry the sound is a bit rough on the video.

Barbara Lynn Has A Blues and Soul Situation

Barbara Lynn is one of the great unheralded blues and soul performers. This was a review I wrote back in 2004 that appeared in the September/October 2004 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 270). I have made some minor stylistic changes.

One of the pleasures of attending the Ponderosa Stomp in New Orleans was the chance to see the legendary Barbara Lynn perform. Its been four decades when the left-handed guitarist singer and songwriter had a hit with You'll Lose a Good Thing, and while she had some other hits, none reached that level. Yet she is still well remembered by many from this recording.

Most recently she had albums on Bullseye Blues and Antone’s. The Texas Dialtone label is building a strong catalog of authentic Texas blues and Lynn is the artist on the label's latest release, Blues and Soul Situation. This is perhaps her best album of recent years with very strong material and a strong studio band.

She opens with a nice funky groove on the sultry You Make Me So Hot, where her man is making her burn enough and Barbara can't get enough. Against a hot New Orleans rhumba groove, Lynn tells her man what it mans to treat a women so mean on You Don't Sleep at Night, with Kaz Kazanoff taking a nice tenor solo as Nick Connolly lays down a Professor Longhair tinged piano solo.

Barbara Lynn at 2004 Ponderosa Stomp
Photo © Ron Weinstock

She warns the man on You Better Quit It before he pushes her too far. Moving on a Groove is a dance number with a groovy sixties feel to it (reminds me of Archie Bell & the Drells) while the following He Ain't Gonna Do Right (by the great songwriting team of Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham) may be the top song here as Lynn sings about how the man is using her for his toy, as he ain't gonna do Barbara right but rather do her dirty. She enlivens Slim Harpo's I Got Love If You Want It and Sugar Coated Love (associated with Lazy Lester) with Hash Brown adding the harp on the latter number.

She adds her very considered guitar throughout, but the focus throughout this recording is her singing and the soul she brings to these blues, blues ballads and soul serenades. This is a stunning release and its great to have Barbara Lynn in such great form.

Here is Barbara Lynn in performance at the 2010 Ponderosa Stomp.