The Catch-back, vol. 2 : Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown - Buddy Flett - Snooky Pryor - Johnny Tucker & James Thomas - Doug MacLeod - William Clarke - Fiona Boyes

...some that deserved to be featured here...

Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown - Down South In The Bayou Country (1972-74 / 2006)

► Get the album at the usual place...

The ex-Deputy Sheriff's country dance

Gatemouth was a surprising character, he always was where you didn't expect him to be  ! Actually, as he explained in the interview mentioned at the end of this review, he didn't appreciate much being categorized as a "bluesman". In this 1974 album for example, he was definitely in a country & western mood. He even left his guitar at home, exclusively playing fiddle, an instrument on which he excelled too (just listen to "Gate's Express" and you'll have a hot demonstration) and perfectly fitting the kind of music he chose to play, blowing his harmonica on some songs, and singing in his inimitable style.

But wait ! when Gatemouth plays country & western, he does it his way, which is not anybody else way : he's cooking a gumbo made of swamp rock, cajun waltz, creole voodoo funk, New Orleans R'n'B, Texas square dance and other Southern music ingredients to come up with his personal Gate's style vision of country & western, from "Breaux Bridge Rag" to "Gate's Express" through "Loup Garou" and "Sheriff's Barbecue"...

Next to Gate's fiddle, the pedal-steel guitar (Don Buzard), emblematic country music instrument, is omnipresent and the piano sounds like it's been miraculously saved from an ancient saloon abandoned to dust and spiders for a very long time.

Most of the songs are rocking nicely, like the very swampy "Loup Garou", typical of the voodoo influences that came from West Africa via the Caribbeans and imprinted the Creole culture of Louisiana with fascinating magical beliefs, among which lycanthropy has its place. The song was written by the prolific late country songwriter Hoyt Garrick, Jr.

A word about him : he signs six of the album's 15 songs and co-wrote two other with A. Gresset : "Folks Back Home", "Louisian'", "Sunrise Cajun Style", "Sweet Texas Rose", "Rosalie", "Jamboree" and "Sheriff's Barbecue"...

This last song must have brought up memories to Gatemouth who actually had spent several years as a deputy-sheriff in New Mexico in the 1960s. From that time he kept his famous hats which looked a lot like the ones he was probably wearing on duty, his taste for cowboy shirts and Mexican boots.

"Bad Week For Ol' Fiddlers", written by David Craig (who also signed "Breaux Bridge Rag") is another one of these cajun dancing songs which must have touched Gatemouth particularly, being a fiddler himself. "Rosalie" has a Spanish/Mexican twist, and finally after a hilarious intro, the "Gate's Express" finally manages to start and reach infernal speed thanks to Gatemouth incredibly fast fiddling !

This 2006 reissue, following Gatemouth death in 2005, offers two bonus tracks, among which the fast instrumental boogie-woogie "Cassoulet" featuring another great piece of fiddle by the master.

Good old Gatemouth ! He always surprised his public, but always for the better ! ■

With Rolling Stones Keith Richard (left)
and Dr. John

Interview
● Why "Gatemouth" didn't like the word "blues" : interview, Ottawa Blues Festival, 2002 : https://youtu.be/7d8GFPiM9rs

Live videos
● Nice (France), 1977 : https://youtu.be/ApyRj3uXsNQ
● New Orleans, 1984 : https://youtu.be/eB_q6ti4Ad0
● New Orleans, unknown date : https://youtu.be/IKS08o-HqDM
● Late 1980s or early 1990s : https://youtu.be/1l5snutSURQ

_________________________________________

Buddy Flett - Mississippi Sea (2007)

► Get the album at the usual place...

A Shreveport affair

Buddy Flett and his two guests, Kenny Wayne Shepherd and restaurant owner-guitar aficionado Jimmy Caskey, are all three from this town set in the north-west corner of Louisiana, on the Red river, about 15 miles from the Texas border and 30 miles from south Arkansas. This geographical origin, at the crossroads of Texas country music, Arkansas country blues and Louisiana's rich musical heritage helps to understand how these different influences have left their imprints on Buddy Flett. Add the fact that the Delta blues area is only 220 miles away, a few hours driving, and Dallas a bit closer at 180 miles, and you'll understand even better the multifaceted sound of "Mississippi Sea".

