Showing posts with label Junior Kimbrough. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Junior Kimbrough. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 11, 2021

Junior Kimbrough - Introducing Junior Kimbrough

Size: 181.0 MB
Time: 77:56
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2021
Styles: Delta Blues
Art: Front

01. Meet Me In The City (3:12)
02. Done Got Old (2:38)
03. All Night Long (5:53)
04. I Gotta Try You Girl (5:26)
05. Release Me (5:21)
06. You Better Run (7:35)
07. Work Me Baby (4:44)
08. Sad Days, Lonely Nights (4:23)
09. Do The Romp (3:57)
10. I'm Leaving You Baby (3:27)
11. Old Black Mattie (6:39)
12. Most Things Haven't Worked Out (6:06)
13. Tramp (5:40)
14. Crawling King Snake (4:50)
15. I Feel Good Again (Feat. Charlie Feathers) (5:40)
16. Feels So Bad (Previously Unreleased Take) (2:17)

David “Junior” Kimbrough, quite possibly the most important blues guitarist of the second half of the 20th century, redefined blues. Junior’s approach to music is so hugely different from anything that came before him that he ranks among the three greatest bluesmen of all: Son House, Bukka White, and Fred McDowell. An originator, Junior did more than build on certain tradition or perfect a certain style. Junior re-imagined the blues; he made a sound for himself.

If Junior’s sister had been any kind of baby-sitter he might not have picked up the guitar. When Junior was too small to help his father work the fields his eldest sister stayed home with him. She was supposedly watching him the day he took his father’s guitar “off the high shelf,” where his father kept everything he didn’t want his children fooling with. It became routine: when his father left for the fields, Junior carefully took down the guitar. He learned fast and well, well enough to teach a local white boy, Charlie Feathers, how to play.

Junior was six years old, and his sister was doing her usual bang-up job of babysitting the day he took a gallon jug of corn off the high shelf. His mother found him in an alcohol-induced coma; she thought Junior was dead. Junior’s father recognized the problem and knew the solution: his daughter needed a whipping and Junior belonged in the field. After two years of high school Junior was lured into Holly Springs by a job at the John Deere dealership.

Junior couldn’t remember the exact date he deliberately set out to create music but knew the reasons. He was still a young man and had gone as far as he could go at John Deere. If Junior was gonna make his mark in the world, he’d have to do it with a guitar. Up until then he’d been playing the same country blues standards, as well as the contemporary hits of Little Milton and Albert King, in the same jukes and clubs that his long-time friend and rival R.L. Burnside played. And then Junior stopped playing covers and stopped taking requests. Determined not to become just another “entertainer” or “performer,” Junior realized playing covers only helped the composers or the artist who first recorded the song. He wasn’t going to help anybody, ever again. From then on, Junior would only play Junior.

He might’ve been the first person in his family to work off the farm, but Junior never gave up his rural habits like throwing parties every Sunday night with his furniture dragged out in the yard so more people could fit. Before long Junior had to rent a one-bedroom apartment to get a break from the chaos he’d started at home. Junior’s old house became more than a club. It was an entity: it was Junior’s Place–and without help from a sign or telephone locals gathered on Sunday nights to drink and dance. Junior understood music, and had a gift for songwriting, and began developing the music that was first recorded in the mid-’80s for a Memphis State single.

Unfortunately, David “Junior” Kimbrough didn’t release his first album until 1992, when he was 62, but when he finally made his first album, All Night Long (produced by Robert Palmer for Fat Possum Records), the world took notice. Rolling Stone was the first to acknowledge Junior and awarded the album four stars. In addition to giving his music long overdue exposure, All Night Long gave the Fat Possum label hope. Junior, for the most part, was not physically able to tour, now that he finally had the support of a record company. There were notable exceptions: a string of dates with Iggy Pop, and several tours with the Fat Possum Circus (a package deal). But the news traveled– to hear Junior you had to go to Mississippi. Rock bands such as the Rolling Stones, Sonic Youth, and U2 made pilgrimages to Holly Springs to experience his club and hear Junior with his son Kinney Malone on drums and Garry Burnside on bass. Junior went on to record Sad Days, Lonely Nights, Most Things Haven’t Worked Out and the posthumously released God Knows I Tried (all on Fat Possum).

