Bman's Blues Report

I just had the opportunity to review Memphis Rent Party , the soundtrack to Robert Gordon 's 6th book, and it's excellent. Opening with a ragged but remarkable rendition of Guy Clark's Desparados Waiting On A Train by Jerry McGill. Backed by Mud Boy and the Neutrons, this is subtly terrific with excellent piano and slide work under McGill's haunting vocals.  On Chevrolet Luther Dickinson and Sharde Thomas exchanging lead vocals and playing fife vs slide backed by snappy marching like snare drums and powerful bass drums strokes.  Junior Kimbrough is up next with his trademark sound on All Night Long , recorded in Kimbrough's living room in the middle of a cotton field in 1986. Very cool. Another unmistakable sound is the sound of Furry Lewis' vocals with his own slide guitar on Why Don't You Come Home Blues , recorded in his living room in the 60's. How does it get any better than this? The surprise track for me was Calvin Newborn on Frame for the B...

I just received a cool new DVD/CD which featured a documentary about a real music outlaw. This documentary by Robert Gordon and Paule Duane feature real live footage of a wild man with a wild past. Jerry McGill had recorded with Sam Phillips Sun Records in 1959 and been the road manager for Waylon Jennings under the name of Curtis Black. This is the story who lived the life of a real outlaw, serving prison time, swinging a gun around, robbing and thieving. I knew a man like this once in my life (but without the gun) and as stated by Robert Gordon, historian and film maker, someone who I may not have wanted in my house, but someone I was glad was in my life. This is not a dry, dusty, fluffy documentary with a lot of pretty scenery but the real time documentation of a 70 year old man who has not at all mellowed, full of most everything and ready to spring at the whisk of a mouse whisker. This is a documentary about music but this is really a healthy slice of life and one that will like...