Flett's music, based on southern traditional Louisiana and Delta country blues ("Done Somebody Wrong", "Stoner Hill", "Hideaway", "Dance For Me", "Mama's Kitchen", "Linin' Track") is also spiced with echoes of western (geographically speaking) country music ("Baby's Back In Town", the excellent "Run For The Levee", "What Have I Done", Albert King's "I get Evil (Don't You Lie To Me)" with Caskey on guitar), a blend that's working nicely because Flett is never overdoing things, keeping them as simple as possible with a minimal bass and drum backing, and only two songs shared with guests, KWS and Caskey.

"Mississippi Sea", the title track, has a blues texture of its own, due to the special sound of the bass mixed with the steel guitar slide playing.

Buddy Flett sings with a nice warm slightly gritty voice, and is a great acoustic guitar player, equally at ease on regular flat-top, bottleneck slide or steel resonator guitars.

His accomplice KWS, on guitar on the excellent "I Hear Ya Callin'", puts out a great sound with his fingered vibrato on the neck. It reminds Stephen Stills in "Black Queen" (in fact KWS and Stills played together for a while in a band called The Rides).

"Mississippi Sea", the title track, has a blues texture of its own, due to the very special sound of the bass behind Buddy's steel guitar slide.

It's the kind of album you appreciate more each time you play it. ■

● Buddy Flett doesn't love only guitars, he apparently loves dogs too ! : https://www.facebook.com/buddy.flett

Live videos

● On tour with the American Cajun, Blues & Zydeco Festival 2014 :
→ https://youtu.be/HMew7egVf5I
→ https://youtu.be/CtYcJ4LMTxo
→ https://youtu.be/4j4gDQ2wEok
→ https://youtu.be/bG6WwPP6zJQ
→ https://youtu.be/IkqvW9N9T5I
→ https://youtu.be/kTCpEnNQk7A
● Live on Red River Radio (to raise the money needed by RRR to keep on going the next year) (nearly 2-hour show), 2019 : https://youtu.be/U67u9lc2s5Q

Buddy Flett & Kenny Wayne Shepherd

● Recording at Blade Studios, Shreveport, 2012 : https://youtu.be/uoiq4Ud5Qw0
● Buddy Flett "plays the blues for you", 2016 : https://youtu.be/-T0qguvB9fw
● At the Cajun Steamer, Longview, Texas, 2015 : https://youtu.be/7b5REtVXXDA
● At the Shedhead Festival, Ocean Springs, Mississippi, 2013 : https://youtu.be/mupRWRcalhY
● With Kenny Wayne Shepherd at the Shreveport Auditorium (presentation by Ken Shepherd, KWS's dad) : https://youtu.be/h8KFFAh6sVA

_________________________________________

Snooky Pryor - In This Mess Up To My Chest (1994)

► Get the album at the usual place...

When Snooky goes blowing in

Solid Chicago blues harmonica, prestigious casting, thrilling guitar work, Pinetop Perkins piano, Pryor's rocky vocals…, everything needed to put out a nice blues album. And "In This Mess Up To My Chest" is a nice blues album. The only question concerns the title : what does Pryor mean ? Apparently he seemed to have a good time recording these tracks. So what ?
A disciple of both Sonny Boy Williamson (John Lee and "Rice" Miller), Pryor who was born and grew up in Mississippi before moving to Chicago around 1940, was one of the few early pioneers of post-war Chicago blues as early as 1948, in constant competition with Louisiana-born Little Walter.

Both men claimed they were the first to amplify their harmonica. Pryor used to tell that the idea came to him while he was in charge of blowing bugle calls during his service in the US Army. One day he experimented playing his harmonica through the military camp public address system and as soon as he was discharged in 1945 he bought an amp. However most blues historians consider that Little Walter was the one who amplified harmonica first...

No matter what, the twelve titles of this 1994 recording are really nice, from the opening irreverent "Bury You In A Paper Sack" to his famous 1956 song "Judgement Day" enlightened by Luther Tucker's guitar. In between, Pryor and his top-notch musicians go through some appealing numbers including a Chicago version of the traditional New Orleans anthem "When The Saints Go Marching In" featuring Pinetop Perkins on piano. On "Pay For All Our Sins" the excellent Derek O'Brien delivers an exciting guitar sound strongly reminding Earl Hooker style. "Take It Easy Greasy" is one of the outstanding tracks. Mel Brown's guitar enlightens the only cover on the album (apart from the traditional "When the Saints..."), John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson's "Bluebird Blues". "Hello Little Baby" is none other than a version of "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl". And there's many more swinging tracks : "Stick Way Out Behind", "Can I Get A Witness?", "Slow Down Baby", "She Tried To Ruin Me", "My Baby's Too Sweet To Die"...

