Blues Routes: Heroes & Tricksters

by BLUES ROUTES: HEROES & TRICKSTE

Overview

Seventeen live performances on this blues compilation, drawn from 1990-1995 recordings that were done for the Folk Masters series distributed by Public Radio International; all of these were recorded at either the Barns of Wolf Trap or Carnegie Hall. There's a lot of variety and numerous styles represented: work songs, folksy songsters, modern electric blues (Joe Louis Walker does an eight-minute "Bluesifyin"), Delta-styled blues (Robert Jr. Lockwood), piano jazz-blues, and more. It's adventurous enough to go off into some detours that aren't strictly blues, but certainly blues-related, as in the zydeco by Boozoo Chavis, the a cappella vocals of the Georgia Sea Island Singers, the jazz violin of Claude Williams, and the New Orleans trad jazz of Don Vappie and the Creole Jazz Serenaders. Many of the performers were quite elderly when they made their contributions, and while it's great that there is a venue for these guardians of tradition, much of the disc is overly polite in execution. When the White Cloud Hunters Mardi Gras Indians come on with their unbridled chants on "Sew, Sew, Sew," the energy and daring really pick up. The go-go music of Rapper Dee, C.J., and Five Gallons of Fun's "My Mind Has No Color/Doing It the Go-Go Way," with percussion performed largely on paint buckets and other found objects, is another ambitious detour worth applauding. ~ Richie Unterberger

Product Details

Release Date:	07/20/1999
Label:	SMITHSONIAN FOLKWAYS
UPC:	0093074011829

Tracks

1. Rooster Call  - Gandy Dancers
2. John Henry  - John Cephas  -  Traditional  - Phil Wiggins
3. Step It Up and Go  - Warner Williams
4. Flippin' and Floppin'  - Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson  - Luther "Houserocker" Johnson  - Pinetop Perkins
5. Twenty-Four Hours a Day  - T.D. Bell  -  Blues Specialists  - Erbie Bowser  - Danny Leake  - Ian Levine
6. Little Queen of Spades  - Robert Johnson  - Robert Jr. Lockwood
7. One Dime Blues  - Etta Baker  -  Public Domain  -  Traditional
8. Blue Tail Fly  - Abner Jay
9. Gut Bucket Blues  - Louis Armstrong  -  Creole Serenaders  - Don Vappie  -  Vappie
10. That Certain Someone  - Claude "Fiddler" Williams
11. Harlem Parlor Blues  - Sammy Price
12. Early in the Morning  - Dallas Bartley  - Leo Hickman  - Louis Jordan  - Booker T. Laury
13. Sew, Sew, Sew  -  White Cloud Hunters Mardi Gras Indians
14. My Mind Has No Color/Doing It the Go-Go Way  - Carl Jones  - Rapper Dee  -  C.J.  -  Five Gallons Of Fun
15. Hambone, Where You Been?  -  Georgia Sea Island Singers
16. Uncle Bud  - Boozoo Chavis  -  Chavis
17. Bluesifyin'  - Joe Louis Walker

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Five Gallons Of Fun   Primary Artist
C.J.   Primary Artist
Gandy Dancers   Primary Artist
Don Vappie & The Creole Jazz Serenaders   Primary Artist
Rapper Dee   Primary Artist
Abner Jay   Primary Artist,Banjo,Vocals
The Georgia Sea Island Singers   Primary Artist
Phil Wiggins   Primary Artist,Harmonica
The Blues Specialists   Primary Artist
Creole Serenaders   Primary Artist
Booker T. Laury   Primary Artist,Piano,Vocals
Claude "Fiddler" Williams   Primary Artist,Violin
Erbie Bowser   Primary Artist,Piano
Pinetop Perkins   Primary Artist,Piano
Warner Williams   Primary Artist,Guitar,Vocals
Sammy Price   Primary Artist,Piano
Boozoo Chavis & the Majic Sounds   Primary Artist
Joe Louis Walker   Primary Artist,Guitar
Robert Lockwood, Jr.   Primary Artist,Guitar (Electric),Vocals
Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson   Primary Artist,Guitar (Electric)
John Cephas   Primary Artist,Guitar,Vocals
White Cloud Hunters Mardi Gras Indians   Primary Artist
Don Vappie   Primary Artist,Banjo
Etta Baker   Primary Artist,Guitar
T.D. Bell   Primary Artist,Vocals,Guitar (Electric)
Rellis Chavis   Drums
Charles Chavis   Frottoir
Alan Jones   Vocals (Background)
Keith Clark   Drums
Joseph Jones   Vocals (Background)
Jennifer Jones   Vocals (Background)
Charles Taylor   Vocals
Darryl Johnson   Drums (Bass)
Calvin "Fuzz" Jones   Bass
Len Nichols   Bass
Nathaniel Fontenot   Guitar
Curtis Nutall   Drums
Antoine Gardner   Vocals
Mike Eppley   Keyboards
Doug Quimby   Vocals
Mel Davis   Harmonica
Wendell Brunious   Trumpet
Donald Suhor   Clarinet
Donald "Duck" Manor   Drums
Reggie Crawford   Saxophone
James Chirillo   Guitar
Carl Jones   Vocals,Saxophone
Classie Ballou, Jr.   Bass
Tony Saunders   Bass
Boozoo Chavis   Vocals,Accordion (Diatonic)
Jay Summerour   Harmonica
Steve Pistorius   Piano
Keter Betts   Bass

Technical Credits

Nick Spitzer   Compilation Producer,Producer,Liner Notes
Joe Louis Walker   Composer,Performer
D.A. Sonneborn   Production Supervisor
Sammy Price   Composer,Performer
Public Domain   Composer
Carol Hardy   Design,Artwork
Cornelius Wright Jr.   Leader
Warner Williams   Performer
Leo Hickman   Composer
Pete Reiniger   Remixing
Louis Jordan   Composer
Pinetop Perkins   Performer
The Georgia Sea Island Singers   Performer
Anthony Seeger   Executive Producer,Production Supervisor
Phil Wiggins   Performer
Paul Johnson   Executive Producer
Matt Sakakeeny   Mastering
Mary Monseur   Production Coordination
Parker Dinkins   Technical Assistance
Leslie Spitz-Edson   Editing,Liner Notes
Booker T. Laury   Performer
Claude "Fiddler" Williams   Composer,Performer
Carl Jones   Composer
Luther "Houserocker" Johnson   Composer
Etta Baker   Performer
Erbie Bowser   Performer
Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson   Performer
John Cephas   Performer
Jeff Place   Editorial Assistant
White Cloud Hunters Mardi Gras Indians   Performer
Robert Johnson   Composer
Robert Lockwood, Jr.   Performer
Don Vappie   Performer
Traditional   Composer
Ian Levine   Composer
Boozoo Chavis   Composer,Performer
John Tyler   Engineer,Remixing
Louis Armstrong   Composer
Dallas Bartley   Composer
Danny Leake   Composer
T.D. Bell   Performer
Boozoo Chavis & the Majic Sounds   Performer