Sugarcane Collins - Going Back To Clarksdale

Album: Going Back To Clarksdale
Size: 119,5 MB
Time: 51:52
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2015
Styles: Blues/Roots
Art: Front

1. Flip Flop Fly (4:55)
2. Trouble In Mind (5:23)
3. Creole Belle (4:10)
4. St. James Infirmary Blues (7:23)
5. Going Back To Clarksdale (4:49)
6. Sitting On Top Of The World (6:00)
7. Baby It Must Be Love (2:44)
8. Hungry, Broke And Blue (3:12)
9. Blind Willie (5:00)
10. Walking Blues (4:41)
11. Memphis Town (3:31)

If Sugarcane Collins’ 2006 CD Way Down The River and it’s 2013 successor Downunder The Blues galvanised his reputation as a real deal blues performer whose music embodies the spirit of the great Delta bluesmen, then this release is a crowning achievement. It salutes a range of urban and country blues styles from the US south paying a heartfelt tribute to some of the original blues masters. From a novel horn driven arrangement of Big Joe Turners “Flip Flop Fly” to a jazz inflected reading of Leroy Carr’s “Memphis Town”, Collins’ channels the essence of blues icons Mississippi John Hurt, Son House, Blind Willie McTell and the Mississippi Sheiks.

While “Blind Willie” pays homage to the legendary Atlanta, Georgia ragtime blues virtuoso, “Hungry Broke And Blue” evokes images of the dusty roads and cottonfields and the title track “Going Back To Clarksdale” elicits a smoky juke joint vibe, it’s Collins’ version of “St James Infirmiry Blues” that is the CD’s centrepiece. From an intro played in an ad lib fashion, the song progresses into a swinging Dixieland soaked section reminiscent of a late night Big Easy club, finally segueing into a New Orleans second-line marching band. Dedicated blues fans will enjoy this first rate journey through the music’s heartland. /Al Hensley

Going Back To Clarksdale mc
Going Back To Clarksdale gofile

---

Sugarcane Collins - Way Down The River

Album: Way Down The River
Size: 130,5 MB
Time: 56:23
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2006
Styles: Acoustic blues
Art: Full

1. Like A Midnight Shower Of Rain (0:54)
2. Got A Mind To Ramble (4:29)
3. One Wing Frank (5:09)
4. Folks Of The Road (5:57)
5. Leadbelly (4:59)
6. All The Way To St. Louis (2:04)
7. I've Heard The News (4:45)
8. Follow Me Boy (4:17)
9. Sallie Mae (4:44)
10. Shine The Light (4:27)
11. Dancing Rabbit Creek (3:27)
12. Stranger Here (4:48)
13. Way Down The River (6:17)

This stunning album from Sugarcane Collins is a dark and vivid collection of thirteen songs plumbed from deep within the rhythms of life in the mississippi delta of the 1920’s & 30’s. With sparse arrangements, brooding production and the inspired musicianship of all involved, Sugarcane conjures up the cotton fields and baptist churches, the stale-beer smoke-choked juke joints and gutbuckets, the freight trains, prison cells and street corners of the south that gave birth to the blues.

(For personnel details, see artwork included.)

Way Down The River mc
Way Down The River gofile

---

Sugarcane Collins - Downunder The Blues

Album: Downunder The Blues
Size: 144,4 MB
Time: 62:40
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2013
Styles: Blues/Roots
Art: Full

1. The Blues Downunder (9:28)
2. Click Go The Shears (4:44)
3. Some Fool Done Stole My Mojo (5:14)
4. It's A Mystery (3:16)
5. Downunder The Blues (5:28)
6. Take Your Time (7:44)
7. Saddle Up My Pony (4:19)
8. Two To The Valley (3:05)
9. Flowers By The Roadside (3:55)
10. Berry's Creek Dreaming (5:18)
11. Line In The Sand (5:42)
12. Connect The Dots (4:22)

On this long-awaited follow-up to his acclaimed 2006 title Way Down The River, well-travelled far north Queensland-based blues troubadour Andy ‘Sugarcane’ Collins gets back to the concept of blues from a distinctly Aussie perspective that was manifest in his earlier releases. Comprising 10 original songs and a couple of old bush ballads cleverly rearranged into I-IV-V blues chord structure formats, Downunder The Blues is a well-produced CD showcasing Collins’ imaginative songwriting, sonorous voice and agile acoustic guitar picking. Although Collins employs a large cast of session players including noted blues harpists Andy Vogel and Jim Conway, slide and electric guitarist Kirk Lorange, and didgeridoo player David Hudson, the music is very much in the down-home solo/duo vein, excluding the ensemble-backed ‘Some Fool Done Stole My Mojo’ and ‘Flowers By The Roadside’.

Inspired by early infamous historical similarities between Australia and America, Collins’ opener ‘The Blues Downunder’ is something of a two-part folk/blues suite. It incorporates a traditional folk song describing the woes of convicts in early Australian times, and plaintive musical accompaniment to a series of monologues addressing the plight of indigenous Australians. Collins’ self-penned material is where the blues really kicks in. He reprises his nostalgic ode to the Brisbane tram era ‘Two To The Valley’ from his Lake Street Serenade album, and muses on themes relating to relationships, childhood days and environmental issues. His narratives framed in various blues styles from Delta to ragtime and the Piedmont, Collins is an Aussie master of the country blues. /Al Hensley

(For personnel info, see artwork included.)

Downunder The Blues mc
Downunder The Blues gofile

---