Label: Storyville
Blues
Before he became a master interpreter of Crescent City rhythm and blues, and before David Bartholomew took him under his wing at Imperial records, Ford "Snooks" Eaglin took to the streets. While moonlighting behind New Orleans stars like Sugarboy Crawford, he specialized in an eclectic variety of acoustic folk songs and blues. So you won't find the fiery electric fretwork you've come to expect from Snooks on this album. But you will find subtler pleasures. At the time, Snooks (blind since his early childhood) was absorbing the gospel and rhythm and blues that he heard around him. He has given the songs on this CD his own warm and very personal treatment. Tracks like Ray Charles's "I Got a Woman," "Mama, Don't You Tear My Clothes," and "Don't You Lie to Me" offer a mix of nimble fingerpicking and strumming backed by simple washboard accompaniment. But the sound quality isn't too great, and there is a sameness to his sound once you reach the last track. Still, these songs are an interesting chapter in the story of a New Orleans blues legend, one who sounds more vital with each passing year.
By Ken Hohman.
**
Ford "Snooks" Eaglin's first released recordings, the ones collected here, suggested to the world that Eaglin was a great lost country blues player when he was, in fact, an excellent electric guitar player and a gospel-influenced singer who much preferred playing R&B with a band. When folklorist Harry Oster heard Eaglin busking with his guitar on a street in the French Quarter in 1958, he whisked him over to Louisiana State University and recorded the tracks collected here, either assuming that Eaglin was a folk artist or possibly even asking him to portray one for the sake of the recording. Either way, New Orleans Street Singer was a revelation when it was released by Folkways Records a year later in 1959, presenting to the world a gifted guitar player and a naturally soulful singer who brought a kind of jazzy New Orleans feel and groove to the folk-blues standards he was covering. The album is no less a revelation in the 21st century, although hindsight allows listeners to realize that the folk stance was probably more Oster's preference than Eaglin's. The guitar work is quick and fluid, with lead bursts that surprise and delight, continually settling on unexpected but highly effective chordal resolves, and the singing throughout is steady and informed, sounding a bit like Ray Charles, with tinges of both gospel and jazz phrasing. In Eaglin's hands traditional fare like "Mama, Don't You Tear My Clothes" (a variant of "Baby, Let Me Follow You Down") become reborn and re-formed into definitive versions.
By Steve Leggett. Allmusic.
**
01. Alberta 2:41
02. That's Alright 2:13
03. Malaguena 3:41
04. When They Ring Them Golden Bells 3:37
05. Remember Me 3:27
06. Fly Right Back Baby 4:04
07. I Don't Know 1:57
08. Mean Old World 3:39
09. I Must See Jesus 3:37
10. She's One Black Rat 3:14
11. Don't You Lie To Me 2:16
12. Well, I Had My Fun 3:07
13. Brown Skin Woman 3:47
14. Mama, Don't You Tear My Clothes 2:00
15. Who's Been Foolin' You 2:27
16. When Shadows Fall 1:44
17. One More Drink 2:47
18. I Got A Woman 3:13
19. Come Back, Baby 2:38
20. Trouble In Mind 2:50
21. I Got My Questionaire 3:26
22. The Drifter Blues 3:51
23. Every Day I Have The Blues 3:52
24. A Thousand Miles From Home 2:13
25. I'm Lookin For A Woman 2:24
**
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