Terry "Big T" Williams & Wesley "Junebug" Jefferson - 2005-2007 Meet Me In The Cotton Field

> The album

Two from Clarksdale

It sounds like an informal rehearsal jam by friends sitting down at the bottom end of a blues lounge while the last customers hang around for a last drink before closing time and the barman is wiping the glasses moving to the minimalist band's groove. Three of the album's track were actually recorded at the Red's Lounge in 2007, the others in 2005 at Jimbo Mathus’ Delta Recording studio, both places being in Clarksdale.
Among the legendary "blues towns" of the Mississippi Delta, Clarksdale is certainly the most famous and mythical one. For over a century, since Charley Patton and Robert Johnson, the town has seen a multitude of blues legends haunting its streets and bars. Every big name of the blues passed through there, but some were born and stayed there all their life.

This is the case for Terry "Big T" Williams (1) and Wesley "Junebug" Jefferson. They are or were (Jefferson died in 2009 at only 65) pillars of the Clarkdale's blues circuit, much respected by the numerous blues peers with whom they played : Jelly Roll Kings' Sam Carr, Frank Frost and Big Jack Johnson, Little "Jeno" Tucker, Robert “Bilbo” Walker, Willie Foster, James “Super Chikan” Johnson...  But for incomprehensible reasons, they stayed rather ignored out of the Delta. A proof ? Neither have any Wikipedia page yet ! 😉

After the short a-Capella "Meet Me In The Bottom", Jefferson's bass surges up front on "Pocketful Of Blues", soon joined by Williams' raw guitar. On drums Lee Williams ― we couldn't find any indication about any family link with "Big T" ― keeps very discreet in the back for a good reason : he plays on three songs only. The tone is set for the nine following tracks.
Though the duet are veterans of the Clarksdale Delta blues scene, one feels that the Hill Country is not far away : same kind of down-home rough blues with guitar saturated sound and heavy thumping bass style. Williams, who plays electric or slide ("Incarcerated Blues"), and is alone on guitar on five tracks, draws a really great reverb sound out of his instrument, particularly on "Pocketful Of Blues" and on the long version of "Catfish Blues", the highlight of the album along with the acoustic cover of Muddy Water's "Can't Be Satisfied".

                            Ground Zero ►
The ultra classic "CC Rider" sounds like new here, in its raw country blues dressing, while the other long track, the heavy slow blues "The Wreck", allows Jefferson to exhibit his vocal talent.
"Let's Go Down To Red's" refers of course to Red's Lounge, one of the competitors of actor Morgan Freeman's Ground Zero blues bar & restaurant. It's one of the few songs where the trio plays together. As for the title song, "Meet Me In The Cotton Field", written and sung by Jefferson over Williams' acoustic guitar work, it sounds rather autobiographical.

The album ends as it began, with a roots a-appellate by Jefferson on "Blues Is Like The River".
Both of them sing alternatively, with plain simplicity and soul, with almost the same vocal texture, reminding John Lee Hooker at some moments, particularly Williams.
This apparently "minor" album contains much more than it seems at first. It's a testimony of the blues as it is played in Clarksdale by two guys who fell in it when still kids and for whom blues is more than music, a way of life. ■


(1) "Big T", who was mentored when still young by Johnnie Billington, felt he should take his part in educating young people in return : for many years he taught blues to local kids in Clarksdale, convinced that this was one of the ways the kids could build a better future for themselves. More recently, he moved to Memphis, where he lives with his wive and children.

