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You don’t have to be in the Lone Star State to hear some good Texas blues. In his 1990 book Time Passages, George Lipsitz talks about Delta blues musicians and their trek on the Illinois Central north to burgeoning blues scenes in St. Louis, Memphis, and Chicago. Those living in the Southeast traveled to Baltimore, Philadelphia, and the Big Apple. But Texas guitar slingers like Johnny “Guitar” Watson, T-Bone Walker and Lowell Fulson cut out West, where they were instrumental in carving a space for the blues in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area. Contemporary players like Rod Piazza, William Clarke, Mark Hummel, and countless others owe their musical careers to the work those Texas pioneers did in California. Texas native Tomcat Courtney, who transplanted to San Diego in the early 1970s, is part of that tradition, and his first national release, Downsville Blues, on the Phoenix, Arizona-based Blue Witch Records label is a fine display of down-home West Coast blues shot through with Texas style.
The 78-year old blues sage was born in Marlin, Texas in 1929, but grew up in the appropriately-named Downsville, a small community nestled southeast of Waco along FM 434. Courtney’s father ran a juke joint there, where he played ragtime piano. The young up-and-coming bluesman had a penchant for dancing and singing, and honed his craft with a traveling circus outfit in his teens. Courtney later moved to Lubbock, and made his home in San Diego in 1971. His first recording came in 1974 with an appearance on the compilation San Diego Blues Jam on Advent Records, but it would be some 37 years before Courtney debuted a record with national distribution.
Downsville Blues is chock full of unpretentious, gimmick-free, real deal blues. Joined by harmonica player Bob Corritore and legendary Chicago drummer Willie “Big Eyes” Smith, who is best known for his long tenure in Muddy Waters’ band, the twelve song program features nine originals and three well-chosen covers. The album opens with “Cook My Breakfast,” a mid-tempo number where Corritore’s sparse harp work bolsters a bit of masculine pomp and sexual boasting with lines like “I want a jelly roll, you know I want it sweet and brown/ I want a jelly roll this morning, make it sweet and brown/ Don’t you burn my jelly roll baby, you better turn my jelly roll around.”
Willie Smith provides a sturdy shuffle backbeat on the metaphor-heavy “Four Wheel Drive” and the traditional “Bottle Up and Go,” and slows things down for the solemn post-Katrina “Disaster Blues.” Courtney’s vocal and stripped-down guitar shine on the funky “I Wonder” and the sorrowful ode to his hometown on the title track. Jimmy Reed fans will dig the steady mid-tempo groove of “I’m So Glad,” and Courtney borrows one from the Tampa Red playbook with the defiant slow blues “Cryin’ Won’t Help You.” Two of the most interesting compositions on Downsville Blues, “Wolf That Howls” and the closing “Railroad Avenue,” open with provocative guitar intros that seem to draw from Middle Eastern influences.
It’s a shame that an artist of Courtney’s stature has had to wait so long to see the release of a high-quality recording like this one, and Blue Witch Records, which has been consistently producing solid blues since opening shop in 2001, deserves praise for bringing his music to a national audience. Courtney definitely has the goods, and Downsville Blues will stand out as one of the most honest blues recordings of 2008.
Websites:
www.tomcatcourtney.com
Myspace
Roger Gatchet is a frequent contributor to Living Blues, and hosts “Blues At Sunrise” Wednesday mornings from 7-9 AM on KVRX 91.7 FM.
