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JOHN
LONG "LOST & FOUND"
Source: Blues & Rhythm
Magazine
Date: 01/2006
Writer: Phil Wright |
Now
I used to know a guy called John Long, John was allegedly
well endowed in the Johnson department, hence the name
(not that I am speaking from personal observation of
the aforementioned object I have to state). All that
has nothing to do with this John Long but I thought
I’d throw it in as opening gambit. This John Long
was born in St Louis in 1950, so he’s no Johnny-come-lately
twenty-something with a National guitar, who knows nuthin’
and respects even less.
Long was
digging jazz and r&b sounds from his mother’s
78s and picking up on the sounds to be heard on the
airwaves while still a kid. He has been involved in
music since the 1960s, starting out with his brother
Claude playing the rock’n’roll and r&b
numbers they heard on the radio. A desire to find
out the roots of the music he heard led to him going
back to the classic blues of the early 1950s then
even further back to the great bluesmen of the 1930s
and 1940s. On the St Louis scene Big Joe Williams
and harp player Doc Terry pointed him in the right
direction.
In the
1970s Long was working a day job in Chicago, he met
Homesick James and Homesick took him around the scene
and generally showed him what was what. So what has
John Long been doing for the past thirty plus years?
Well he/s been serving his apprenticeship (a damn
long apprenticeship!), learning his trade and quietly
honing his chops. His track record on disc to date
consists of several appearances on other folk’s
sessions, some homemade demos and a track on an obscure
compilation. One of the demos found its way to Delta
Groove artist Al Blake who passed it to Delta Groove
honcho Randy Chortkoff and the result is this CD.
Most of the tracks are solo; Long’s vocal, harp
and guitar only; Fred Kaplan is added on piano on
three cuts. All of the material is original, penned
by John Long or co-written with brother Claude apart
from “Greyhound Driver”, which is a Claude
Long original. If I had to draw a comparison it would
be with Robert Lucas on his early sessions for Audioquest.
Call it retro, old school or what you like, Long has
to be one of the finest country blues players around.
He has recorded a mature set of country blues, firmly
in the tradition, without falling into the trap of
merely aping the likes of Robert Johnson, Skip James
or Tampa Red.
The songs touch on a variety of subjects close to
the heart of any blues performer including riding
the dog (that’s the Greyhound for those unfamiliar
with the terminology), hell-raising women, rootin’
ground sloths (it was always ground hogs in my youth!)
and leaving town (“I love St Louis but I can’t
stand your evil ways, cause that’s the reason
mama well I just can’t stay”).
“Lost
& Found” is a very well crafted set, it
is an excellent debut CD from a musician who really
should have been recording a couple of decades ago,
considering some of the so called “bluesmen”
who are garnering huge praise elsewhere (and being
voted “bluesman of the year” in certain
publications). It’s been a while coming but
definitely worth the wait. |
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