Showing posts with label Hop Wilson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hop Wilson. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Various - Goin' Down To Louisiana

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 74:06
Size: 169.7 MB
Styles: Louisiana blues
Year: 2012
Art: Front

[2:47] 1. Juke Boy Bonner - Can't Hardly Keep From Crying
[2:31] 2. Juke Boy Bonner - I'm Not Jiving
[2:32] 3. Juke Boy Bonner - My Time To Go
[2:43] 4. Juke Boy Bonner - Life Is A Dirty Deal
[2:26] 5. Juke Boy Bonner - Let's Boogie
[2:38] 6. Juke Boy Bonner - Just Got To Take A Ride
[2:11] 7. Juke Boy Bonner - Going Crazy About You
[2:44] 8. Juke Boy Bonner - Blue River Rising
[2:35] 9. Ashton Savoy - Need Shorter Hours
[2:31] 10. Ashton Savoy - Want To Talk To You Baby
[2:37] 11. Ashton Savoy - Tell Me Baby
[2:06] 12. Al Smith - I Love Her So
[2:53] 13. Al Smith - Nothing Can Keep My Love From You
[2:30] 14. Al Smith - Wanna Do Me Wrong
[2:22] 15. Al Smith - Burning Sensation
[2:28] 16. Al Smith - Down, Down
[2:44] 17. Tal Miller - Life's Journey
[2:54] 18. Tal Miller - Mean Old Kokamoo
[2:07] 19. Hop Wilson - That Wouldn't Satisfy
[2:18] 20. Hop Wilson - Chicken Stuff
[2:00] 21. Big Chenier - The Dog And His Puppies
[1:33] 22. Big Chenier - Going To The City
[1:59] 23. Big Chenier - Let Me Hold Your Hand
[2:35] 24. Big Chenier - Please Try To Realize
[2:34] 25. Big Chenier - I Wanna Know, I Know Now
[2:14] 26. Big Chenier - Come On Little Girl
[2:22] 27. Juke Boy Bonner - Call Me Juke Boy
[2:34] 28. Juke Boy Bonner - True Love Waiting
[3:15] 29. Tal Miller - B-A-B-Y
[2:06] 30. Ashton Savoy - Rooster Strut

I'm goin' down in Louisiana, baby, behind the sun. So Muddy Waters would sing in his well-loved 'Louisiana Blues'. Muddy may have been looking for mojo hands in New Orleans, but he would have been totally unaware of Goldband Records in the neighbouring port of Lake Charles. By the turn of the 1960s, Eddie Shuler's tiny label was recording all kinds of local music, including some of the most authentic downhome blues anywhere. Many pioneering blues record buyers first became aware of the Goldband brand of blues in 1965 when Storyville Records of Copenhagen released the LP The Louisiana Blues in its Bluesscene USA series. The album was compiled by the late Mike Leadbitter, the founding editor of Blues Unlimited and the visionary researcher of Louisiana music (and much else). This CD is dedicated to him.

The first side of the Storyville compilation was devoted entirely to Juke Boy Bonner, a one-man-trio (harmonica, guitar and drum). Until then he had just one Goldband 45 rpm release, Call Me Juke Boy / Can't Hardly Keep From Crying, and that was almost impossible to find. Juke Boy was an intense bluesman who wrote deeply personal lyrics. Four of his sides are enhanced by the delicious piano accompaniment of Katie Webster. Katie also graced the gorgeous Ashton Savoy session along with a moonlighting Lazy Lester on harmonica. Savoy's vocal tracks are so good you could almost believe, in a whimsical moment, that they were recorded by Eddie Shuler's arch-rival Jay Miller. At the time, of course, Miller was producing quality Louisiana blues masters for the Excello label with his star acts Slim Harpo, Lightnin' Slim and Lazy Lester. The LP also featured two tracks by Big Chenier (Clifton's uncle), included here: The Dog And His Puppies and Going To The City. And so Goin' Down To Louisiana spotlights all the key tracks from the Storyville LP, but that's not all. During our tape archive excavations we've turned up a whole session by Port Arthur, Texas, harmonica bluesman Al Smith - who was clearly influenced by Slim Harpo. Then there's a previously unissued cut by Big Chenier, a rare fiddle outing this-.-and an obscure LP version of Chicken Stuff by steel guitar ace Hop Wilson. This generous 30-track collection is rounded off by original 45 releases from pianist Tal Miller, Big Chenier and Hop Wilson. Goldband Records expert (and my co-compiler) Dave Sax has contributed a note based on a new interview with Eddie Shuler, together with a discographical listing.