Wesley "Junebug" Jefferson
► Biography : https://www.arts.ms.gov/folklife/artist.php?dirname=jefferson_wesley

► "Wesley Jefferson, original Mississippi Bluesman", documentary shot for the Japanese TV NHK in 2005  (20mn ) : https://youtu.be/WGhMDxMgW7E

► With the Wesley Jefferson Southern Soul Band & Mississippi Adam Riggle : https://youtu.be/E0FpHo_ljrM

Terry "Big T" Williams 
► Biography : https://arts.ms.gov/folklife/artist.php?dirname=williams_terry

► Talking about the blues at the Crossroads Cultural Arts Center : https://youtu.be/HpH_2cxP5M8

► At the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale, talking of  some of his mentors :
→ Sam Carr : https://youtu.be/Js-voZgvTlw
→ Frank Frost and the Jelly Roll Kings : https://youtu.be/JOOSWVP9s1k
→ Big Jack Johnson and the Jelly Roll Kings : https://youtu.be/8m-6InQ8-g8
► "CC Rider" : https://youtu.be/ROXw4xscTLQ
► "Catfish Blues" : https://youtu.be/BucoxsCGm38

► "I'll Play the Blues for You" at the Hayward/Russell City Blues Festival in 2008 : https://youtu.be/_LOJXk-duQM, and also : https://youtu.be/C0wNYwddK94
► At the Red's Blues Lounge in Clarksdale : https://youtu.be/SidoSoyryZs
► At the Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale : https://youtu.be/vFDouhonlhU?list=PLzuBC-Cz3YT1WyBB-ayL90tcnn5EtvPed
► At the Po Monkey's juke joint in Merigold (Mississippi) in 2013 : https://youtu.be/kzs64nLbXG4
► In Memphis in 2019 : https://youtu.be/vMMHpOo-ulk
► "Big Boss Man" with Arthneice "Gas Man" Jones at the Sunflower River Blues Festival in Clarksdale in 2011 : https://youtu.be/5jSDOPFVnkY

Lee Williams
► The drummer taks about Johnnie Billington : https://youtu.be/GcxOMR6anUs

________________________

The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band - Peyton On Patton (2011)

> The album

A big damn tribute to Charley Patton

Hey there ! Wanna have a half hour of musical jubilation ? Listen to this big damn homage album from Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band then !
Real name : Josh Peyton. Birth date : April 1981. Birth place : Eagletown, Indiana. The Rev is a big damn heavy bearded man built like a big damn lumberjack and equipped with such a big damn powerful baritone voice that it would frighten a bear. In fact, he is a big damn bear himself ! He's chopping hard on his steel slide guitar, helped by his washboard scratcher wife Breezy (they're married since 2003) and by the bare-hand barrel banger 'Cuz' Persinger.

In 2011, the Rev decided to pay his dues to his idol Charley Patton (who was supposedly born exactly 90 years before him in April 1891), one he considers as the true king father of the Delta blues, by recording eleven of his songs. But he does it his way ! You really have to hear it to understand what his way sounds like.
The album tracks were all recorded on the same day in the old way, as it was done in Patton's days, with just one microphone. It even offers three quite different versions of "Some of These Days I'll Be Gone", one of the Rev's favorite Patton's song.

According to the Rev, the initial project was to make an album exclusively composed of different versions of this same song ! Things apparently evolved in a slightly different way. As a tribute to Patton, the first song, "Jesus Is a Dying Bedmaker", was recorded inside the cotton gin of the legendary Dockery Farms plantation, a place often considered as being the birth place of Delta blues, mainly because Patton spent a good part of his life there, where he became the mentor of "Son" House and younger blues musicians like Robert Johnson or Howlin' Wolf, among others.


Let's make it clear : this is a 95% Rev Peyton album. His two accomplices are barely heard in the remote background. The first thing that strikes, as pointed out above, is the Rev's powerful vocal texture and his cockney-like singing that makes Patton's lyrics sometimes difficult to grab at first. The second thing is the old Irish-like folk sound sometimes given by the Rev to some songs, a characteristic that is absent in Patton's original recordings. This is particularly clear in "Some Of These Days I'll Be Gone", "Tom Rushen Blues" or "Some Happy Days". Nothing really surprising though because blues actually finds his roots in different folk styles brought by immigrants from European countries, among which Ireland has contributed with a quite important quota.
▼ The Bear at work.

