Spring Blues

April 20th, 2006 by Hennessy

The good folks at Fat Possum Records have just released an EP The Black Keys Chulahoma: The Songs of Junior Kimbrough

An originator, Junior may have been one of the most important blues guitarist of the last half of the 20th century. Junior re-imagined the blues. Building on a tradition from the Mississippi Delta, he created a sound that wasn’t from the Delta, but from the isolated hills of Northeastern Mississippi. There they have only one rule: You’re allowed to do anything your big enough to do.

The Black Keys aren’t the only band influenced by his work. Iggy Pop, Bono, Sonic Youth, and the Rolling Stones made pilgrimages to Holly Springs Mississippi, to experience Junior.

Here’s a sample of their cover of Meet Me In The City, which is one of my favorite Junior Kimbrough songs.

Also available at Fat Possum, Asie Payton’s Worried which culminates two recording sessions: one at Junior Kimbrough’s club and another at Jimmy’s Auto Care, Fat Possum’s old studio.

For all of 1995 and most 1996, Fat Possum tried unsuccessfully to convince Asie that the world outside Mississippi needed to hear him. But despite living below the poverty level and desperately needing the easy money of a gig, he could not be lured away from Washington County for more than a couple of hours.