Junior was 67 when died of heart failure on January 17, 1998 at Mildred’s apartment in the Holly Springs public housing project, watching TV on her couch. Mildred Washington, his companion of 30 years, had been taking care of him. Junior Kimbrough still kept a one-room bachelor’s apartment at the time of his death: immaculately clean, with nothing whatsoever on the walls or tables, no pictures, no tour posters, nothing. Junior knew what he had accomplished, and didn’t need any souvenirs. In addition to the 36 children he claimed, Junior put his brand on music.

Introducing Junior Kimbrough MP3
Introducing Junior Kimbrough FLAC

Wednesday, May 22, 2019

Junior Kimbrough - Sad Days, Lonely Nights

Year: 1994
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 65:43
Size: 151,5 MB
Styles: Electric Delta blues, juke joint blues
Scans: Full

1. Sad Days, Lonely Nights (4:22)
2. Lonesome In My Home (4:34)
3. Lord, Have Mercy On Me (9:54)
4. Crawling King Snake (4:50)
5. My Mind Is Rambling (6:21)
6. Leaving In The Morning (7:19)
7. Old Black Mattie (6:40)
8. I'm In Love (5:04)
9. Pull Your Clothes Off (4:28)
10. I'm Gonna Have To Leave Here (6:35)
11. Sad Days, Lonely Nights (5:33)

If All Night Long was a great electric blues portrait, this sophomore release, given more widespread distribution via Fat Possum's deal with Capricorn, is an extension of the portrait, but with a lot more grit and grind thrown in, given a darker, deeper sound by a change in location (still Kimbrough's joint, but a different building). The vocals are further back, buried in the thick, heavy electric mix - some of this music here is Southern electric blues sounding about the way it might when the apocalypse is just around the corner.

Forget the fancy stuff, the polished edges, the studio touches - there are no second takes, no overdubs, no last chances. It's terrifyingly compelling at times. Junior Kimbrough plays the blues with a raw edge, and it's brilliant, dark and mesmerizing - and it's on CD, with nothing buried, nothing hidden, and nothing safe, all the sharp edges intact. /Steven McDonald, AllMusic

(For personnel details, see artwork included.)

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Sad Days, Lonely Nights zippy

Thursday, June 14, 2018

Various - Memphis Rent Party

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 48:36
Size: 111.3 MB
Styles: R&B, Memphis blues, Hill Country blues
Year: 2018
Art: Front

[4:08] 1. Jerry McGill - Desperados Waiting For A Train
[3:55] 2. Luther Dickerson - Chevrolet
[4:18] 3. Junior Kimbrough - All Night Long
[5:05] 4. Furry Lewis - Why Don't You Come Home Blues
[7:11] 5. Calvin Newborn - Frame For The Blues
[3:00] 6. Alex Chilton - Johnny Too Bad
[2:54] 7. Jerry Lee Lewis - Harbor Lights
[4:42] 8. The Fieldstones - Little Bluebird
[2:38] 9. The Panther Burns - Drop Your Mask
[2:02] 10. Mose Vinson - Same Things On My Mind
[2:32] 11. Charlie Feathers - Defrost Your Heart
[6:05] 12. Jim Dickinson - I'd Love To Be A Hippie

The compilation illustrates the eclectic scope of Bluff City music, from Furry Lewis and Junior Kimbrough to Alex Chilton, Jim Dickinson and the Panther Burns. Memphis is about individualism, about distinct characters making “it” different. The best music out of Memphis — be it deep blues, early rocking Elvis, Stax soul, indie 1990s Grifters, or today’s Julien Baker or North Mississippi Allstars — forged its own sound. The Memphis aesthetic is to not sound like hits, but to sound different. Sometimes “different” hits. This soundtrack is a great companion to Memphis Rent Party, the latest book by Robert Gordon,

