Various Artists - Blues Sweet Blues
Reviewed by Roger Gatchet
If Robert Palmer had lived to produce a follow-up to his documentary film Deep Blues, he would have found inspiration and ample source material in the artists that make up the Music Maker Foundation’s roster. Since it was founded by Tim and Denise Duffy in 1994, the non-profit organization has provided studio time to under-recorded practitioners of southern roots and blues music. Their extensive discography, which encompasses bluegrass, country, folk, and especially blues, has become an archival treasure trove that documents the artistic contributions of regional players, most of whom are unknown on the national level.
Blues Sweet Blues compiles mostly unreleased material from the label’s diverse talent pool, and there is much to love on these 40 tracks (all recorded between 1994 and 2006). The first disc is full of solid blues, if one looks past the sloppy playing on the opening track and guitarist/vocalist Drink Small’s homophobic asides on President Clinton Blues (“He’s not gay, he’s a real man. . .”). Music Maker mainstays Captain Luke, Cootie Stark, and Guitar Gabriel all make appearances, and those familiar with Fat Possum’s catalogue will recognize a pair of familiar faces with the contributions from Hill Country veteran Robert Belfour and Alabama guitar picker J.W. Warren. Albert Smith’s delightful Big Belly Mamma proves that Pinetop Perkins isn’t the only 90-year-old pianist who knows his way around a keyboard, and Eddie Tigner, a veteran of Elmore James’ band in the early 1950s, is silky-smooth on the slow organ blues Slippin’ In.
Disc two detours from familiar blues territory with the inclusion of folk, gospel, and a few old-timey numbers, including banjo performances from Samuel Turner Stevens and Etta Baker and an excellent fiddle demonstration by North Carolina veteran Benton Flippen and the Smokey Valley Boys. Pura Fé offers one of the most unique tracks in the compilation, combining her Puerto Rican and Tuscarora heritage with contemporary folk and Spanish guitar, while Bentonia, Mississippi, resident Jack Owens recalls Skip James on My Baby’s Gone, Soon Be Gone Myself. One-man-band Adolphus Bell closes out the disc on an impressive Child Support. Blues Sweet Bluesis the real deal, and a fine introduction to the Music Maker universe.
Source: Living Blues
