Editor's Note: This review is part of a series of albums and artists nominated for the 2007 Blues Music Awards (full list of nominees). This album is nominated for Historical Album of the Year.
Who are the “Last of the Great Mississippi Delta Bluesmen?” Who would have the audacity to gloss themselves with that title, considering just how many great bluesmen trace their roots back to the Mississippi Delta? Pinetop Perkins, Robert Lockwood Jr., Honeyboy Edwards, and Henry James Townsend may or may not have had anything to do with choosing that title, but they sure as hell have spent a lifetime earning it. Historical album? That might be the understatement of the millennium!
Pinetop Perkins is a national treasure, most famous for the years he spent on the road touring with Muddy Waters. The first thing most people mention when bringing up either Lockwood or Honeyboy are their respective relationships with icon Robert Johnson. I mention it because if I don't, someone else will. Both men carved out vast legacies of their own, legacies rich enough to make their association with the blues' most celebrated name a footnote in their careers. Lockwood is one of the guys who played with everyone before forging a solo career. Townsend was a major player in the St. Louis blues scene, influenced by Roosevelt Sykes and Lonnie Johnson.
On October 16, 2004, The Blue Shoe Project brought these four legends together to put on a show in Dallas, Texas. This isn't really the kind of album you review so much as you thank God for its existence. That night, the performers' ages ranged from 89 to 94. Sadly, two of the “Last of the Great Mississippi Delta Bluesmen,” Lockwood and Townsend, are no longer with us. Both men passed away in 2006. You thank the heavens above that someone not only brought these four men together for an evening of blues, but that they also had the good sense to record and release the results.
Article comments
1 - Mark Saleski
nice review josh. dang, another cd to add to the list.
2 - d alper
Since Manny' s Car Wash closed, sadly, about seven years ago here in NYC, we Blues Hounds have been deprived of such great inspirational artists like Pinetop, Gatemouth and Johnnie Johnson. They are sadly missed and am glad that someone was smart enough to put together an album like Live In Dallas before these national treasures are no longer here to show us how to 'jellyroll!"
3 - Josh
Thanks, Mark... it is such a worthwhile purchase and a joy to listen to. I wasn't real familiar with Townsend before getting this, and now I'm going to have to go digging for more.
D Alper, it's a shame that the blues has been pushed to the fringe by the industry. That's why I've been writing about these artists and albums. The industry may have their collective head up their arse, but the rest of us need not suffer that same fate. This is a great record. I hope you check it out.
4 - Jay
Johnnie Johnson was mentioned. Yes, Manny's has closed awhile back, but far worse, Johnnie passed in 2005. Just months later, Little Milton followed.
Johnnie left us with a last , great cd, "Johnnie Be Eighty. And Still Bad!". It is only available on the web, at www.cousinmoemusic.com, and cdbaby.com.
Blues in & around NYC, well it ain't dead yet. You just have to look longer and harder. But it is there to be heard.
5 - Josh
In a rare display of inspiration, this was nominated for a Grammy today!