Nevertheless this modern revisit of Patton, generally in a faster tempo, is a success. It probably led or will still lead many listeners to (re)discover the original work of the great blues pioneer that Charley Patton was.
From the gospel-styled classic "Jesus Is A Dying Bed Maker" to the jubilant version of  "Shake It And Break It", through the great cover of "Mississippi Boweavil Blues" (1) and the three version of "Some Of These Days I'll Be Gone", this throw-back tribute album is a treat for country blues aficionados and blues history fans. ■

  (1) This traditional song is referring to the "boll weevil" (Anthonomus grandis), a beetle infesting cotton plants, that devastated US plantations in the 1920s, severely wrecking the cotton industry and subsequently ruining many sharecroppers and field workers who were forced to move up North to industrial cities like… Chicago where they exported the Delta blues.

The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band's web site : https://www.bigdamnband.com/

Their YT channel : https://www.youtube.com/user/bigdamnbandofficial/featured (with one video not to be missed of Rev. Peyton playing 18 different instruments (!) on the single song  "John Henry" : https://youtu.be/GuuNm7Sb1WQ?list=PLXiQn6lC94c6YOvQrkDitwU5ZsdA8bPAq)

Some 30 live recordings free for download : https://archive.org/details/TheReverendPeytonsBigDamnBand?sort=creatorSorter

From the album "Peyton on Patton"

► At the Dockery Plantation in the Mississippi Delta :
→ "Jesus is a Dying Bed Maker" : https://youtu.be/N0py9GP7HKI
→ "Some Of These Days": https://youtu.be/mbb2ZiFpNP4
→ "Prayer of Death pt 1" : https://youtu.be/a9L8clY_9W8
► A 7-song playlist : https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLC58B0857EDD5B692

→ "Some of These Days I'll Be Gone (Patton version)"
→ "Some of These Days I'll Be Gone (Banjo version)"
→ "Shake It and Break It"
→ "Prayer of Death"
→ "Jesus Is A Dying Bedmaker"
→ "Elder Greene Blues"
→ "Mississippi Boweavil Blues"

Interview

► In "The Vinyl District" : https://www.thevinyldistrict.com/storefront/2014/04/reverend-peyton-tvd-interview/

King size live videos

► Live at Telluride Blues & Brews Festival 2019 (3 videos) : https://www.tellurideblues.com/news/the-reverend-peytons-big-damn-band-live-at-telluride-blues-brews-festival
► Live Steam Concert, May 2020 (1h03) : https://youtu.be/pcVDiV7qr8s
► At Asheville Music Hall 11-17-2017 (1h26) : https://youtu.be/aShG-kZwbww

► At Reggie's Rock Club in Chicago :
→ in 2014 (1h21) : https://youtu.be/ALbm3m8YwAo
→ in 2016 (1h38) : https://youtu.be/xjyq4RYA3Q4
► On New Year's Eve 2017 at The Bluebird (1h32) : https://youtu.be/WvO6bL5gqPo

► At Knuckleheads Saloon in Kansas City, Missouri :
→ in 2008 where a train came by to blow it's whistle during the encore of "That Train Song", (1h22) : https://youtu.be/1Z9JsYel2w0
→ in 2009 with the original drummer, Rev's brother Jayme Peyton, (1h38) : https://youtu.be/SuUTsz0qeBI
→ in 2010 with "Cuz" Persinger on drums(1h24) : https://youtu.be/ZFoA8j37AQs
→ in 2015 (1h26) : https://youtu.be/zZtwtDQhDZg

► At Butler Arts Fest in 2015 (1h34) : https://youtu.be/FTbobxsc6OA
► At Fitzgerald's American Music Festival in Berwyn, Illinois, on July 3, 2017 (1h30) : https://youtu.be/1I8EnQETGl0
► At the Cubby Bear in Chicago on April 6, 2013 (encore with special guest Jimbo Mathus) (1h26) : https://youtu.be/YA3xzeD8s_Q

Charley Patton and the Dockery plantation

The 25,600-acre (104 km2) cotton plantation Dockery Farms, between Cleveland and Ruleville, in the Mississippi Delta, was established in 1895 by Will Dockery. Its good reputation for treating his workers and sharecroppers fairly attracted workers from throughout the South. Some became settled sharecroppers working a portion of the land in return for a share of the crop, while others were itinerant workers.

