#520 : Memphissippi Sounds - Welcome to the Land

 

2021 – Little Village Foundation

By Phillip Smith; Oct. 3, 2021

 

Memphissippi Sounds, a duo comprised of Damion Pearson (vocals, harmonica, guitar) and Cam Kimbrough (vocals, drums, guitar), brings to the table, a unique spin on the North Mississippi Hill Country Blues.  In his youth, Pearson quickly latched onto the sounds of his father’s record collection which consisted of the likes of Parliament/Funkadelic and the Ohio Players.  He picked up the blues from listening to Memphis’s WDIA radio where B.B. King and Rufus Thomas both got their start in radio.  Kimbrough, the grandson of blues great Junior Kimbrough grew up surrounded by blues, but also had a taste for bands such as Metallica, System of a Down, Nirvana, and Incubus.  When Pearson and Kimbrough joined forces to play music together, they zeroed in on the hill-country blues which they quickly discovered fit them like a glove.  Welcome to the Land, the duo’s first album was recorded at the legendary Sun Studios in Memphis and produced by Aki Kumar, with Jim Pugh serving as executive producer.       

This fascinating nine-track album of all-originals begins with “Who’s Gonna Ride”, a social commentary which absolutely tears the roof off as it touches on subjects such as George Floyd, BLM, and the pandemic.  Fortified with a rolling swampy funk, Pearson lays down a smoking performance on harp.  A furious beat and infectious rhythm combine forces in “I’m Mad”, and it sounds great.  Pearson’s hypnotic guitar riff rides along a mesmerizing performance from Kimbrough to soulfully invoke the essence of the band War, in the “Crossroads”.  I love how their vocals play off each other in this one.  Sometimes one just can’t wait for an afternoon delight, and “Saturday Morning” is when things go down in the bedroom.  This hill-country groove is perfectly executed.  Immediately following, the relaxed propulsion of “High & Low” gently immerses me inside its muddy, tranquil musicscape, and it feels wonderful.  The album closes with “Look Out for the Wolf”, a song which seems to call back to the early days of Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf.  It’s a spectacular blues song to say the least.  

Memphissippi Sounds’ Welcome to the Land is a record blues fans will damn sure want to hear.   It’s fantastic!        

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For more information about the artist, visit this website : https://www.memphissippisounds.com/

 

#318 : Muddy Gurdy

Muddy Gurdy

2017 – Vizztone

Release Date : 2/2/18

By Phillip Smith; Feb. 3, 2018

Muddy Gurdy is absolutely one of the most interesting blues albums I’ve heard in recent years.  Hypnotic Wheels, a trio of French musicians, Tia Gouttebel (guitar/vocals) Gilles Chabenat (hurdy-gurdy) and Marc Glomeau (percussion) embarked on a journey to the hills of North Mississippi to record with local blues artists who are tightly connected to the fabulous music of their elders.  The recordings were made using a hurdy-gurdy as a second guitar and captured with an eight-microphone preamp and computer in someone’s house, porch, front yard, or historic landmark such as Dockery Farms or B.B. King’s Club Ebony.  From Mississippi, the contributing artists are Cedric Burnside, Shardé Thomas, Cameron Kimbrough, and Pat Thomas.

I love the homage to R.L Burnside, with the wonderfully hypnotic cover of “Goin’ Down South” and the driving beat of “See My Jumper Hanging on the Line”.  It’s in these two tracks that the wonder of the hurdy-gurdy is revealed.  Its swampy slide-like sound magically lends itself to trance blues music in a very fitting fashion.  Cedric Burnside, grandson to R.L appears with acoustic guitar in hand and mic for a beautiful performance.  He pays a wonderful tribute to his late brother Cody Burnside on “That Girl is Bad”, and hangs around for a tantalizing cover of Muddy Waters’ “Rollin’ and Tumblin’”.

Muddy Gurdy explores fife and drum music with Shardé Thomas.  Thomas gives a delicate vocal and fife performance on “Station Blues”, a song by her grandfather and fife-master Otha Thomas.  Her delivery of the traditional “Glory Glory Hallelujah” is stunning.   

It’s a real treat to hear Cameron Kimbrough, tearing it up on guitar while singing his grandfather Junior’s “Leave Her Alone”.  The rolling rhythm pulls me right in to its vortex of sound.  Cameron inherently keeps the swirling melodic framework in place for his own original tune, “Gonna Love You”.  Pat Thomas’ “Dream” is downright extraordinary.  Sung and strummed by the son of James “Son” Thomas at the Highway 61 Museum in Leland, Mississippi, this folk-country blues song is a prime example of the inner-beauty of music.

         

At Dockery Farms, Gouttebel takes the vocal reins on Hypnotic Wheels’ rendition of Mississippi Fred McDowell’s classic “Shake ‘em on Down” which is followed up with a mesmerizing cover of Charles Singleton’s “Help the Poor”, first recorded by B.B King in 1964.   

I highly recommend this album, especially for fans of the North Mississippi Hill Country Blues. 

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