Junior
There are two towering figures in Mississippi Hill Country Blues. One is the irreplaceable R.L. Burnside...the other is the mighty Junior Kimbrough. Legends. As great as any of the players who left for Chicago or Detriot...greater in my estimation. Like all great players...Howlin' Wolf - Smokestack Lighting, Muddy Waters - Mannish Boy, etc...they both had a signature song...a song that was impossible, no matter how many times it was covered, to separate from its source. For Burnside it's Goin' Down South...for Kimbrough it's Meet Me In The City.
I wouldn't be surprised if one of you pops and says you've done a cover of it.
I love the North Mississippi Allstars. Some of their albums come off as too theoretical...to concerned with what they're trying to do but they've also been fantastic live. Luther and Cody are, of course, the sons of Jim Dickinson. They come by all this very honestly...this is their neighborhood.
Jon O'Spencer is gonna make "every-TING" so fine...best guitar take not played by Junior himself.
Gomez capture something different.
The Black Keys obviously have an affinity for the Hill Country...they got their start on Fat Possum so it's with some credibility and obvious tenderness that they take it on.
It's an untouchable song that deserves a place among the greatest expressions of the 20th century.
Erik, do you have the Fat Possum DVD, You See Me Laughin'? Fantastic stuff
ReplyDeleteA great record label
Fat Possum is crucial...I think it was Matt that said he just couldn't take the idea that Dan Akroyd had become the face of Blues.
DeleteI don't own a copy of You See me Laughin' but I've seen it many times. I do own a copy of Deep Blues by Robert Palmer (the music critic...not the operatic singer from led zeppelin) which covers a lot of these acts just prior to Fat Possum's founding.
Very cool.
I've got that Junior Kimbrough album. It's great. It often feels like things are about to fall apart in a good way.
ReplyDeleteIf my calculations are correct....you posted this while you were banned. I just don't know what to do with you bear.
DeleteIt's such a nasty release...and during the recording of Slow Lightning the building was literally threatening to fall apart.
You Better Run is another essential release. There's a demo-like version of Meet Me in the City which is my favorite...and he violently assaults the song Tramp...it sounds like he's murdering the guitar at the end...strangling the life out of it.
I saw Junior Kimbrough supporting Iggy Pop in 1996. The New York audience was disrespectful, jabbering throughout. I wormed my way nearer the front to get a better sense of what was going on. Jeff Buckley, wearing a bright red shirt, did the same thing and stood a few yards away from me. I love Iggy, but it was all a bit 'rawk' after Junior's set.
ReplyDeleteJunior's music is hard as freezer meat but there's a preternatural edge to the groves he creates that gives the songs a sinister quality...like a haunting.
DeleteNobody should have to follow that.
Jeff Buckley...that's a was a pretty brief window between being recognizable and being gone. That's a great memory.
I'd never heard any of these - and they're all terrific in their very different ways. The one I keep going back to is the Mississippi Allstars, with The Black Keys catching up fast. Anyway, a real treat! Thanks, Mr. B.
ReplyDeleteBecause of their father...the Allstars grew up in this stuff...literally. Juniors kids have played with the band from the beginning. They oughta be able to pull it off...and they have.
DeleteI love the guitar in the Blues Explosion version.