▼ Around 1950.

Around 1900, there lived and worked about 2000 people, including blues musicians. In addition to its railroad terminal, Dockery Farms had its own money coins, its general store, post-office, school, doctor and churches. The workers’ quarters included boardinghouses, where they lived, socialized and played music, particularly guitar, which had been introduced to the area by Mexican workers in the 1890s.
Dockery Farms is widely regarded as the place where Delta blues music was born because musicians resident at Dockery included Charley Patton, Robert Johnson or Howlin' Wolf…

Charley Patton and his family are believed to have moved around 1900 to the Dockery Plantation, where he came under the influence of an older musician, Henry Sloan. In turn, Patton became the central figure of a group of blues musicians including Willie Brown, Tommy Johnson and Eddie "Son" House, who played around the local area.  The plantation became known as a informal musical center. By the mid-1920s, the group widened to include a younger generation of musicians, including Robert Johnson, Chester "Howlin’ Wolf" Burnett, Roebuck "Pops" Staples or David "Honeyboy" Edwards. Some of these were itinerant workers, while others lived more permanently on the farms. (borrowed from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dockery_Plantation). ■

►A discovery of Dockery Farms (texe & pics) : https://misspreservation.com/2012/08/14/101-places-dockery-farms-plantation/
► "Talkin' Patton", a 24-mn documentary : https://youtu.be/p9T_dxiTD24
► Another documentary on Patton : https://youtu.be/WDoeswakLw4

► A Tour of Dockery Farms with B.B. King : https://youtu.be/OBRoodYw71I
► Dockery Farms Home of Charlie Patton : https://youtu.be/spC3KsAj-vw
► "Spoonful Blues" (1929) : https://youtu.be/EyIquE0izAg

 😉 The "real" Reverend Peyton,
 of the Scottsville Presbyterian Church, Virginia, around 1855.
▼ Same thick beard but different man...▼

_________________________________

Mr Tchang Bluz Explosion - Time To Move (2021)

> The album

The Jackie Chan of the six-string

Samuel Audrix (surely a Gallic fellow of mine 😉) aka Mr Tchang, and his gang of merry Frenchies, sorry, there's a Spaniard guest in the lot, have put out a nice surprise, not in Canada Dry style (you know, "It looks like alcohol, it has the color of alcohol but it's not alcohol… it's Canada Dry !") because it looks like blues, it sounds like blues, and it is blues. Chicago blues, Memphis blues, Texas blues, Louisiana blues, Mississippi blues… Whatever you want, you get it ! Soul blues, rocking blues, funky blues, rhythm and blues, even a soul ballad like "I Gotta Woman"… Whatever you want, you get it !

These dudes from South Western France have not much more to learn from their models from Chicago, Texas or Mississippi, they master all facets of blues. They are all so far beyond the technical apprenticeship of their instrument that they're able to play what they want. The difference comes from their mastering of something that can't be taught : the feeling, the soul, and a sense of putting out the right sound and note at the right moment.
From his producer seat, Arnaud Fradin, leader of The Roots Combo, who is also on rhythm guitar here, has done a really neat job, managing an excellent sound mix that positively underlines the qualities of each band member.

The band is perfect  : the pair Esclier-Delmas secure a steel solid rhythm section; Sylvain Tejerizo on sax gives an extra soul dimension, when not getting up front in a funky-jazzy style on "Eddie C. N' Jody" for example; and their Catalan guest Victor Puertas brings in the tasteful rich color of his Hammond B3 organ and other keyboards, not forgetting his harmonica.
But the main attraction is of course the boss, 'Mr Tchang' himself. A veteran of the French blues scene, where he's humorously nicknamed the "Six-string's Jackie Chan" or "Riff's Yakuza", he delivers a hot guitar blues style, with a special liking for wah-wah effects (he is undoubtedly a fan of Hendrix), along with his great vocal texture perfectly fit for singing the blues.

