Blues
Bayfront blues fans are in for one spectacular treat with the reunion of long time friends and musical cohorts Lonnie Brooks, Long John Hunter and Phillip Walker. Teaming up for the first time in over 4 decades (in support of their new album on Alligator Records, Lone Star Shootout), these three Texas border town legends are ready for one rollicking, no-holds-barred blues super-session. All three started playing guitar and performing in the early 1950's in the boomtowns of Port Arthur and Beaumont, Texas, where blues, early rock and roll, R&B, Zydeco and country music merged and created a lasting impression on their singular brand of blues. Over the years, their solo recordings and performances have inspired and entertained countless fans and have influenced players from Johnny Winter to Buddy Holly to Billy Gibbons. Lonnie Brooks (born Lee Baker and known as Guitar Junior) forges a unique mixture of Louisiana, West Coast, Texas and Chicago blues unlike anyone else on the competitive Chicago blues scene where he has reigned as one of the Windy Cities' top bluesmen over the past two decades. Lonnie has a dynamic quality to his voice that falls somewhere between hard core blues and smooth sounding soul. He plays a wicked and innovative guitar, is a gifted songwriter and consummate entertainer. In fact, his live performances are legendary, with the charismatic and good-natured Brooks always injecting a high level of energy and excitement into his shows that simply electrifies his audiences. Phillip Walker's stylish fretwork has graced dozens of other musician's albums for decades, and he has released nearly as many albums and singles, as well as penned more than a few blues standards of his own. Real Blues Magazine has called Walker "a true giant of the blues where his triple threat strength as a guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter is unequaled." He combines classic Gulf Coast blues, Memphis style soul and West Coast cool with a cutting guitar style that ranks him among the elite playing today. Long John Hunter is one of the best kept secrets of the blues. He has a gutsy and original guitar style that was originally influenced by B.B. King but honed to a fine edge while playing for more than a decade at the Lobby Bar in Juarez, Mexico. There, Hunter used to entertain the rowdy audience all night long by literally swinging from the rafters while playing his guitar one handed. Both Brooks and Walker played with the King of Zydeco, Clifton Chenier, before moving on to Chicago and California respectively, while Hunter remained in Texas and nearby fabled Juarez, Mexico. Never before, though, have these three old friends and master bluesmen teamed up on the same stage or in the studio … until now that is. The Lone Star Shootout will feature the searing guitar playing, smoldering vocals and engaging good natured humor of these three blues legends as they serve up straight-ahead blues, swamp pop soul and "boarder town" salsa-fied boogie.
**
Louisiana-born and Texas-toughened, Brooks (66), Hunter (68), and Walker (62) show what blues peers can do in what seem to be peaking years. There are three numbers where all three go full tilt together; the rest of the material varies in personnel, group and solo emphasis. The distinctive, gutsy voice of Brooks, Walker's loping guitar lines with his slighly rough, seasoned voice, and the riveting presence of Walker on all counts, musically and vocally, are showcased to consistently satisfying levels. Of the 15 cuts, there are a handful of rockers and boogies, a few pure soul tunes and ballads, a jump blues, a Cajun calypso, and some straight blues, something for everyone. The hard-swinging "Street Walking Woman" and the slower shuffle "Feel Good Doin' Bad" are great musically, if lacking in message. Walker gets a back-to-back showcase on "I Can't Stand It No More/I Met the Blues in Person," and he tears it up. Brooks pleads and shouts on "This Should Go On Forever," while Hunter's highlights are the cautious "Alligators Around My Door" and the B.B. King cop on "Quit My Baby." Score some plus points for Kaz Kazanoff's sax and harp playing, and the horn charts are mighty fine throughout. Speaking of unsung heroes and heroines, credit pianist Marcia Ball on three cuts, Riley Osbourn playing keys on the others, and Ervin Charles, who does yeomanlike vocal and guitar work and gets two showcase cuts on his own, the best being the Muddy Waters closer "Two Trains Running." This is a historic joining of three blues legends, with so much talent you have to give huge props. Also, buy this simply for Bruce Iglauer's info-laden song notes, worth the price of the CD alone.
By Michael G. Nastos.
**
Lonnie Brooks, Long John Hunter, Phillip Walker - Vocals, Guitar
Frosty Smith - Saxophone
Marcia Ball, Riley Osbourn - Piano
Larry Fulcher - Bass
Frosty Smith - Drums.
**
01. Roll, Roll, Roll 3.22
02. Boogie Rambler 3.09
03. A Little More Time 4.21
04. Bon Ton Roulet 3.53
05. Feelin' Good Doin' Bad 4.14
06. Alligators Around My Door 5.17
07. Street Walkin' Woman 4.22
08. This Should Go On Forever 3.39
09. You're Playin' Hooky 3.21
10. Born in Louisiana 5.07
11. Quit My Baby 4.10
12. I Can't Stand It No More 3.54
13. I Met the Blues In Person 5.01
14. It's Mighty Crazy 3.46
15. Two Trains Running 5.56
**
NoPassword
*
DLink
*
1 2
*
No comments:
Post a Comment