Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 50:27
Size: 115.9 MB
Styles: Contemporary blues
Year: 2011
Art: Full
[4:40] 1. Steady Freddy
[4:53] 2. Mississippi Man
[4:02] 3. Kokomo Blues
[5:17] 4. Good Morning Little School Girl
[4:53] 5. What's The Matter Now?
[4:15] 6. Shake 'em On Down
[3:43] 7. Worried Mind
[3:41] 8. The Man That I'm Lovin'
[3:11] 9. Ancestral Home
[4:21] 10. The Breadline
[3:30] 11. Woke Up This Morning
[3:55] 12. Write Me A Few Of Your Lines
When she paid tribute to Robert Johnson on her 2006 album The Lady and Mr. Johnson, Rory Block tried to replicate Johnson's style exactly. She was not so reverent on 2008's Blues Walkin' Like a Man, a tribute to Son House, and on the third album she considers part of her Mentor Series, she takes some creative license with Mississippi Fred McDowell on Shake ‘Em on Down. One difference is that she actually met House and McDowell, which seems to have freed her to take a more creative approach. She acknowledges that McDowell's driving, repetitive playing also served as a challenge, noting that he played more for dancing, intent on keeping a constant rhythm, than with any sense of virtuosity. And while she has counted the number of times a given figure might have been repeated in a particular performance of one of his songs, in her own versions she has added solo guitar lines to the basic riffs and also included other features, such as overdubbed vocal choruses. She also has written songs concerning McDowell, such as the leadoff track, "Steady Freddy," an imagined autobiography, and its successor, "Mississippi Man," her account of meeting the bluesman when she was 15. And she has adapted some of his songs, switching gender on "Good Morning Little School Girl" (which she acknowledges uneasily as being about "child predation") and "The Girl That I'm Lovin'." All of this is to say that she has applied a fan and scholar's attention as well as an artist's vision to McDowell and his work, demonstrating that a tribute requires both. ~William Ruhlmann
thank you kempen.
Shake 'em On Down
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 49:33
Size: 113.5 MB
Styles: Contemporary blues
Year: 2002
Art: Full
[1:14] 1. Guitar Ditty 1
[3:43] 2. I'm Every Woman
[3:05] 3. Fool For You
[1:26] 4. Sea Lion Woman (& Gaye Adegbalola)
[3:57] 5. Ain't No Grave Can Hold My Body Down (& Jordan Block Valdina)
[3:39] 6. Tired Of Being Alone
[4:27] 7. Love Tko
[2:22] 8. Rock Island Line (& Paul Rishell & Annie Raines)
[5:45] 9. Talkin' 'bout My Man
[3:30] 10. Ain't Nothin' Like The Real Thing (& Keb' Mo')
[5:14] 11. Pretty Polly
[5:06] 12. Hold On-Change Is Coming (& Rev. Herb Sheldon).
[5:34] 13. I Feel Like Breaking Up Somebody's Home.
[0:24] 14. Guitar Ditty 2
After listening to the opening track of I'm Every Woman, one might be inclined to expect 45 minutes of acoustic blues to follow. "Guitar Ditty" features no more than a girl and her guitar with a great big sound. It's quite surprising, then, when Rory Block cuts loose on the title cut, a pastiche of slide guitar, disco beat, and funky '70s orchestra. Clearly, the listener isn't in the Delta anymore. Indeed, Block pretty much keeps her guitar in the corner of the studio for most of the album, trading her deep blues for a healthy dose of soul, a bit of gospel, and few other odds and ends. It's probably impossible to compare I'm Every Woman to Confessions of a Blues Singer, Block's 1998 recording. One features songs by Robert Johnson, Charlie Patton, and Blind Willie McTell; the other, by Al Green and Ashford-Simpson. One maintains a fairly straightforward production, centering on acoustic guitar and vocals; the other jumps from guitar ditties to a cappella gospel to full-tilt boogie. Kelly Joe Phelps lends his vocals and a nice bit of guitar to "Pretty Polly," while Annie Raines and Paul Rishell help out on a stirring vocal version of "Rock Island Line." Block also successfully tackles Bonnie Raitt/Toni Price territory with the vibrant "I Feel Like Breaking Up Somebody's Home." While there are several memorable moments on I'm Every Woman, the overall approach seems more scattershot than eclectic, and will confuse and perhaps anger Block's fans. ~Ronnie D. Lankford Jr.
thank you kempen.
I'm Every Woman