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Memphis Rent Party zippy

Saturday, May 12, 2018

Junior Kimbrough - You Better Run: The Essential Junior Kimbrough

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 60:52
Size: 139.4 MB
Styles: Hill Country blues
Year: 2002
Art: Front

[5:22] 1. Release Me
[5:53] 2. All Night Long
[3:09] 3. Meet Me In The City
[7:32] 4. You Better Run
[2:36] 5. Done Got Old
[4:20] 6. Sad Days, Lonely Nights
[6:40] 7. Old Black Mattie
[6:04] 8. Most Things Haven't Worked Out
[3:25] 9. I'm Leaving You Baby
[5:14] 10. Keep On Braggin'
[5:37] 11. Tramp
[4:56] 12. Nobody But You (Live)

Gathering the best of his all-too-brief recording career, You Better Run: The Essential Junior Kimbrough includes most of his best-known songs, including "Done Got Old," "Meet Me in the City," "You Better Run," and "All Night Long." The collection does a good job of representing each of Kimbrough's albums, ranging from the rough-and-ready sound of All Night Long; Sad Days, Lonely Nights' dark, swampy feel (exemplified here by the title track and "Old Black Mattie"); the dense sonics of Most Things Haven't Worked Out's title track; and the gritty, uncompromising edge to God Knows I Tried's "Tramp." For anyone unsure where to dive into Kimbrough's catalog, You Better Run offers the ideal starting point. ~Heather Phares

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You Better Run: The Essential Junior Kimbrough zippy

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Junior Kimbrough & The Soul Blues Boys - Do The Rump!

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 50:46
Size: 116.2 MB
Styles: Electric delta blues, Hill Country blues
Year: 1997
Art: Front

[3:27] 1. Keep Your Hands Off Her
[3:27] 2. I Feel Good, Little Girl
[5:06] 3. You Better Run
[4:38] 4. I'm So Glad (Trouble Don't Last Always)
[2:39] 5. Done Got Old
[3:03] 6. Please Don't Leave Me, Baby
[4:12] 7. Come On And Go With Me
[4:24] 8. Do The Rump!
[6:03] 9. I Want To Know What's Wrong With You
[3:38] 10. Nobody But You Baby
[3:25] 11. Too Late Baby
[3:44] 12. My Mama Done Told Me
[2:54] 13. Walk With Me

Tracks 1 & 2 recorded on July 17, 1982 at the University of Memphis Recording Studio, Holly Springs, Mississippi. Tracks 3-13 recorded August 1, 1988 at Rust College Recording Studio, Holly Springs, Mississippi. Tracks 1 & 2 were originally issued as a single on High Water.

Vocals, Guitar – David "Junior" Kimbrough; Drums – Allabu Juju (tracks: 3 to 13), Calvin Jackson (3) (tracks: 1, 2); Bass – Earl "Little Joe" Ayers (tracks: 3 to 13), George Scales (tracks: 1, 2).

Junior Kimbrough was born in Hudsonville, Mississippi, and lived in the North Mississippi Hill Country near Holly Springs. He recorded for the Fat Possum Records label. He was a long-time associate of labelmate R. L. Burnside, and the Burnside and Kimbrough families often collaborated on musical projects. This relationship continues today. Rockabilly musician and friend Charlie Feathers called Kimbrough "the beginning and end of all music." This is written on Kimbrough's tombstone outside his family's church, the Kimbrough Chapel Missionary Baptist Church near Holly Springs.

Beginning around 1992, Kimbrough operated a juke joint known as "Junior's Place" in Chulahoma, Mississippi, which attracted visitors from around the world, including members of U2, Keith Richards, and Iggy Pop. Kimbrough's sons, musicians Kinney and David Malone Kimbrough, kept it open following his death, until it burned to the ground on April 6, 2000.Junior Kimbrough died of a heart attack in 1998 in Holly Springs following a stroke, at the age of 67. According to his artist bio on the Fat Possum Records website, he is survived by his claimed 36 children.

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Do The Rump! zippy