Personally, I'll point out "Ain't Superstitious" for its nice intro and organ work ; "Louis", a nice example of Chicago blues sound ; "The Darkness Of Your Love" for its melodic wah-wah guitar part ; "Mississippi Party", a tribute to Delta and Hill Country bluesmen ; "My Woman" with its vibrating guitar and top-notch B3; "Oh, My Love" for its cool swinging style ; "Eddie C. N' Jody" for its New Orleans beat and sax drive. Which doesn't mean that the other tracks belong to the dust bin. Oh, by no mean no !
One regret still : why not trying a few songs (just one or two !) in French just to see what it would sound like… Anyway, I'll make mine the appreciation of Blue Dragon's talented co-manager Lou Cypher in his presentation of the album : "[…] just 2 words: trust me. And I betcha, you won't regret it !"

Videos

► Mr Tchang Bluz Explosion YT Channel : https://www.youtube.com/c/Frenchbluesexplosion
► Plenty of videos on the YT fan channel "fandemistertchang" : https://www.youtube.com/user/fandemistertchang/videos
► "Mississippi Party", album recording : https://youtu.be/UP-QokeSrA4
► Mister Tchang Blues Trio at the Maison du Blues in Châtres-sur-Cher (France) in 2021 : https://youtu.be/mwbsGbe9J1k & https://youtu.be/apXY2hr1Rok
► "Don't worry" live  in 2021 : https://youtu.be/6_bnQC_XP-M

► Mister Tchang's "Jam Blues au Garage", at home in France during the Covid 2020 confinement (76mn) : https://youtu.be/pOqQkDDHNlw
► Mississippi Delta born Peaches Staten & Blues Explosion (featuring Mr Tchang & Víctor Puertas) in Burlada (Spain) in 2019 : https://youtu.be/2fX-DznJ_4s
► In Holland in 2018 : https://youtu.be/IsDF3FOZ_nU

► Short interview of Mr Tchang and show with his band The Easy Money at The Plus-Que-Parfait blues bar in Bergerac (France) in 2014 (1h57) : https://youtu.be/D2H97Omi7hQ or https://youtu.be/HrW9T9XQIh0
► "Once and for all" by Mister Tchang & the French Blues Explosion in 2012 : https://youtu.be/jAWKYeFgm1U
► Mr Tchang & The Texas Sluts in Léognan (France) in 2008 (50mn) : https://youtu.be/7HXRXxM1h8c

Mr Tchang web site (with videos too) : https://mistertchang.com/

VA - Fat Possum-Not The Same Old Blues Crap, 1 & 2 (1997 & 2001)

> Volume 1 / > Volume 2

 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.

T Model Ford
► 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
► 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
► 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

Robert Belfour
► 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

Paul 'Wine' Jones
► Live : https://youtu.be/x7_BtZHWXbA (46mn) and https://youtu.be/ktRijX4vMeo (52mn)
► At the WECC 2001 (76mn) : https://youtu.be/vKRK8WRCBZU

King Ernest
► 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

James 'Super Chikan' Johnson
► 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

Asie Payton (audio only)
→ 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)

_____________________________

Spearman Brewers - Won't You Come Go With Me (2013)

►The album

Won't you go for another beer ?

En route for a journey through the past with this all-acoustic multi-instrumentalist duo that throws us back to early twentieth century beer joints music ! They baptized themselves with the odd name of Spearman Brewers, a name that calls for familiar memories in their area though : until it closed down in 1964, the Spearman Brewing Company, was a famous beer maker set in Pensacola (nothing to do with coca or pepsi !), on the gulf coast of western Florida, close to the Alabama state line. A region known as the Florida Panhandle that hasn't much to do with the usual coconut trees and translucent waters image of Miami beaches, the Florida Keys and the Caribbean sea, and rather announces the wet lands and bayous of the coast of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.

