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Smokey Wilson "White Man's Blues" (A Tribute to the Great Freddie King)
by Jay Johnson |
| My initial
thought, simply from looking at the cover and reading the title of this
Smokey Wilson CD was, "here's another white boy lost in the blues",
to coin a phrase from the song of the same name, best known to me as
performed by Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry. Several common themes emerged
as I listened and took notes on my impressions of the songs and music. First, next to nearly every song name, whether it was country or blues, up-tempo or ballad, I noted "excellent guitar" or "great harmonica". Summarily, the musicianship on this CD is second to none, as good as any and better than most. As a songwriter, Smokey Wilson plows the same fields that writers have worked for a century or more in search of fodder for their songs and poetry. That's not a slight to Mr.Wilson. Jimmie Rodgers, Hank Williams, Willie Nelson and any other songwriter worth their salt trod fields littered with unrequited love, heartbreak, drunkenness and regret. Smokey's songs reflect a similar human experience, as would many of ours if we could all write songs. "Texas Dance Hall" (Schroeder) is a driving, up-tempo tribute to (what else?) Texas dance halls and honky-tonks. The vocals, shared by Jarrod Birmingham, are punctuated by the aforementioned excellent guitar breaks, and the lyrics speak of "beer iced down in a cooler" and "Jim Beam under the seat". "Looking For You" is a love-gone-wrong, tears-in-my-beer, wanting-her-back tearjerker that, ironically, but not uncommonly, is written from the perspective of a man that tried explaining the gold earring and lipstick on his shirt. Second Man is a rocker that finds Smokey's near snarling vocals accented by near psychedelic guitar licks. "Her Memory (Keeps Kickin' My Ass)" is another
stand out on this ten song CD. However, my favorite, far and away,
is "White Man's Blues". I can't figure
out whether the sometimes raspy voiced Smokey Wilson is a blues man that
belongs in a juke joint, a honky-tonker that belongs in a dance hall or
some combination thereof, depending on the mood he's in. I do know,
however, that I'm planning a trip to Texas soon, and Smokey Wilson is now
on my list of must-see artists. By the end of White Man's Blues (A
Tribute to the Great Freddie King), Smokey and me were two white boys
lost in the
blues. Visit Smokey Wilson's website Email Jay about this review |
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