"Big Eyes" might be best known as Muddy Waters' drummer but here handles all vocals and plays harp on all but two tracks- he even wrote six of the 11 songs. Smith sounds at home and relaxed on Way Back because he has surrounded himself with members of his musical family as well as his real one. He has called on fellow Muddy Waters' alums James Cotton (harmonica), Calvin "Fuzz" Jones (bass), Bob Margolin (guitar), and living treasure Pinetop Perkins (piano). Smith drums on two tracks, his son Kenny "Beedy Eyes" Smith handling the rest.
"Big Eyes" has not redefined the blues but has reconnected with it by reconnecting with friends, both in the form cover material ("Tell Me mama" and "Don't Start Me to Talkin'" among them) and musicians. Way Back may not soar to the heights of other blues recordings but it never disappoints.
Article comments
1 - Mat Brewster
Great review Mr. DJ. I must admit I've not travelled very far into blues territory. I suppose I should pack a bag and discover more of it very soon.
2 - Mark Saleski
...will shy away from the entire genre after hearing a small sampling of it
yes, i have known people who also think that all blues sounds the same.....joking with me that..."oh yea, i heard that blues song once".
hardy fricking har-har.
i try not to hold it against them.
3 - DJRadiohead
Thanks, fellas. Sir Brewster, I could prep you a primer of the blues work I like. As I tried to suggest in the review it is a varied genre so my taste might run counter to others. Saleski and I agree on a couple, though.
Sir Saleski, yeah I have heard that joke, too. There is something to be said for knowing what you like but it becomes something else when you're unwilling to challenge those notions. Last year,
I agreed to listen to some more Bright Eyes even though I had not liked what I had heard by him. You and The Duke thought maybe I just needed to try some different stuff from him. I did. I didn't dislike what you fellas played for me as much as I had other songs by him. That was good. I softened my dislike a little and was willing to sit down, listen again, and take a stab at it.
This album is light, fun, shuffling blues.
4 - Mark Saleski
p.s. the guy who made that blues "joke" was the same guy who had the top of his head taken off by the vinyl version of Muddy Waters - Folk Singer.
5 - DJRadiohead
Amazing how that works, isn't it? One of the truly great albums in history.
6 - Connie Phillips
This article has been placed at the Advance.net websites, a site affiliated with about 12 newspapers.
One such site is here.
7 - Connie Phillips
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8 - Mat Brewster
I'll be waiting for that blues primer.