While its been awhile since I listened to the earlier disc, the performances here strike me as a bit more focused in performance. Kimbrough does a fine job in complementing Malcolm’s vocals and guitar which more than on one occasion evoke Mississippi Fred McDowell. The Hill Country blues style that is the foundation makes use of repetitive, hypnotic grooves that can bore but Malcolm avoids here with his guitar that displays an economy of expression (and aided by Kimborugh’s often lighter percussive touch) as well as his haunting vocals. This is clear on the opening Ain’t Even Worried, as well as the following Stop Fightin’ Over Me with a chugging groove in the vein of some of R.L.Burnside’s numbers with judicious use of tremolo in his fuzzy tone. The rocking groove of So Many Women recalls several of Fred McDowell’s songs such as Write Me a Few Lines, in a most compelling fashion.
The title track is more in the vein of roots rock with some heavily distorted guitar, while the horns embellish Guilty Man providing a different flavor and adding to the variety here. Last Nite I Held An Angel is taken at a dirge-like tempo as his angel has to fly, followed by Precious Jewel with its rock steady reggae groove and horns along with Nadirah Shakoor joining on the vocal. Perhaps because of what might be described as some awkwardness in the lyrics, this is a very appealing track. Come Go With Me is a lesser performance although with a sample dance groove. North Mississippi is a celebration of his home area with brassy punch added by the horns before J Grubbz adds a rap. Foxfire Ranch is a chugging instrumental that builds on a simple musical riff.
There may some songs on this that may strike some as less than inspired, but Lightnin’ Malcolm certainly performs with plenty of heart and conviction here. Overall Lightnin’ Malcolm may be a Renegade but he has produced a solid album rooted in the Hills Country Blues.
The review copy was received from a publicist for the record label.
Big Head Blues Club is an offshoot of Big Head Todd and The Monsters created by Todd Park Mohr, to help celebrate the Robert Johnson Birthday centenary, 100 Years of Robert Johnson (Ryko/ Big Records). Guitarist and vocalist, Mohr and his band mates, bassist Rob Squires, drummer Brian Nevin and keyboardist Jeremy Lawton are joined by B.B. King, Charlie Musselwhite, Ruthie Foster, Cedric Burnside and Lightnin’ Malcolm for renditions of ten of Johnson’s songs. Robert Johnson was a brilliant performer who died way too young so he has become a mythical figure which has led some to make the incredulous assertion that Robert Johnson was most influential blues artist of all time. This unsupported assertion has more to do with myth than reality or blues history. Call Robert Johnson the greatest blues artist of all time. That opinion can be debated but can't be faulted. But calling him the most influential exposes one’s ignorance of the music’s history (and the impact of others) and ignores the fact that if there was no Robert Johnson, blues as we know it would probably have evolved in pretty much the manner it sounds like today.
I have no idea what is included in the physical CD as I received a download promotional copy, but the music on this is not without its pleasures. For one thing, the renditions of Johnson’s songs are not overly reverential as say the tribute albums by Rory Block or Eric Clapton. As a vocalist Mohr may lack the depth of feeling that a Johnny Shines, Elmore James or Big Joe Williams brought to their interpretations of Johnson’s music, but does bring an amiable, gravelly approach and sings with plenty of heart.
The disc opens with Come On In My Kitchen features a funk groove that is more Hill Country flavored than Johnson’s original with a harp break from Charlie Musselwhite. Rambling on My Mind, follows with an emphatic groove that is slowed down from the original. Cedric Burnside is on acoustic guitar and Lightning Malcolm on slide guitar on an accompaniment not wedded to the broom-dusting riff employed on many versions of this. It is followed by a frenzied Preachin’ Blues, on which Burnside is on drums and Malcolm adding the acoustic slide. The frenzied character of the performance does a credible job of evoking Johnson’s original which struck me as one of Johnson’s most fervent recordings.
