Kenny Neal - A Tribute To Slim Harpo & Raful Neal (2005)

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The Neal clan's great homage

Kenny Neal is a family bluesman. On this album originally planned as a tribute to his "uncle" Slim Harpo, a close friend of his father Raful Neal and a legendary swamp blues harp player, he plays with another legend, his own father Raful on vocals and harmonica, and with his brothers Frederick Neal on keyboards, Darnell Neal on bass, and his nephew Tyree Neal on drums. Raful eventually passed away during the making of the album, but fortunately after recording most of the vocals and harmonica parts. The tribute then extended to Raful too.

Slim Harpo

Slim Harpo, born James Isaac Moore in 1924 in the Lobdell district of Baton-Rouge (Louisiana), was a blues harmonicist and guitarist, considered as the father of the swamp blues style. He was a close friend of fellow harmonicist Raful Neal, considered as an uncle by the Neal children. The legend says he gave Kenny his first harp when this one was three to calm him down from crying.

His most successful and influential recordings, on Excello Records, "I'm a King Bee"/"I Got Love If You Want It" (1957), "Rainin' in My Heart" (1961), "Baby Scratch My Back" (1966), are all revisited on this album.

In 1968, he joined his brother-in-law Lightnin' Slim's band and toured widely. He was scheduled for a European tour and recording sessions when he died suddenly of a heart attack in Baton Rouge in January 1970 at only 46, after only a few albums.

Raful Neal

Raful Neal, born in 1936 in Baton Rouge, a talented although cruelly under-recorded blues harmonicist and singer, was the patriarch of the Neal family, a tribe of many blues performers who almost all played with him : his sons Kenny, Noel, Frederick, Darnell, Raful Jr, Larry…, his grandson Tyree, and his daughter, blues singer Jackie Neal, who was tragically shot to death by an ex-boyfriend in 2005.

Buddy Guy young

In the 1950s, he played in a band called The Clouds along with Lazy Lester on guitar, later replaced by one… Buddy Guy, who was the same age as Raful, and later, after Buddy also moved to Chicago, by his brother Phil. Strongly influenced by Little Walter's style, Raful became famous in Louisiana as a live act, and recorded his first single, "Sunny Side of Love", on Peacock Records in 1958 without much commercial success.

In the 1960s he recorded a few singles for different local labels, but had to wait 1987 to put out a first nationally distributed album, "Louisiana Legend", on King Snake Records (reissued in 1990 by the Alligator label), which featured young Kenny on guitar. Two albums followed, "I Been Mistreated" in 1990 and "Old Friends" in 1998, plus some Raful's songs scattered on different harmonica or swamp blues anthologies or compilations.

Lazy Lester & Raful Neal

Contrary to his childhood friends Lazy Lester and Buddy Guy who both moved up to Chicago, Raful spent his entire life in Baton Rouge where he died in September 2004 at age 68 from a bone cancer.

This double tribute album features almost exclusively Harpo's songs, most of them performed by Raful with his sons Kenny, Frederick and Darnell, and his grandson Tyree.

Produced by Kenny, the original project was to have Raful sing and play harp on a selection of great Harpo's titles with original members of Harpo's band. Guitarists-singers James Johnson and Rudolph Richard, who hadn't recorded since 1970, accepted gladly. But Raful's death while the album was not completed obliged Kenny to change his plans and add vocal and harmonica overdubs to finish the work a few years later.

Despite this chaotic making, the result is quite appealing. If the performances bear the musical mark of Kenny, they respect Harpo's swamp blues style. If James Johnson is especially credited on the album's booklet as singer and lead guitarist on "What A Dream" where he delivers an exciting guitar sound, it's not clear on what exact tracks Rudolph Richard play though his name appears in the general line-up. Unless it means he's present on all tracks.

Anyway it's great to hear Raful singing with his rocky voice and blowing his harp, alone or paired with Kenny, on tracks written by his friend Harpo, properly recorded and mixed with contemporary technique : the laid-back R'n'B "Rainin' In My Heart", the slow but solidly rocking "Late Last Nite", the heavy version of the famous "King Bee" that became a blues standard, the excellent "Te-Ni-Ne-Ni-Nu", the equally great "Scratch My Back" with its "chicken" guitar riffs, the scorching "Worry, Worrin'" and finally the shaking "Got Love If You Want It" covered by so many rock bands from both sides of the Atlantic.

As for "Swamp Boogie" and the powerful "Baby Bee", it's not clear if they are Harpo's songs or Raful's own (but no such information could be found anywhere to confirm), or personal compositions added by Kenny in the spirit of both late artist to reach a decent CD duration. In any case Kenny is credited as sole singer and harpist on these two titles and personally I'm ready to bet the third eventuality is the right one.

In any case, this is not only a nice tribute to two great bluesmen from Louisiana, but a great swamp blues album by itself. It's not surprising when you know Kenny Neal's musicianship, multi instrumental mastery and talent for composing or arranging exciting songs. ■

Harpo's original songs dates
→ Rainin' In My Heart (Slim Harpo, 1961) → What A Dream (Slim Harpo, 1960) → Swamp Boogie (Kenny Neal ?) → Late Last Nite (Slim Harpo, 1960) → King Bee (Slim Harpo, 1957) → Te-Ni-Ne-Ni-Nu (Slim Harpo, 1968) → Scratch My Back (Slim Harpo, 1966) → Baby Bee (Kenny Neal ?) → Worry, Worrin' (Slim Harpo, 1958) → Got Love If You Want It (Slim Harpo, 1957).

Kenny Neal interviews

● To read (in French) : http://www.bluesagain.com/p_interviews/kenny%20neal.html

● To read (in English) : http://somedayprods.com/talking/pillow-talkings-interview-with-kenny-neal/

● Kenny Neal about his childhood, his family and his career : https://youtu.be/-qVbGthR1Ag

Kenny Neal live : often a family affair

● At the Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival, New Orleans 2019 (full set) : https://youtu.be/iA4QpKk62V4

● At the Montreux Jazz Festival 2018 : https://youtu.be/8GdNdjEmdeo
● At the Avignon Blues Festival, France, 2017 : https://youtu.be/NYWURBV4fA0
● Bass duel with brother Noel at the Kitchener Blues Festival 2016 (Noel Neal on bass, Frederick Neal on keyboards and Kenny Neal Jr. on drums ) : https://youtu.be/UPPTgBDWJbE
● At the same, 2015 edition (full set again) : https://youtu.be/nxbIVIQ-Myc
● At the "Terre de Blues" Festival 2014 : https://youtu.be/ixXLOKANaWI
● At the Denton Blues Festival 2013 : https://youtu.be/SqNRuC9jLLg

● At The Pennsylvania Blues Festival 2011 : https://youtu.be/nS8kvUznqK8

● Kenny Neal & the Neal Brothers Blues Band at the Natu Nobilis Blues Festival, Brazil, 2003 (Darnell Neal on bass and Frederick Neal on keyboards) : https://youtu.be/HvwHzJDtKZ