Charlie+musselwhite

As authentic as the lines on his forehead and his droopy eyes, veteran bluesman Charlie Musselwhite gets better with age. (At 62, he's a respected survivor with dozens of albums to his credit.) On Delta Hardware the journeyman musician pays tribute to, and revels in, his Mississippi roots. Although he's spent time in Chicago and on the West Coast, for this album of churning swamp and deep Southern blues he taps his formative years in the town of Kosciusko. Musselwhite's poignant voice and crying harmonica convey loss and sadness on the tense, swirling "Black Water," one of two tracks dealing with Hurricane Katrina.

Charlie Musselwhite takes four different approaches on this Alligator release. On two tracks, he turns to guitar, proving a competent instrumentalist and convincing singer in a vintage Delta style. He also does two gospel numbers backed by the legendary Blind Boys of Alabama, which are heartfelt, but not exactly triumphs. Musselwhite reveals his jazz influence on three tracks, making them entertaining harmonica workouts. But for blues fans, Musselwhite's biting licks and spiraling riffs are best featured on such numbers as "If I Should Have Bad Luck" and "Leaving Blues." Despite the diverse strains, Musselwhite retains credibility throughout while displaying the wide range of sources from which he's forged his distinctive style.

Vanguard may have spelled his name wrong (he prefers Charlie or Charles), but the word was out as soon as this solo debut was released: here was a harpist every bit as authentic, as emotional, and in some ways as adventuresome, as Paul Butterfield. Similarly leading a Chicago band with a veteran black rhythm section (Fred Below on drums, Bob Anderson on bass) and rock-influenced soloists (keyboardist Barry Goldberg, guitarist Harvey Mandel), Musselwhite played with a depth that belied his age - only 22 when this was cut! His gruff vocals were considerably more affected than they would become later (clearer, more relaxed), but his renditions of "Help Me," "Early in the Morning," and his own "Strange Land" stand the test of time…

Rockin' R&B laced with Chicago blues. An early lineup of the rock-and-soul Dynatones backs up veteran bluesman Charlie Musselwhite in a live set at the Belly Up Tavern in Solano Beach, California from 1982. Curtain Call Cocktails album by Charlie Musselwhite was released Feb 09, 1999 on the Westside label. Original 1982 live album, inc. 4 never before released cuts.

When people think of top white blues performers from the 60's, names like Paul Butterfield, Mike Bloomfield, John Mayall and Al Kooper come readily to mind. While those guys all have their place in history, so does Charlie Musselwhite. Musselwhite learned the blues straight from old timers like Homesick James and Robert Nighthawk on Maxwell Street in the Windy City. This release, "Stone Blues" is his second solo release on Vanguard Records and while it contains no Musselwhite originals, the ten songs covered here, songs of Walter Jacob, Elmore James and Clay Cotton, provide ample opportunity to hear and enjoy the warm vocals and exemplary harp playing of Musselwhite.

Recorded in 1971 and 1974. "The 14 performances on Memphis Charlie include some loose live sides and even a taste of slide guitar from Musselwhite. They're the work of a more mature artist than the brash kid on Stand Back."

No Mercy In This Land is a blues record. Charlie Musselwhite and Ben Harper were introduced to one another by John Lee Hooker. The legendary musician thought the two men should play together, so he brought them into the studio to record a song called simply “Burnin’ Hell.”

"This is the best band I've ever had," Musselwhite proclaims on the back of this LP; longtime fans would find that debatable. Rather than schooled on the Chess sounds that provided Charlie with his foundation, these guys play a Malaco strain of blues, and Tommy Hill is simply one of the busiest (read: obnoxious) drummers anywhere. A "Boogie Chillen" takeoff ("River Hip Mama") is surprisingly not just same-old, same-old, but for the most part the funkified blues contrasts sharply with the album's two most poignant numbers, the jazz standard "Yesterdays" (with Charlie on chromatic, borrowing from trumpeter Clifford Brown's "strings" album) and "My Road Lies in Darkness" - just Charlie and his acoustic guitar.