Fooled Around & Fell In Love
Booty Bumpin’ (Blind Pig), by legendary good-time guitarist Elvin Bishop, is a CD you will listen to again and again. Bishop and his six-piece band were captured live December 3rd, 2006 at Constable Jack’s in California, and he is still the real deal after all these years. His authentic, rootsy approach to the blues was nurtured in Chicago clubs throughout the ’60s where he learned first hand from masters like Muddy Waters, Junior Wells, J.T. Brown, and others. Bishop is his own man, but Booty Bumpin’ recalls the heyday of Chicago blues as played by his ex-bandmates in The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, with its rompin’ high-energy approach and deep-blues feeling.
Bishop gets down to business from the get go on the raucous instrumental “Stomp.” Driven by a thundering drumbeat, he gets swampy with some wild slide playing and a hint of accordion accompaniment. This is a dance-’til-you-drop number, but you’ll want to do some listening, too. He reprises his ’70s hit “Stealin’ Watermelons” complete with bursts of trombone and funky clavinet. Bishop jokes about how old the song is, reassuring the audience this newer version will be a great replacement for any worn-out copies they might have on 8-track. The title track is an uptempo instrumental that recalls Waters’ “Mojo” with a Pinetop Perkins-inspired solo by pianist Steve Willis. Bishop’s original, “Belly Rubbin,'” is a slow and sexy guitar-driven jam, in the best Freddie King tradition. Bishop goes down South on covers that include Roy Milton’s “Keep A Dollar In Your Pocket,” Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown’s “I Feel Alright Again,” and the closer, Allen Toussaint’s “I’m Gone.”
Booty Bumpin’ is Bishop’s second Blind Pig release. It is lighter in tone than Gettin’ My Groove Back, in which Bishop sought to exorcise personal grief amid a party atmosphere. Booty Bumpin’ signals a return to the party. It’s a sometimes raw, mostly high-energy concoction of Chicago blues, Crescent City R&B, Southern rock, jazz, and Cajun, and it sizzles from beginning to end.
NEW RELEASES: Long Time Coming is the latest release by legendary R&B vocalist Nappy Brown. Brown’s long and checkered career began in the ’50s. Hailing from a sanctified household, he originally sang gospel before switching to R&B in the mid ’50s. Tapped to record for Savoy Records, he went from singing “Jesus Said It” to “Lemon Squeezin’ Daddy” in the course of one recording session.
Long Time Coming finds Nappy in truly fine form. His idiosyncratic vocals are intact on his late-’50s hit “That Man,” and he can still shout the blues on the Ray Charles classic, “Night Time.” He reprises his gospel background on “Take Care Of Me” and gets down with the blues on “Every Shut Eye Ain’t Sleepin’.” Guest artists include Blind Pig labelmate and harpist John Nemeth, pianist Henry Gray, guitarists Sean Costello, Kid Ramos, Bob Margolin, and Junior Watson, and organist Jim Pugh. Nice to have Brown back in the studio, but there is nothing really new here, and nothing that compares to his classic Savoy sides . . . If you like Jimi Hendrix and you like Popa Chubby, then you might like Popa Chubby playing Jimi Hendrix. Electric Chubbyland (Blind Pig) comes in two volumes, sold separately. Volume 1 contains “Foxy Lady” [sic], “Red House,” “Purple Haze,” and “Manic Depression,” among others. Volume 2 finds Chubby mimicking the great one on “Little Wing,” “Bold As Love,” “Voodoo Chile,” “Fire,” and more. I’m all for an homage to Hendrix, but this seems a little over the top.
REISSUES: Stevie Ray Vaughan And Double Trouble: Pride And Joy (Epic) is the complete MTV recordings of the late blues/rock icon. I saw Vaughan perform at the 1985 Chicago Blues Festival (I stayed until the drunken barroom-type brawl broke out at the Petrillo) and heard him jam with Albert Collins and Jeff Healey at Toronto’s Albert’s Hall in the mid ’80s. Vaughan showed up to sit in with Collins and Healey, and all hell broke loose. You couldn’t get anywhere near the club, so I stayed downstairs in the big Canadian beer hall that was the Brunswick House, listening grumpily.
Pride And Joy was originally released on VHS in 1990. Epic/Legacy has re-released it on DVD, adding extra numbers including a promo clip of “Little Wing” from 1985, three MTV “Unplugged” numbers (“Rude Mood,” “Pride And Joy,” and “Testify”), TV commercials for Couldn’t Stand The Weather and Soul To Soul, videos of the Vaughan Brothers doing “Tick Tock” and “Good Texan” from Family Style, and finally, an interview with Stevie and Jimmie. Fans should delight in the new material, especially the “Tick Tock” video . . . The Essential Magic Slim (Blind Pig) comprises 15 songs culled from Slim’s six Blind Pig releases. Slim’s unique electrified Delta-guitar style has remained consistent through the years despite changes in band personnel. Standout tracks include a loping version of “How Many More Years,” from Blue Magic, featuring Popa Chubby on background vocals, “Playin’ With My Mind,” from Black Tornado, and “Down In Virginia,” from Scufflin‘. Curiously, the Pig folk chose only one track from Gravel Road, Slim’s first CD, and one from Anything Can Happen, his latest.
JOHNNIE MAE DUNSON: Singer-songwriter Johnnie Mae Dunson passed away October 4th at the age of 86. Ms. Dunson got her start singing and playing drums on Maxwell Street in the early ’40s. She wrote several songs for Jimmy Reed and collaborated with Muddy Waters on “Evil.” Her first solo album was released in 2000, and she became known to a wider audience, making annual appearances at the Chicago Blues Festival. With her raw delivery and tough-as-nails lyrics, Dunson was, as her son says, “one tough cookie.”
– Beverly Zeldin-Palmer
Category: Columns, Monthly, Sweet Home
