Black Prairie Blues

According to information provided by Big Joe Shelton, he "was born in the Black Prairie region of northeast Mississippi. As a child growing up in a small Mississippi town, he was exposed to an African-American culture, which still strongly reflected that of the early part of the twentieth century. He attended tent minstrel shows. bar-b-que picnics and heard street musicians performing authentic traditional blues. "

He's also played with many of the blues legends like Big Joe Williams, Furry Lewis, Son Thomas, Junior Kimbrough. He's also played with Fenton Robinson and BMA / Handy Award nominees Willie King, Blind Mississippi Morris, R. L. Burnside and Johnny Rawls as well as Daniel “Slick” Ballinger, the 2007 BMA Best New Artist honoree.

In fact, Willie King plays lead guitar on this CD. All of the songs are original with Shelton except Mississippi Nights which he co-wrote with Ean Evans (who plays bass guitar on he cd) and In Mississippi, co-written with (?) Davis..

The cd leads off with a juke joint sound in Mississippi Cat Whiskey. This is tune that begs you to have a sip before you jump up and dance (and dare you to sit still while this one is going. The background catcalls send me back to the juke in my mind, I can almost smell the bbq, the corn likker, beer and smoke and see the Christmas lights strung along the pipes where the wood walls meet the ceiling.

Every song in here calls the juke to mind, but the opening to Hope We Live to See The Day grabs me in the guts but then surprises me by being the lead-in to some good protest blues verses. The music is so hot in this one, you almost forget the words, til they come swirling and growling in. The guitar howls, the band's jumping and the harmonica is lulling you, then Big Joe's gravely voice breaks into the reverie and darned if it doesn't all flow together the way it should. This is one of my favorites in the whole cd - I love the music and the words means something, too.

One's Too Many is a classic drinking song (one's too many and twelve ain't enough). This one has some jiving keyboard and fantastic guitar set to the driving drum beat that will keep you dancing in your seat or out tearing up the dance floor.

The Devil Lives in Memphis has one hell of a catchy tune backed by some out-of-sight mouth harp pushing the intensity of the song and some super back-up chorus singing by Hoyt Allen and Uncle Wayne that adds the icing to the cake. I LOVE this song, I could listen to it over and over (and I have). The whole cd is worth the price of this song and the following tribute song, Black Prairie Blues.

Black Prairie Blues, the inspiration for the cd title honors many of the Black Prairie bluesmen, and manages to be a rocking good example of those blues........ Big Joe Williams (Please Don't Go), Howling Wolf (Killing Floor), Bukka White (Aberdeen), Blackberry blue, Bettie's Place, Willie King (All Night Long), and Big Joe's growl get all the better as this one rolls along.

Ears Like a Mule is in the tradition of the jumping comedy blues tune, and is backgrounded by as good a guitar and harmonica work as you will find anywhere.

This cd is finished up by a fast-paced jump blues song Be a Woman; if you can sit thru this one, call the funeral director, you're already dead.

Other musicians on the cd were Bryan Owens on drum, Edwin Daniel, lead guitar, Bobby Shannon on keyboard, John Simpson, keyboard, Lee Graham on rhythm guitar and Jimmy Caine on rhythm keyboard.

You can buy this cd directly off his site Big Joe Shelton, or go listen to clips first on CD Baby. Don't fool around til you forget, this is one you'll want - go get it.

- - C.W.