Last Chance Jug Band - Shake That Thing!

Size: 114,4 MB
Time: 48:04
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 1997
Styles: Acoustic Blues, Blues Folk
Art: Full

01. Shake That Thing! (2:35)
02. Last Chance Blues (3:15)
03. Kansas City Blues (4:42)
04. Write Me A Few Lines (3:58)
05. Who Pumped The Wind In My Doughnut? (2:40)
06. King And Queen Blues (4:26)
07. Let Me Squeeze Your Lemon (4:46)
08. Beale Street Dandy (3:12)
09. Mississippi River Blues (3:02)
10. Poor Boy Long Way From Home (2:45)
11. Mister Crump (5:02)
12. The Judge He Pleaded (Viola Lee Blues) (4:16)
13. Time Is Winding Up (3:19)

Assembled to update the sound of the old Memphis jug bands of the 1920s and 1930s, the Last Chance Jug Band is led by David Evans, a scholar, field researcher, and director of the ethnomusicology department at the University of Memphis. This isn't an academic project in re-creating times past, though, but a real attempt to translate the sound of the old jug bands into a contemporary setting, which means, in a word, drums. So Shake That Thing rocks out with a wonderfully ragged and loose sound complete with jugs, washboards, and kazoos, all centered 'round Evans' slightly shaky (but very effective) high vocals. The end result is a Memphis street-corner party disc that is unbelievably fun. Highlights include "Last Chance Blues," the loopy "Who Pumped the Wind in My Doughnut," "Mississippi River Blues," and a solid cover of "Viola Lee Blues," here entitled "The Judge He Pleaded." ~Steve Leggett

Shake That Thing!

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David Evans - Match Box Blues

Size: 114,7 MB
Time: 49:03
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2002
Styles: Acoustic Blues, Blues Folk
Art: Full

01. One Dime Blues (3:05)
02. Aunt Caroline Dye Blues (4:34)
03. Shake 'em On Down (3:48)
04. Match Box Blues (3:11)
05. Candy Man (2:47)
06. Mellow Peaches (Peach Tree Blues) (3:14)
07. Railroad Blues (3:24)
08. State Of Arkansas Blues (2:52)
09. Prison Bound Blues (4:10)
10. Skinny Woman (Gravel Road Woman) (2:53)
11. Keep On Grumling (3:44)
12. See See Rider (3:58)
13. Big Road Blues (3:48)
14. One Kind Favor (3:29)

A scholar, field researcher, and director of the ethnomusicology program at the University of Memphis since 1978, David Evans isn't your typical blues man. But don't worry, he doesn't let his academic pedigree prevent him from having a whole lot of fun with this ragtag set of folk-blues pieces, and the result is a delightful and lively reimagining of some country blues classics, complete with kazoos, jugs, and washboards as well as guitars and pianos. Evans doesn't attempt to copy the original versions on any of these songs so much as he tries to reanimate them, and his versions of Booker White's "Shake 'Em on Down," Leroy Carr's "Prison Bound Blues," Babe Stovall's "Candy Man," and Tommy Johnson's "Big Road Blues" are all revelations, reminding you that the worst thing that can happen to any of these songs is that they become set in stone. ~Steve Leggett

Match Box Blues

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David Evans - Lonesome Midnight Dream

Size: 113,8 MB
Time: 48:40
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2018
Styles: Acoustic Blues
Art: Front & Back

01. Lonesome Midnight Dream (4:41)
02. Don't Leave Me Here (3:08)
03. Going Up The Country (4:55)
04. Sliding Delta (3:44)
05. Walking Blues (3:39)
06. Nobody's Business (4:44)
07. Louis Collins (3:24)
08. Bye And Bye Blues (2:56)
09. When I Lay My Burden Down (2:54)
10. Waiting For A Train (3:24)
11. Lake Michigan Blues (2:33)
12. The Devil (5:06)
13. River Of Jordan (3:26)

Involved in the blues since more than half a century, Grammy award winner and now his first studio album since 11 years! Evans is a master of traditional blues, authentic and an elixir for body and soul!