Pryor plays his harmonica with a relaxed but appealing style, the twelve songs are rolling down nicely, performed by some of the best Chicago blues veterans who know all the tricks of their trade. Very pleasing indeed. But what kind of mess is Pryor talking about, that we will never know because the man died in 2006 without revealing the secret ! ■

_________________________________________

Johnny Tucker & James Thomas - Stranded (1997)

► Get the album at the usual place...

Double JT

Take a bass player-singer and a drummer-singer who have known each other from 1967, have played in bands of great front bluesman like Lowell Fulson, Johnny Otis, Taj Mahal, Sonny Rhodes or Phillip Walker, and make them… sing as a duet. This is the idea behind this 1997 album. As soon as the first bars of "Someday You'll Have The Blues" play, you know that this voice combination function in perfect harmony. It's not surprising considering the two JT have known each other for some thirty years.

James "Broadway" Thomas was born in 1941 in Celina, just north of Dallas, Texas. He began his professional life in Wichita, Kansas, singing and playing guitar, but switched to bass around 1964, and moved to L.A. where he played with numerous great bluesmen, among which Phillip Walker. He became his bass player in the early 1980s until Walker's death in 2010.

John Franklin Tucker was born in 1945 in Fresno, California, where he started to play drums and sing. He moved to L.A. in 1964 and soon met Phillip Walker, first singing in his band and later becoming his regular drummer.

Tucker (left) & Thomas

That's how Thomas and Tucker became accomplices. Thirty odd years after their first meeting they decided to jump up front and record together.

"Stranded" is a rhythm-driven album, anything but normal from a the bass-drums pair, even though Tucker sometimes lets the drum sticks to his brother Aaron. The two have gathered good musicians around them : James Armstrong is on guitar on six tracks ; the aptly named Leon Blue on piano ; and the quite unusual dual instrumentist Leroy "Dino" Spells splits between guitar ("Stranded") and alto saxophone ("Wild Streak" and "Hey Baby").

Apart from "Help Now", the only co-writing from Thomas & Tucker, Thomas has signed "Can't Stand It" and co-wrote "Long Gone" with Phillip Walker. The rather funkish version of "Mustang Sally" (with James Armstrong on guitar) stands out along with Albert King's Hey Baby". "Stranded", the song, was written by one Deadric Malone, "No More Doggin'" by Rosco Gordon, and "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" is a Lloyd Price' song.

Things swing gently but surely from the first track to the last, and when the album finishes, you feel like playing it back to hear the vocal duet again. ■

_________________________________________

Doug MacLeod - Come To Find (1994)

► Get the album at the usual place...

MacLeod ? Just great !

Doug MacLeod is really a great bluesman. This album comes straight from the Mississippi Delta and the Piedmont hills of Virginia. The soberness of the twelve tracks ― MacLeod's guitar with just bass and drums, and Charlie Musselwhite's harmonica on two tracks ―, is revealing the man's skills : meaningful lyrics close to poetry (10 of the 12 songs are signed MacLeod), warm soulful rootsy vocals and fine finger-picking guitar style, while the upright bass and drums subtly bring extra deepness.

Led Zeppelin fans might be surprised to hear the opening song, Willie Dixon's "Bring It On Home", in bare acoustic vintage simplicity. Among the outstanding tracks, the title song "Come To Find", and three little gems in a row : the deep questioning "Master's Plan", "Run With The Devil", a song about Robert Johnson without ever pronouncing his name (but MacLeod's lyrics are clear as to whom he's thinking about), and cherry on the cake  (!), the magnificent gospel blues "Ain't No Grave" enlightened by hand clapping and church choir-like background vocals by the mysterious... Black Cherry. Lastly, McLeod's cover of the ever famous Muddy Waters' "Rollin' & Tumblin'" is taking the song back to its Mississippi rural blues origin. Don't worry though, the other songs are nice too.

