god of blues: Kenny Brown

Showing posts with label Kenny Brown. Show all posts

TURCHi - Road Ends In Water

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Turchi is Reed Turchi, boss of North Carolina's Devil Down Records who brought you the new Kenny Brown double-disc set, the Bill Ferris recordings of Mississippi Fred McDowell, a new release by long-time Junior Kimbrough sideman Little Joe Ayers, and a couple other very worthy works.

On his first solo album Turchi, who is based in Chapel Hill and plays guitar and sings,Chris Reali (a musicology student at UNC-Chapel Hill) on bass, and Cameron Weeks (Blackskies) on drums, and the group is joined by the great Luther Dickinson on three tracks. The Lutherized songs, in particular Dr. Recommended (Satisfaction Guaranteed) has a wealth of swagger. Luther brings it, and it's hangin'.

Turchi brings a Dylanesque-tone to Road Ends In Water akin to Bob's more recent work (I'd bet money a very discerning Dylan would dig this album) filtered thru Junior Kimbrough and R.L. Burnside alumnus Kenny Brown. Reed Turchi could almost be, as Brown was to Burnside, Kenny's adopted son. That's not to say Turchi is aping. That's not it. But Kenny is a predominant and fine flavor.
Turchi is a tight band and I'd be very interested to see/hear them live. Reed and his friends have made a fine first album that reps them well. I look forward to hearing the next album after they've had a chance to get some serious roadwork under their collective trotters. This is original and very solid North Mississippi hill country (and delta blues reworks) that should satisfy any fan. You can get it HERE.

KENNY BROWN - Can't Stay Long

Do I really need to write anything about Kenny Brown? Really?

Haven't we got to the point yet where his albums are issued at birth to each newborn child? If not this world is in a damn sad state.

Y'all know Mr. Brown learned to play mostly at the feet of Mr. Joe Callicott, and as a young man became R.L. Burnside's "adopted white son," playing guitar for Mr. Burnside (and on occasion with others like Junior Kimbrough) for twenty-six years. For the last few years he's been playing and hosting the North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic, which presents most everybody you could want to see/hear that rocks that Hill Country sound.

Mr. Brown released an album on the Plum Tone label in 1998 (back in the olden days when I ordered it by phone it was Kenny on the line) called Goin' Back To Missisippi (shamefully out-of-print! Somebody needs to fix that.), one on Fat Possum in 2003 called Stingray, one i'd never heard of called Fast, Cheap, and Dirty with Danish guitarist Troels Jensen in ought-six, Meet Ya At The Bottom via CDBaby in 2008, and now a new double-disc set on Devil Down Records called Can't Stay Long.

Disc One is titled Porch Songs and that's just what it is. Kenny Brown playing and singing solo on Kenny Brown's porch. Recorded over a weekend. That's it. All you need.

Disc two is titled Money Maker. It was recorded live at the 2010 North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic. If you've been achin' for some classic Mississippi Hill Country boogie you can quit it now. Dr. Brown and his band deliver the rural medicine. The thing that I dig most about this live set is that you finally get to hear just what a badass bar band vibe Kenny Brown can roll out (dream show would be Kenny and The Bottle Rockets), yet get artistically deep up in the boogie.

Can't Stay Long is the first album to really deliver Mr. Brown's live thing intact. It stands as both Kenny Brown/ North Mississippi Hill country Blues compendium and companion. Maybe Kenny can't stay long but this album will.

The Art of JOE SACCO

Joe Sacco, artist of the award-winning graphic novel Palestine was sent on tour with R.L. Burnside by Details Magazine in 2000. The work below was published in the magazine and included in the Fat Possum Records book Darker Blues.