Lonesome Midnight Dream

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David Evans - Needy Time

Size: 119,8 MB
Time: 50:57
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2007
Styles: Acoustic/Electric Blues
Art: Front

01. Bring The Boys Back Home (3:31)
02. Now Is A Needy Time (3:56)
03. Highway 51 (3:14)
04. Adam And Eve In The Garden Of Eden (3:32)
05. Old Millington Winery Blues (3:58)
06. God Rode In The Windstorm (3:49)
07. Brownsville Blues (3:59)
08. Tappin' That Thing (3:02)
09. Bottle Up And Go (3:36)
10. On The Road Again (3:12)
11. Baby, Please Don't Go (2:59)
12. Loving Blues (3:44)
13. Who's That Yonder (4:23)
14. Wartime Blues (3:55)

Call him a scholar, educator, performer, singer, guitarist. David Evans is all of these and, above all else, a preservationist revered for his knowledge of the blues and a commitment to its survival. He has worked preserving the blues for the last forty-five years. He received a Grammy for best album notes for Screamin' and Hollerin' the Blues: The Worlds of Charley Patton (Snapper, 2003).

Evans was a musical partner with iconic guitarist/vocalist Alan Wilson, before the formation of Canned Heat in the 1960s. When Wilson was propelled into international stardom, Evans pursued a highly celebrated academic musical path.

His own career is matched only by what he has contributed to the careers of others. He has performed with artists including Son House, Skip James, Robert Pete Williams and R. L. Burnside and recorded with artists including The Fieldstones, Jessie Mae Hemphill, Johnny Shines and Robert Belfour. For more than a decade, Evans has been affiliated with the Memphis indie label Inside Sounds, releasing Shake That Thing! (1996), with The Last Chance Jug Band, and his solo debut, Match Box Blues (2002).

Needy Time is a fourteen-track compilation that includes songs recorded with Wilson—"Baby Please Don't Go" (1964) and "Loving Blues" (1967); "Bottle Up And Go," from a 1979 home recording session with Hammie Nixon; and three tracks recorded in France in 2006. Amongst the balance of the tunes (recorded in 2007), The Last Chance Jug Band accompanies him on "Adam and Even in the Garden Of Eden, " "Old Millington Winery Blues and "Tappin' That Thing, while "Now Is The Needy Time and "God Rode In The Windstorm feature legendary gospel group The Spirit of Memphis Quartet, adding another dynamic element to this stellar collection of traditional-sounding songs.

While there is strength in the covers, he performs them "in-the-style-of," rather than recreating them note-for-note, word-for-word, at a level demonstrating his reverence for the originals, while contributing his own voice and stylistic musical spin. The self-penned "Bring the Boys Back Home, is a detailed recounting and political statement about the Iraq war, while "God Rode In The Windstorm is an event song based on Hurricane Katrina, performed in a traditional gospel style.

With superlative vocals and guitar playing throughout, traditionalists will find Needy Time a fine introduction to Evans' glowing body of work. ~by David King

Personnel: David Evans: vocals and guitars, kazoo (4, 5, 8); Richard Graham: tambourine (1, 6, 8), padiero and shaker (4), washboard and jug (4, 8), special effects (8); Spirit of Memphis Quartet: Melvin Mosley: vocals, Willie Wilson: vocals, Jimmie Allen: vocals, Jesse Allen: vocals; Reverend Percy Cole: vocals, guitar; Brown Berry: bass; Jimmie Allen Jr.: drums (2, 6); Little Victor: harmonica (3, 7), guitar (13), bass drums (7, 13), hi-hat (7); Clint Wagner: violin (4), mandolin (5 ), banjo (8); Elmo Lee Thomas: harmonica (4, 5, 8), vocals and jug (5); Dick Rachelson: keyboards (4, 8); Keith Padgett: vocals, washboard, tambourine (5); Hammie Nixon: vocals, jug, kazoo (9); John Hunnien: guitar (9); Billy Gibson: harmonica (10); Terry Safford: drums (10); Eddie Dottel: percussion (10); Alan Wilson: harmonica (11), guitar (12); Lubos Benas: guitar (10).

Needy Time

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