Mel Brown & The Homewreckers (feat. Denny Freeman) - Under Yonder: Mel Brown Live At Pop The Gator 1991 (2016)

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Wreckin' the joint

Ten blues classics performed live in the famous club Pop the Gator in Kitchener (Ontario, Canada), nothing very original when you give a look at the tracklist, titles you've heard dozens of times…

But wait wait wait... it's Mel Brown playing, here ! And that changes everything. The whole thing is turning into an orgiastic show of unique electrifying guitars and passionate vocals, with the gripping help of his guest friend the late Texan guitarist Denny Freeman (1), and the backing of his super tight homewrecking band.

Brown and Freeman

Brown transforms those standards with such a thrilling manner that you forget you've heard them before. He extends each title to six or seven minutes, almost the double for the final track, leaving more than enough space for Freeman and himself to offer the exhilarating double voice of their guitars.

But, make it clear, this is not a blues-rock contest between two show-off guitar-slingers to determine who plays the fastest and who puts out the most torrid riffs. This is real urban electric blues with a feeling by two guitarists, each with his own tone and style.

Brown became famous for incorporating jazz sounds to his blues playing. Even if he does it here less openly than usual, probably to get more accorded to Freeman's style, he sounds particularly brilliant not only on guitar but also vocally. He draws a superb texture out of his favored hollow-body Gibson ES-175, fluid and aggressive altogether, while Freeman is a subtle player, quite elegant in his softer phrasing. An exciting pair ! Behind them, the three-piece band (keyboards, bass & drum) is solid, tight and as efficient as can be.

The guitars are perfectly balanced between moody jazz chords and energetic solos. Brown is great on “I'm Gonna Move To The Outskirts Of Town” and both men offer a superb revisit of “Georgia On My Mind” with inspired guitar lines rarely heard on this song.

They are both as efficient when it comes to groove on faster tempos like “Get Out My Life Woman” or “Blues On The Green” where their solos are closely entwined.

John Lee

After a mid-show break (“a break, man, we'll be right back…” jokes Brown with a seductive mellow tone), the musicians are refilled with energy for the boogie “Shake, Rattle and Roll”  with keyboardist John Lee trigger it off on piano while Leo Valvassori's bass is growling like an angry bear.

The instrumental “Under Yonder Blues” turns into a spellbinding exchange of intense soulful solos coming straight from the guts, before a rejoicing boogie version of the iconic “I Got My Mojo Workin'” : organ, hot wailing guitars, even a little drum solo by Randall Coryell while Brown introduces the musicians… The intense atmosphere of a live recording.

Brown and Miss Angel

The CD features a kind of encore : nearly 12 minutes of scorching guitar from Brown and Freeman on the cover of “Hey Joe”, a song popularized by Hendrix but actually written in 1962 by a forgotten bluesman, one Billy Roberts.

This album is a kind of miracle. In February 1991, the performances of the three nights with Freeman were recorded but never released. Actually it seems that only two shows were taped. Brown dropped the tapes in a box where he was keeping other unreleased recordings, and forgot about them, while legendary rumors about these gigs started to be spread by those who attended them.

The tapes stayed in the box for 25 years.  Before his death, Brown had entrusted Miss Angel, a singer and dear friend, a few boxes of personal belongings. Two decades later, Angel was moving from her house and clearing the basement when she discovered Brown's long forgotten boxes and took them with her. In her new home, she explored the boxes and an unmarked tape drew her attention. She listened to it : it was the famous 1991 shows ! ■

Mel Brown short bio
From Mississippi to Ontario : the long road to legend

Mel Brown was born in 1939 in Jackson, Mississippi. His father, "Bubba" Brown, who was a talented semi-professionnal blues guitarist, offered Mel his first guitar when he was 14 while recovering from a meningitis. In less than a year, he became an excellent player, and at only 15 he was backing Sonny Boy Williamson II (“Rice” Miller) for a few shows.

He later joined the Johnny Otis band, touring intensively for a couple of years, and Etta James backing band for another two years. Tired of this constant life on the road, he settled in Los Angeles, working as a session man, playing in particular on T-Bone Walker's 1968 album “Funky Town”, and joining Otis again, this time for a long residency at the Club Sands in L.A.

Meanwhile he was given the opportunity to record his first opus in 1967, the very innovative and acclaimed “Chicken Fat”, featuring jazz guitarist Herb Ellis.

Brown with Albert Collins
(on the right, Debbie Davies)

From 1971, he joined Bobby “Blue” Bland, at the same time playing behind blues legends as B.B. King, James Cotton, John Lee Hooker or Lightnin' Hopkins…

In 1976 he relocated to Nashville where he kept busier than ever as a session guitarist. During all these years, he recorded several of his own albums, and continued backing Bland until 1982.

