New Orleans Street Singer

by Snooks Eaglin

Overview

Ford "Snooks" Eaglin's first released recordings, the ones collected here, suggested to the world that Eaglin was a great lost country blues player when he was, in fact, an excellent electric guitar player and a gospel-influenced singer who much preferred playing R&B with a band. When folklorist Harry Oster heard Eaglin busking with his guitar on a street in the French Quarter in 1958, he whisked him over to Louisiana State University and recorded the tracks collected here, either assuming that Eaglin was a folk artist or possibly even asking him to portray one for the sake of the recording. Either way, New Orleans Street Singer was a revelation when it was released by Folkways Records a year later in 1959, presenting to the world a gifted guitar player and a naturally soulful singer who brought a kind of jazzy New Orleans feel and groove to the folk-blues standards he was covering. The album is no less a revelation in the 21st century, although hindsight allows listeners to realize that the folk stance was probably more Oster's preference than Eaglin's. The guitar work is quick and fluid, with lead bursts that surprise and delight, continually settling on unexpected but highly effective chordal resolves, and the singing throughout is steady and informed, sounding a bit like Ray Charles, with tinges of both gospel and jazz phrasing. In Eaglin's hands traditional fare like "Mama, Don't You Tear My Clothes" (a variant of "Baby, Let Me Follow You Down") become reborn and re-formed into definitive versions. ~ Steve Leggett

Product Details

Release Date:	11/01/1994
Label:	STORYVILLE RECORDS
UPC:	0717101802326

Tracks

1. Alberta
2. That's All Right
3. Malaguena
4. When They Ring Them Golden Bells
5. Remember Me
6. Fly Right Back Baby
7. I Don't Know
8. Mean Old World
9. I Must See Jesus
10. She's One Black Rat
11. Don't You Lie to Me
12. Well, I Had My Fun (Goin' Down Slow)
13. Brown Skin Woman
14. Mama, Don't You Tear My Clothes
15. Who's Been Foolin' You
16. When Shadows Fall
17. One More Drink
18. I Got a Woman
19. Come Back, Baby
20. Trouble in Mind
21. I Got My Questionnaire
22. The Drifter Blues
23. Every Day I Have the Blues
24. A Thousand Miles from Home
25. I'm Looking for a Woman

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Snooks Eaglin   Primary Artist,Guitar,Vocals,Soloist
Lucius Bridges   Guitar,Vocals
Percy Randolph   Washboard

Technical Credits

Dave Bartholomew   Composer
Aaron Walker   Composer
Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup   Composer
Snooks Eaglin   Composer
Clarence Williams   Composer
Charles Brown   Composer
Walter Davis   Composer
Chris Olesen   Artwork,Layout Design
Jimmy McCracklin   Composer
Fats Domino   Composer
Eddie Williams   Composer
Gene Austin   Composer
Harry Oster   Engineer,Producer,Photography
Sam Hopkins   Composer
Rudy Toombs   Composer
Richard M. Jones   Composer
Karl Emil Knudsen   Reissue Producer,Release Production
Nathaniel Shilkret   Composer
Mercy Dee Walton   Composer
Memphis Slim   Composer
Armand Piron   Composer
Shifty Henry   Composer
Paul Oliver   Liner Notes