The possum's double strike
Fat Possum Records, founded in 1991 in Oxford, Mississippi, by a small gang of smart local blues fans, was originally aimed at taking the last original unrecorded bluesmen of North Mississippi out of the shade of anonymity by recording them before they died. As a matter of fact, many of their early artists did : Asie Payton, King Ernest and Charles Caldwell disappeared before the release of their recordings, Junior Kimbrough died in 1998, R.L. Burnside and Hasil Adkins in 2005, T-Model Ford, Robert Belfour and Elmo Williams in the 2010s. A kind of ethno-musicological mission, like that of the legendary Alan Lomax but with a more commercial approach, though most of their "discoveries" had no such ambitions, happy enough to play on the local juke-joints blues circuit. Incidentally, the number of good musicians worth recording living in North Mississippi is incredible !
In 1997, with enough ammunition in their catalog, Fat Possum decided to advertise it by releasing a compilation panorama of their artists, provocatively baptized "Not The Same Old Blues Crap". Encouraged by its success, a second volume followed in 2001 (click on "Newer Post" at the bottom of the page to find it).
The heavy-weights of Fat Possum's catalog of roots North Mississippi country blues, Ford, Kimbrough, Burnside, Belfour or Chikan are featured of course, and largely standing to their reputation. But what's equally exciting for North Mississippi blues boeotians, is the discovery of less famous but not less interesting musicians : 20 Miles and The Neckbones, halfway between blues and punk rock; the hilarious Jelly Roll Kings; the boogie rocking Elmo Williams; the cock-a-doodle-doo singing rooster Robert Cage; country ballad singer Hasil Adkins; the humorous folkie Scott Dunbar; the excellent Asie Payton and Paul 'Wine' Jones; or the definitely soul King Ernest.
Hill Country hypnotical boogies are dominating these two volumes from the top of their heavy rhythms, but a few humorous blues songs and quieter folk ballads managed to find a little space, especially on Volume 2, as did the unexpected but excellent association of Junior Kimbrough with Charlie Feathers on "I Feel Good Again".
A common commercial trick, these sample albums offer a few previously unreleased tracks : #8 (Burnside's "Come On In") on Vol.1, and on Vol. 2, #3 (Burnside's "Walkin' Blues") and #7 (Asie Payton's "Goin' Back To The Bridge").
According to personal taste, each one will prefer this or that, raw boogies, humorous songs or slower melodic ballads, but all tracks have to be listened to.
In any case, Fat Possum's original musical strategy has to be saluted : how many fine Hill Country bluesmen would have stayed unknown to us without the little rodent.
► At the WECC 2001
→ Part 1 : https://youtu.be/mLca51aN6bk
→ Part 2 : https://youtu.be/pBQT2fmiRh8
► At Upstairs At Nick's in Philadelphia, 1998 (70mn) : https://youtu.be/emZRQlRReCg
► Elmo Williams (guitar) and Hezekiah Early at the 2014 Mississippi Blues Marathon in Jackson, 2014 (14-song playlist) :
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhYda8Q_BaqI88kaHf6ZV6zfgBzsuKR9Q
► Robert Cage and Hezekiah Early at the Deep Blues Festival II : https://youtu.be/4JQV_cx5Jfg
► In Port Gibson, Mississippi, with Mike Foster on drums : https://youtu.be/IkDFLEY7Pb8
Hasil Adkins
► At WIll's Pub in Orlando, Florida, in December 2003 (47mn) : https://youtu.be/9cLpsUmJ4gw
Scott Dunbar
► A WAFB reporter's earnest attempt to interview the eccentric delta blues musician on his front porch in Lake Mary, Mississippi (raw footage) : https://youtu.be/iuSo3XPV1PU
► At Colorado College : https://youtu.be/bPPPU20gyxg & https://youtu.be/HLiPDYTuCas
► At the Blues Rules Tour 2013 at La Flêche d'Or, in Paris : https://youtu.be/oEAblq1XHbk
► At the 2010 River Arts Festiva, in Memphis : https://youtu.be/cgaVSjwakFM
► Live : https://youtu.be/x7_BtZHWXbA (46mn) and https://youtu.be/ktRijX4vMeo (52mn)
► At the WECC 2001 (76mn) : https://youtu.be/vKRK8WRCBZU
► At the Waterfront Blues Festival with The Wild Knights & Randy Chortkoff in 1993 (48mn) : https://youtu.be/M1YofYfPSds
Junior Kimbrough
► A night at Junior Kimbrough's juke-joint near Holly Springs (2h12) : https://youtu.be/V45Nhpu9cUk
► At his juke joint in Chulahoma, Mississippi, in 1990 : https://youtu.be/Bj2GeuVZBM8
R. L. Burnside
► Live in 1984 (55mn) : https://youtu.be/BLF-f4kUtAw
► In Amsterdam in 1993 :
→ At lifelong blues lover Ko de Kort's 50th birthday (100mn) : https://youtu.be/py4ZFWJGfJM
→ In a pub : https://youtu.be/PV3Q0OdoF5o
► With Dave Stewart at Junior Kimbrough`s juke joint in 1991 : https://youtu.be/EpEY-TAqSO4
► In 1978 : https://youtu.be/6TMvxIRDLws
► At the House Of Blues in Orlando, Florida, in 1999 (R.L. Burnside - vocal, guitar, Kenny Brown - guitar, Cedric Burnside – drums) (72mn) : https://youtu.be/Y3ABAvQckLA
► Playing one of his unique guitar models at the 2011 Juke Joint Festival in Clarksdale at Ground Zero Club : https://youtu.be/cug4jSz0Xgw
► At the King Biscuit Mini Blues Bash in Helena, Arkansas, in 2021 : https://youtu.be/iDB2Oh90Hro
→ Worried (his only album, recorded in August 1994 at Junior Kimbrough's Juke Joint, released in1999, two years after his death) : https://youtu.be/v-xAB_MmpgA
Tracklist : 00:00 - I Love You / 02:44 - Worried Life / 06:49 - Nobody But You / 11:18 - Please Tell Me You Love Me / 14:09 - Asie’s Jam / 19:45 - All I Need Is You / 24:01 - Come Home With You / 27:30 - Skinny Legs And All / 30:20 - I Love You (Solo).
→ Just Do Me Right (unreleased songs recorded in 1980-1993-1994, posthumously issued in 2001) : https://youtu.be/GIRz9mSU7xo
Tracklist : 00:00 - Back To The Bridge / 03:12 - Do Me Right / 06:29 - 1000 Years / 09:31 - I Got A Friend / 13:16 - Need My Help / 15:41 - Livin’ In So Much Pain / 18:55 - You Got Me Doin’ Things / 22:17 - Why’d You Do It / 25:36 - Nobody But You / 28:31 - Lose My Happy Home / 32:21 - You Don’t Want Me / 35:24 - Watch Yourself / 38:39 - Asie’s Story / 42:14 - Back To The Bridge (2002 Remix)