Buddy Guy and Brown

In 1983 he moved again, this time to Austin, Texas, where he joined the house band at the famous club Antone's as a leading member next to one… Denny Freeman, and still backing musicians like Buddy Guy, Stevie Ray Vaughan or Clifton Chenier.

In 1986, Albert Collins invited him to join his band the Icebreakers, he accepted and participated in particular in the recording of Collins' famous album “Cold Snap”.

With Snooky Pryor in 2003

After a short return to Antone's, Brown headed straight north to Kitchener, Ontario, to perform several gigs at the then unknown Pop-the-Gator Club. He liked his stay so much that he decided to relocate ― again ! ― in the area in 1990 and formed a new band, the Homewreckers, touring the Ontario clubs and becoming a much appreciated staple at Pop-the-Gator, contributing to build the renowned reputation of the venue, while collaborating with Snooky Pryor on several albums.

When he died in March 2009, Brown had become a legend in Ontario and among his pairs, but despite a W.C. Handy Award in 2001, was much lesser familiar to the average blues public. Yet this very engaging musician deserved a much wider recognition. Tragically, it's only after his death in 2009 that he gained it ... ■

Freeman (far left) with Bob Dylan & band

(1) Denny Freeman started his career in the early 1970s next to SRV in the Cobras and later played with his brother Jimmie (Vaughan). As Brown, he was a member of Antone's house band in the early 1980s. Later he toured with Jimmie Vaughan in the mid-1990s, then with Taj Mahal until 2002. From 2005 to 2009, he was a member of Bob Dylan's backing band. During the next decade he continued living his wandering musical life, recording for blues artists (Doyle Bramhall, Barry Goldberg, James McMurtry…) and for himself (his 2012 album “Diggin' On Dylan”). Freeman died in April 2021 in Austin at age 76.

Videos
■ Interviews & documents
► Sean Jasmins documentary “Love Lost & Found: The Story of Mel Brown” : https://youtu.be/-tlJqE-A4GY
→ The Web page where the DVD can be ordered : http://lovelostandfoundmovie.com
► “Talkin' Blues” video podcast, 2000s : https://youtu.be/ky0wlyZjVs8
► “Remembering Mel Brown”, featuring testimonials by Joe Louis Walker, Taj Mahal, Steve Strongman, Andrew Galloway (Electro-Fi Records) and Buddy Guy, 2010 : https://youtu.be/Xp_8z171uHc
► A tribute to Mel Brown, 2010 : https://youtu.be/eUMpSoCoVWk

■ Live
► "Just Your Fool" with Miss Angel : https://youtu.be/M9QYqKwOixA
► With Bobby Blue Bland, Chicago, 1981 : https://youtu.be/ZgZK50K1zNM
► With Albert Collins, Antone's, Austin, TX, 1987 : https://youtu.be/fdOd7Rl7nx4
► Toronto, 1990 :
→ “I'm Gonna Move To The Outskirts Of Town” : https://youtu.be/AcQDykbokT8
→ “Baby What Do You Want Me To Do” : https://youtu.be/VXlc5FLFo7M
→ Instrumental : https://youtu.be/QnCi_uxmIKs
► With The Kendall Wall Band, Beaches Jazz Festival, Toronto, 1990s :
→ “Rambling On My Mind” : https://youtu.be/Kj-0swbNP1w
→ “Think”, with Brown on piano : https://youtu.be/H9Luu48SeyE
► With The Homewreckers, Frog's Hollow Blues Picnic, Kitchener, Ontario, 1996 :
→ “I Ain't Drunk” : https://youtu.be/GUB_J6inH9Y
→ “Turn On Your Love Light” : https://youtu.be/_SNVObUmLbw
► With Snooky Pryor (feat. Bob Stroger and Willie Smith), Cognac (France), 2003 :
→ Soundcheck : https://youtu.be/sKirK-LAP5U
→ https://youtu.be/63CoNegXmSs

► Toronto, 2007 :
→ "Crosstown" : https://youtu.be/OUHhdh45ncM
→ "Red Cross Store" acoustic : https://youtu.be/HvGtwoijO84
► “Stormy Monday” with Buddy Guy, Centre in the Square, Kitchener, 2007 : https://youtu.be/9ev948Sz1iU
► "Louise McGee", a tribute to Son House, Galt Little Theater, Cambridge, Ontario, 2008 : https://youtu.be/6RoJIKX6lZ4

Mel Brown, 1939-2009