BUDDY MOSS: ATLANTA BLUES LEGEND (1967)
1) Hurry Home; 2) Red River;
3) Pushin' It; 4) Comin' Back; 5) How I Feel Today; 6) That'll Never Happen No
More; 7) Oh Lawdy Mama; 8) I'm Sitting On Top Of The World; 9) Kansas City; 10)
It Was The Weary Hour Night; 11) Chesterfield; 12) I've Got To Keep To The
Highway; 13) Come On Around To My House; 14) Step It Up And Go; 15) Everyday
Seems Like Sunday; 16) I Got A Woman, Don't Mean Me No Good; 17) Betty And
Dupree; 18) Every Day, Every Day.
Like many other fellow bluesmen, Buddy Moss was
rediscovered and dragged out into the limelight in the 1960s, in the middle of
the new «blues boom» that hit both sides of the Atlantic. Due to his natural
humility and shyness, though, he was never able to capitalize on the
rediscovery — never made it over to England, where he could have easily claimed
hero status; his live appearances at festivals were few and far in between;
and his new recorded output was quite slim compared to, say, Big Bill Broonzy
or the commercially successful duo of Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry. But he probably
didn't mind — according to some sources, he seems to have been drawn into the
whole revival thing entirely by accident (upon having been seen by some blues
fans backstage after a Josh White show).
This record was originally released in 1967 and
contained a large portion of Buddy's live appearance at a Washington, D. C.
concert in June 1966; the CD issue expanded it with a bunch of extra tracks
that Moss recorded for Columbia in Nashville around the same time — those,
however, remained unreleased for about thirty years. On the studio tracks,
Buddy plays and sings almost entirely by himself, with only Jeff Espina on harmonica
to accompany the guitar; for the Washington show, they are further joined by
John Jackson on second guitar.
As it usually happens with these revivals,
there is some overlap with the old stuff, but not a huge lot: audiences were
expecting to hear «popular» blues songs rather than obscurities, so that Buddy
adds stuff like ʽStep It Up And Goʼ to his repertoire which he never got around
to recording in the pre-war era (but Blind Boy Fuller and Brownie McGhee both
did), or even ʽEvery Day (I Have The Blues)ʼ, a song that was first recorded by
Pinetop Sparks in 1935, but which most people in the 1950s and 1960s probably
associated with B. B. King. However, this is no reason to complain — on the
contrary, it is very good to hear the old guy «forced» to expand his horizons,
combining revised versions of his old classics (ʽLawdy Mamaʼ etc.) with stuff
that he heard from others, or maybe even played in the old days, but never got
around to record.
I will not comment on the individual tracks, since
doing so requires a much deeper understanding of the basics of acoustic blues
than I have, but the overall gut feeling is that thirty years of uninvolvement
in the musical business had a negative influence on the man's fingers (the
playing is just a wee bit «sloppier» and less focused than its used to be), but
a positive influence on the man's mind — instead of relying largely on stock phrasing,
he takes plenty of opportunities to explore, find additional tricks, make the
guitar chirp, squeak, and chime whenever possible. Even on the studio outtakes,
the tracks sometimes run over four minutes, and several of the concert numbers
run over five — meaning that the man had found freedom from the technical
requirements of the three-minute single and that he intended to use it. His
singing, unfortunately, had declined due to aging, but that is not a big
problem: Buddy was always a competent, never an outstanding vocalist, and
«competent» ones get extra bonuses as they age.
Given that, out of everything that Buddy recorded
and released in his «comeback» era (not much altogether), this is the most
easily available package, it is highly recommendable — sound quality is very
decent (the Washington concert is almost entirely free from audience noises,
with everyone sitting very quietly, just an occasional snicker or two at
Buddy's occasional in-between-lines jokes), relative diversity (12-bar blues,
ragtime blues, jump blues, folk, etc.) is guaranteed, «blues authenticity» is
indisputable; thumbs
up without question. But, of course, if you want to properly «relive
history», without relying exclusively on nostalgic product, check out the
crackling oldies as well — Atlanta Blues
Legend lays a heavy emphasis on the «legend» bit, and it will always be
only a substitute for «the real thing».
Check "Atlanta Blues Legend" (CD) on Amazon
Check "Atlanta Blues Legend" (MP3) on Amazon
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