The Spearman Brewers ― Scott Riggs and Jeremy Holcombe ― play, as they call it, "undistilled Panhandle Blues", a "new old stuff" blending different styles.  According to Scott Riggs, interviewed just before the 2018 International Blues Challenge, "Panhandle Blues is a gumbo of sorts. Having listened to a bunch of Piedmont, Delta and Country Blues, it seemed natural to mix them together. Throw in some traditional jazz, gospel, cajun, hokum and jug band and you’ve got what we call Panhandle Blues."

This first album, released in 2013 (they had five out since), might sound like a booze drinking music affair with songs like "Bottle Of Red" or "Get Your Liquor On", or like a sex matter one with songs like "Pay For The Pleasure" or "That Jelly Won't Roll No More", but it's more than that, most of all a modern tribute to old-time American southern popular music and its rich history. "If these guys were anymore "rootsy", you could cultivate them !", wrote a musical writer.

Grand brew-master Scott Riggs plays slide guitar (regular or resonator), mandolin and ukulele, and sings with a nasal voice while Jeremy Holcombe's upright bass is keeping the beat unperturbed, and his interventions on baritone or soprano ukulele underline the original oldie sound of the songs. The music gently swings from track to track while the lyrics seem to be rolling around Riggs tongue like a gum before being uttered, and the mandolin and ukuleles add to this "unfiltered" music a special flavor, not so often found in blues.
An album to listen while savoring with a bottle of cold beer indeed...

 The Spearman Brewing Company (1934-1964) 
→ https://www.pensapedia.com/wiki/Spearman_Brewing_Company
→ https://www.uniquehistoryofpensacola.com/post/pensacola-s-spearman-s-brewery-1935

Spearman Brewers on the Web
→ http://spearmanbrewers.com/index.html
→ https://www.facebook.com/SpearmanBrewers

Interview
► Scott Riggs in 2018  on the 850 ME site : https://wp.me/p1hzLt-1b0

Videos

► Spearman Brewers Panhandle Thursdays : https://www.youtube.com/user/YouRiggs/featured
► At Straight 8 Half Hour Happy Hour, in 2016 : https://youtu.be/dEhYw0fUXLI 

Setlist (35mn) : Straight 8 Stomp Intro, Knock 'Em Back, Get Your Liquor On, The Bottle Is My Home, The Street Where You Got Your Feet, Come What May,  Leave Your Lamplight On, No Matter What She Charges, Straight 8 Stomp Outro.
► Scott Riggs on mandolin on Bukka White's "Black Train Blues" : https://youtu.be/BtoEON1pzfk
► Live at Two Wheelers in Pensacola, in July 2013 :
→ "That Jelly Won't Roll No More" : https://youtu.be/0ELtTZwLTiw
→ Cab Calloway's "Minnie The Moocher" : https://youtu.be/R-h50hN1p-E
→ "Nothing Shakin' In This Town" : https://youtu.be/ofyd_W9ojk0 

►"Nothing To It But To Do It" in New World Landing, in 2016 : https://youtu.be/zWwGEx9BE-M
► Rising Tide" at the Imogene Theatre, in 2016 (featuring dobro and baritone ukulele) : https://youtu.be/KjQvcjbIOKk
► At the Stage Northside, in 2016 :
→ "Nothing To It But To Do It" : https://youtu.be/MpngEYmM7G4
→ "Close Down The Liquor Store" : https://youtu.be/Y1_Q4gHWo-E
► "Knock 'Em Back" live at the 2016 Pensacola Beach Songwriters Festival : https://youtu.be/lmTHJlzgAA8
► At Music Helps Concert : https://youtu.be/pSx97KN5EH0
► At the Daytona Blues Fest in 2017 : https://youtu.be/dqC_Ns-k78Q
► "Don’t mind if I do" at Shred In The Shed in Pensacola, in 2019 : https://youtu.be/BB5o0gIywG8

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