Crossroads Blues, with B.B. King, has an imaginative arrangement owing little to Johnson or Elmore James and Mohr credibly shares the vocal with King as Johnny Lawton’s funky organ helps set the mood. When You Got a Good Friend is another tine with more of a hill country fill that traditional delta-styled blues of Johnson with Foster adding backing vocals and Sumlin some guitar embellishments along with Lightnin’ Malcolm. Kind Hearted Woman is a nice piano-guitar duet between Malcolm on acoustic guitar and pianist Lawton as Foster and Mohr trade lines in the shared vocal. One jarring note is Mohr singing “Mr. Johnson” when he could have personalized it as to Big Todd. Honeyboy Edwards may be the last living link to Robert Johnson, but of those associated with Johnson, he is musically the least able and his weak vocal at the beginning of If I Had Possession Over Judgment Day, is salvaged by Mohr’s strong singing and the driving, rhythmic backing of Cedric Burnside and Lightnin’ Malcolm. Musselwhite contributes moody harmonica behind a smoldering, smokey treatment of Last Fair Deal Gone Down.
After Mohr’s capable solo acoustic rendition of All My Love’s In Vain, the album concludes with a somewhat inept Sweet Home Chicago, by Honeyboy Edwards which does have some nice harmonica by Musselwhite on it to make this track listenable. It perhaps ends this disc on a bum note, which is unfortunate as with this exception on this. 100 Years of Robert Johnson may not be an essential recording, but it certainly is an entertaining release that blues traditionalists like myself and those with a more casual interest in blues, should be able to enjoy.
This review originally appeared in the May 1 - June 15, 2011 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 335). A download of this was provided by a publicist for the release.
Mason’s new CD is Juke Joint Thunderbolt which sounds more in the vein of the Hill Country blues of North Mississippi mixed with a bit of Bukka White. The title is explained by the fact that a Juke Joint is an afro-caribe expression for a place or experience to have fun and dance and juke the trouble out of yourself while Thunderclap is when thunder and lightning are so close together that it seems that the thunder rolls away from you. In any event, the spirit of the title is present on the music here. Mason has an impressive group of guests including Cody and Cedric Burnside, grandsons of R.L. Burnside’ Lightnin’ Malcolm, Gary Hundt and others. The ensembles vary, but much of this has a trance-like vive characteristic of the Northern Mississippi Hills Country Blues. I find the playing a bit tighter and the rhythm less thrashing around than some other recent recordings in this vein.
The opening “My Old Lonesome Home” cranks out a hot, irresistible groove on a one-man band rig with Hundt wailing on harp as moans about the world getting better and we are getting older. Cedric Burnside is on drums for Gone So Long, as Mason makes use of repetition in his lyrics and his guitar accompaniment as he wonders has it been so long since you been gone while Cody Burnside adds a rap that is intertwined seamlessly with Mason’s lyrics and vocals. Its one of two tracks where Cody Burnside raps in among the most successful and natural integrations of the blues tradition and rap. More Than Wind, with Hundt on mandolin, has more of a folk-country flavor as Mason informs us “love don’t linger well up cool and fresh.” Riding On is the other song with Cody Burnside but in addition to Mason’s vocal and droning guitar, the accompaniment include Cedric Burnside on drums, Fara Tolno and Alya Sylla on djembe, Fasinet Bangoura on balafon, Hundt repeating a harp riff, Lightnin’ Malcolm adding searing guitar and Lionel Young playing crosscut saw fiddle creating a mesmerizing rhythm and making Mason’s vocal sound more compelling music.
Mason, using his one man band rig, provides a marvelous rendition of Rolled and Tumbled, with Hundt’s simple harp an effective foil for this slow-drag treatment of a pre-war blues standard. The philosophical lyric of Diamond Rain, is set to a folk country setting with Young adding some nice violin. Signifying Monkey, is taken from Oscar Brown’s recording of this bawdy number but is performed by Mason at a slow, dirge-like tempo with Lightnin’ Malcolm and Cedric Burnside helping instill the trance-like groove. Free moves back to a hill country stomp groove as Mason, as a one-man band, delivers his message of gonna fly because he is free and see what’s left of me with Fara Tolno’s djembe adding to the musical covering. Cedric Burnside and Lightnin’ Malcolm contribute to the exceptional rendition of Mississippi Fred McDowell’s Write Me a Few of Your Lines, with Mason adding his own effective harp along with the driving rhythm.
The closing Whisper is a solo guitar performance with Mason’s bluesy vocal matched by a spare, folky accompaniment that concludes this superb recording. In addition to the ten selections on cd, one can download two tracks on his website johnalexmason.com. a prologue track, Delta Bound and an Epilogue that is a rendition of Robert Johnson’s If You’ve Got a Good Friend.
The review copy was provided by a publicist.
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