A finely crafted blues work from MacLeod. As usual. ■

Live videos
● Doug MacLeod, BB Blue Fest, 2016 :
→ #1 : https://youtu.be/YaUuw0Ak40Q
→ #2 : https://youtu.be/RzEO96S6BI4
→ #3 : https://youtu.be/VZYj4w1w6F4
● "The Night of the Devil's Road" (not the same song as "Run With The Devil"), 2013 : https://youtu.be/Th25d_PCfKw

 

_________________________________________

William Clarke - Serious Intentions (1992)

► Get the album at the usual place...

 Clarke's blazing rhythm 'n' blues

Watch out, here comes some solid electric blues ! The album opens on the exciting "Pawnshop Bound", a hot R'n'B with groovy horn riffs and thrilling bass line. Clarke's powerful growling harmonica and rasping gutsy vocals are perfectly brought to light by his excellent musicians : top guitarist Alex Schultz on lead (replaced by Al Blake on tracks 6 & 12) and Zach Zunis on rhythm, the appealing Fred Kaplan on piano, and "Slim" Medina and Lee Campbell clockwork acoustic bass and drums on most of the titles. On track 7, Tyler Pederson takes up the acoustic bass and Jimi Bott the drums, while the pair Willie Brinlee (acoustic bass)-Eddie Clark (drums) is in charge on #10 & 11.

Clarke's proves his songwriting mastery on ten of the twelve tracks, the remaining two being covers of the jazz standard "Work Song" written by Nat Adderly (or Adderley, younger brother of famous saxophonist "Cannonball" Adderley), and "Soon Forgotten" from blues pianist and composer James Oden.

"Pawnshop Bound" is followed by eleven top quality tracks. My personal pick ? The jumping "Educated Fool", the rocking "I Know You're Fine", the instrumental "Chasin' The Gator", the R'n'B "With A Tear In My Eye", the long soulful blues "It's Been A Long Time", the jazzy version of "Work Song" and the swinging "I Feel Like Jumping".

The whole album is a really exciting treat for the ears. You don't drop out one single second. If Clarke "serious intentions" was to keep us under his burning spell from beginning to end, he succeeded totally and with blazing mastery. A hell of a good bluesman ! His death in 1996 was a true loss for blues music. Heaven only knows how many more masterpieces like this one he would have released if still alive… RIP Mister William Clarke. ■

► For live videos, check here.

_________________________________________

Fiona Boyes - Blues For Hard Times (2011)

► Get the album at the usual place...

Boiling Boyes

Though Boyes is a one-woman band by herself (acoustic, electric, lap-steel and resonator guitars, foot tambourine & percussion), she chose a casting of excellent musicians to guest on this album : the always excellent guitarist Derek O'Brien, Kaz Kazanoff on harmonica, Bob Margolin (on one track), drummers Jimi Bott and Frosty Smith for the most famous…
The Australian lady blends all kinds of blues forms that she masters perfectly : from Delta ("High Time", "Baptized In Muddy's Sweat") to Hill country ("Chain Gang", "God & The Devil"), from old jazzy New Orleans (Dan Grove's "Guys Be Wise") to Piedmont ragtime ("Nickels & Dimes", Rev. Gary Davis' "Mean World", "I Let The Blues In", Australian fellow bluesman Nick Charles' "No Friends", "The Preacher"), from gospel (Australian blues musician Chris Wilson's "Jesus Took Possession") to swinging jump ("Drink To Your Health") and Chicago blues ("She Could Play That Thing: Blues For Memphis Minnie", J.B. Lenoir's "Grandma's Advice")…

It's full of generosity with no less than 16 tracks, close to one full hour of nice acoustic and electric country blues. Boyes belongs to this generation of old traditional blues revivalists, the likes of Roy Book Binder, Toby Walker, Tom Feldman, Mike Munson or the late Kelly Joe Phelps…
"Blues for Hard Times" has a delicious retro color carried by the lady's boiling vocal style. It's full of exulting jubilation and throw-back swinging rhythms, of perfect finger-picking and slide guitar technique, and of real song-writing talent (she penned 11 of the 16 songs) most time filled with cutting humor. It's a great way to turn hard times into good ones. To make it short, it really is a nice album ! ■

Live videos
● Great Southern Cigar box guitar Festival, Australia, 2019 : https://youtu.be/6sSxMfzs7OE
● Blues au Château, La Chèze (France), 2013 (Fiona Boyes : guitar & vocals & Federico Bozas : bass/cajon) : https://youtu.be/xzBgObaEHYk