I resume a passion that I put aside for 2 years: the montage of mixtapes.
For my come back, I gathered 4 blues musicians : Junior Kimbrough, T-Model Ford, Seasick Steve and RL Burnside.
The particularity which gathers these artists is that they knew the celebrity at an advanced age: between 60, 70 years! It is necessary to know that for the industry if you are 20-24 years old and you have not broken through, it is over. We must therefore honor the label Fat Possum (among others) which has put these artists in the spotlight!
These 4 musicians all play seated and distill a kind of raw and simplistic Southern Blues around a heady groove: the Hill Country Blues or Junk Joint Blues. The kind of scene you can see in the movie "Black Snake Moan".
Raw personalities and destinies that are quite unique that transpire the blues: They lived in misery and did every job possible: fieldworker, seasonal worker, laborer, trucker... Seasick Steve met Janis Joplin in the 60s, did the rounds in Paris in the 70s and knew Kurt Cobain in the 90s. Rl Burnside had 13 children, Junior Kimbrough would have had 26, Rl Burnside and T-Model Ford did time for murder. Etc.
T-Model Ford started playing guitar at 58 years old, RI Burnside and Junior Kimbrough did studio sessions during the 60's but these records were only be released in the 2000's. The first successful albums date from the 90's thanks to the Fat Possum label and the documentary "Juke".
For this compilation I was inspired by the half-independent, half-bootleg blues compilations that abounded in the 90's and that you can still find in the low-priced bins of small record stores. So sometimes 3 or 4 artists share a record with as a common thread an era (50s, 60s) or a region (Delta, Chicago, California).
I did the same for the artwork.
Enjoy !
R.L. Burnside - 2 Brothers
Seasick Steve – Wenatchee
T-Model Ford - Sail On
Junior Kimbrough - I Feel Good, Little Girl
R.L. Burnside - See What My Body Done
Seasick Steve - What A Way To Go
T-Model Ford - Where You Been
Junior Kimbrough - Work Me Baby
R.L. Burnside - .44 Pistol
Seasick Steve - Dog House Boogie
T-Model Ford - Hip Shaking Woman
Junior Kimbrough - Junior's Place
R.L. Burnside - Wish I Was In Heaven
Seasick Steve - Cut My Wings
Junior Kimbrough - Lord, Have Mercy On Me
R.L. Burnside - Bird Without A Feather
T-Model Ford - Sallie Mae