If you listen to the old Storyville LP today, you will notice the low-fi sound - due in part to too many tracks being squeezed onto the album. Now you can hear these tracks in the best possible sound, although with Goldband it will never be the hi-est of fi (which is part of the label's enduring charm). As a sidebar, Storyville's Karl Emil Knudsen assisted greatly with this project by supplying the LP tapes that were no longer in the Goldband vaults. Muddy Waters would have been impressed at all these goings on behind the sun, deep down in Louisiana. ~John Broven

Goin' Down To Louisiana mc
Goin' Down To Louisiana zippy

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Hop Wilson - Houston Ghetto Blues

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 48:57
Size: 112.1 MB
Styles: Texas blues
Year: 1993/2011
Art: Front

[2:20] 1. My Woman Has A Black Cat Bone (Take 2)
[3:45] 2. I'm A Stranger
[2:40] 3. Dance To It (Chicken Stuff #2)
[3:05] 4. I Ain't Got No Woman
[2:09] 5. You Don't Move Me Anymore
[2:00] 6. Rockin' In The Coconuts
[3:16] 7. Need Your Love To Keep Me Warm
[2:22] 8. My Woman Has A Black Cat Bone (Take 1)
[3:09] 9. Merry Christmas Darling (Take 1)
[2:44] 10. I Done Got Over
[2:37] 11. Be Careful With The Blues
[3:17] 12. Merry Christmas Darling (Take 2)
[2:22] 13. A Good Woman Is Hard To Find
[2:50] 14. I Feel So Glad
[2:39] 15. Why Do You Twist
[2:41] 16. I Met A Strange Woman
[2:38] 17. Toot Toot Tootsie
[2:11] 18. My Woman Done Quit Me

With the current trend for "sacred steel," it's interesting to hear steel guitar from the "other side of the tracks." Hop Wilson apparently didn't like touring, and spent most of his musical career playing in Houston, Texas. The recordings featured here are pretty much his entire output. But what an output it is. Hop's lap steel guitar playing is by turns wildly demented and plangently sweet, sometimes within the same phrase. The lap steel adds a different tonal color to the proceedings, and Wilson has a terrific singing voice, perfect for blues, with a mournful edge even on the faster numbers. Drummer Ivory Lee Semien and an unknown vocalist take the mike on two other numbers, but I prefer Wilson's own singing, though they do a fine job.

The "recorded in a bar at midnight" ambience, combined with the occasional amp crackle and buzz, gives you that feeling of presence lost on many modern sanitized blues recordings. The band is loose but tight, and you get the feeling they are into what they're playing and know the material well.

Professional blues critics have compared Hop Wilson to Elmore James, but I frankly don't hear it except on "Be Careful With The Blues," where Wilson lifts the "Dust My Broom" riff and makes it his own in an instrumental. Wilson is less frenetic than James, and throws a lot more variety into his music. As much as I love Elmore James, a lot of his material relied on that "Dust My Broom" riff and stayed in the same key. Wilson has no such limitations. Overall this is a great, downhome, funky recording of a little-known and underappreciated bluesman. I would recommend it highly to anyone who appreciates the real live blues. ~happydogpotatohead/amazon

Houston Ghetto Blues mc
Houston Ghetto Blues zippy