GARY CLARK,JR.

down before one of Guy’s most popular
originals of the last 20 years, the declamatory
“Damn Right I Got The Blues” further
rouses the boisterous crowd.
Blues-rock aficionados get theirs with
the last two tracks: the unlikely mash-up of
John Lee Hooker’s “Boom, Boom” and
Cream’s “Strange Brew,” followed by the
less surprising medley of Jimi Hendrix’s
“Voodoo Chile” and Cream’s “Sunshine of
Your Love.” (Was Eric Clapton in the audience?)
Also included are three studio
tracks from the Living Proof sessions (2010)
that had me wondering why they didn’t
make the cut: “Polka Dot Love,” a scorching
celebration of his beloved polka dot
Stratocaster as well as a testament to his
staying power as an elite guitarist, the hornpropelled
(courtesy of the Memphis Horns)
funk-stroller “Coming For You,” and a simmering
take on Muddy’s “Country Boy.”
This is a no brainer purchase for old
and new Buddy Guy fans alike. My test for
recommending a live album is whether or
not it made me wish that I was there that
night. Damn right I wish I was there.
– Thomas J. Cullen III
BETTYE LAVETTE
Thankful n’ Thoughtful
40 BLUES REVUE
Anti-
Thankful n’ Thoughtful, Bettye LaVette’s
latest, is emotional n’ personal, soulful n’
tasteful. With its release, LaVette continues
her arc of passionate and interpretive
music. A seemingly very personal song
selection, nearly each cut could be an
anecdote from her life that she has
recently revealed to the world in her new
book, A Woman Like Me. Thankful n’
Thoughtful is definitely one of those late
night, dimmed lights, just listen and savor
experiences.
She owns these songs as if she
penned each one. As with her previous
work, here she relies on more songwriting
heavyweights like Bob Dylan, Neil Young,
Tom Waits, Patty Griffin, Sly Stone, Ewan
McColl (The Pogues), among others, and
even an old nugget from ‘60s British blues
band Savoy Brown. Tastefully produced by
Craig Street, who helped Norah Jones’s
Come Away With Me win a Grammy in 2002
and supported by a band of seasoned studio
and touring musicians which includes
members of Ollabelle, The Pariah Dogs
(Ray Lamontagne), John Mayer’s band,
and Sheryl Crowe’s band, the playing has
exactly the right amount of sonic atmosphere
and open space to allow LaVette’s
emotional interpretations to shine.
In LaVette’s hands, the leadoff track,
Dylan’s “Everything Is Broken,” is a song of
dark despair. When she sings, “Look
around you, everything is broken,” she
means it. With the Black Keys’ “I’m Not The
One,” she draws a line in the dirt singing,
“You wanted it all, I ain’t gonna give you
none.” “Dirty Old Town” could be her
hometown, a latter day Detroit, described
with the line “They try to knock it down like
an old dead tree, but they can’t.” “The More
I Search (The More I Die)” has LaVette challenging
with, “Here I am. You can take me
or leave me.” That theme continues with
the line “I’m tired of living up to what people
expect me to be” in Savoy Brown’s “I’m
Tired.” The title track is a powerful and
emotional interpretation of the Sly Stone
song that LaVette seems to invest with her
own life experience, “Taken many chances
and I coulda been dead.”
Others like “Dirty Old Town,” Patty
Griffin’s “Time Will Do The Talking,” and
Beth Neilsen Chapman’s “Fair Enough” get
soulful arrangements from LaVette. The
Tom Waits penned “Yesterday Is Here” features
upright piano and bass and horns giving
LaVette a different palette to work with;
yet one she handles with subtlety. The
Gnarls Barkley mega-hit “Crazy” is covered,
but is not as strong as the aforementioned
songs, as is Young’s “Everybody Knows
This Is Nowhere,” whose rigid song structure
doesn’t quite allow LaVette the freedom
to do what she does best.
LaVette continues her creative exploration
of music to interpret as only she can.
If her book A Woman Like Me were ever to
become a movie, this album could likely
make for one great soundtrack.
– Mark Caron
LIL’ ED &
THE BLUES IMPERIALS
Jump Start
Alligator
Lil’ Ed and the Blues Imperials serve as
both a direct link back to the legacy of the
old blues master J.B. Hutto and also the
living template for Alligator Records’ houserocking
style of electrified roots music.
The late Hutto was Williams’ uncle and
musical mentor, drawing an unbroken line
back to Chicago’s deepest blues. So, Jump
Start includes a cover of Hutto’s “If You
Change Your Mind,” but elsewhere, this
album’s 13 Williams-penned tunes shiver
and shake like a hard-bucking classic car –
muscular, old school, and brawny.
But Lil’ Ed and his long time backing
band, including guitarist Michael Garrett,
bassist Pookie Young (Williams’ younger
half-brother), and drummer Kelly Littleton,
aren’t inclined to make any historical pit
stops, heck, they rarely even downshift.
From the incendiary soul of “If You Were
Mine,” to the winking sexual come-ons of
“Musical Mechanical Electrical Man,” to the
rough and randy “Kick Me To The Curb,”
the Blues Imperials burst out with the
strength and suddenness of a thunderclap.
Three songs in, and I’m already out of
breath. The organ-fueled ballad “You Burnt
Me,” the first of five songs to feature Marty
Sammon on keys, gives Williams a chance
to welp and howl but, even then, his
unleashing a series of scalding guitar fills.
Hang on, tight. Williams floors it through
“House Of Cards,” telling off a particularly
reprehensible scofflaw, then hilariously
negotiates his way through a new relationship
on the jazz-inflected, double entendrefilled
“Jump Right In,” and then summons a
raw vulnerability on the autobiographical