THE MANNISH BOYS "LOWDOWN FEELIN" Source: Natchel Blues Network Date: 11/2008 Writer: Jack Campbell

A veritable plethora of artists contribute to this remarkable CD by The Mannish Boys (arguably the third band in music history to use that name.) The lineup follows: Vocals - Finis Tasby, Randy Chortkoff, Little Sammy Davis, Johnny Dyer, Cynthia Manley, Bobby Jones, Frank Goldwasser, Jessica Williams; Harmonica - Randy Chortkoff, Little Sammy Davis, Lynwood Slim, Al Blake; Guitar - Kid Ramos, Fred Scribner, Junior Watson, Frank Goldwasser, Kirk Fletcher; Bass - Ronnie James Weber, Tom Leavey; Piano – Fred Kaplan; Trumpet - Scot Steen; Saxophone - David Woodford; Drums – Richard Innes.

With all these fine musicians cranking out 17 cuts, what’s not to like? All of these guys were somehow interlaced throughout their music careers. You know - this guy played with that one, who played with that cat over there, who used to play with blah blah blah…. In a word, they are TIGHT!

One particularly nice feature of this effort is that it is not a jam band CD. You might think with all these guys all in one place to produce a CD, the result might be long drawn out solos. Au contraire! The longest song is “Rude Groove” at 7:50 and it happens to be one of my favorite cuts. The focus seems to be everyone contributing to put out solid blues songs that have a distinct beginning, middle, and end. Most cuts are between 3 and
5 minutes. Very listenable! It holds lots of different styles, beats and chord changes. If you can’t find what you like on this CD, just give up listening to music!