Junior Wells - Come on in This House

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Music reviews of Come on in This House

Music Review: Sitting Out On the Porch Steps
Rating: 5 Stars

But please don't think this is music only for the serious blues listener, this is music that is wonderful and accessible to anyone. It is honest understated music, with depth and soul. There's no flash here, nothing strained or pretentious - no this is music of integrity that is fun to listen to.

Junior Wells, born Amos Blackmore in 1934 in Memphis Tennessee, teamed up with some of the best blues guitarist to record Come on In This House for Telarc. On this cd are Corey Harris, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Sonny Landreth, Bob Margolin, John Mooney and Derek Trucks. Each of these gentleman have a career of some repute in the blues genre, but if you haven't heard of them this cd is a perfect opportunity to get to know them.

Standards recorded for this cd include songs by Tampa Red, Sonny Boy Williamson, Arthur Crudup, Robert Nighthawk, Junior Parker and Little Walter as well as Junior Wells originals. The one new song Give Me One Reason by Tracy Chapman is worth the price of the cd. The interplay between Well's vocals and Landreth's National Steel Guitar are perfect.

It is little wonder that Come On In This House won the W.C. Handy award for best Traditional Blues Album in 1997, because every song is marvelous. It starts swinging it with That's All Right with young Derek Trucks, 16 on guitar and John Cleary on piano backing up Junior. It's all right now momma, yes indeed!- tasty guitar licks and the smoothest most mellow vocals by Junior Wells.

From the upbeat to the skeptical, melancholy blues of Why People Like that. Sonny Landreth and Derek Trucks exchange fire power on guitar while Junior continues his wonderful harmonica playing and sings:

They take your house and your home
They take the flesh from your bone
They take the shirt off your back
Why people like that.

Other songs of note include Tampa Red's She Wants to Sell My Monkey, Mystery Train, I'm Gonna Move to Kansas City and the title song an original by Junior Wells and brought out of retirement for this cd. It is a worthy addition, with Wells singing:

If I had a million dollars
I'd give you every dime
To hear you call me daddy
One more time.

I was lucky enough to see Junior Wells in person a few years before his death and remember his dynamism, swaggering confidence and extraordinary understated way of delivering a song. He made it seem so easy. This cd is a great reminder of what a wonderful performer he was. I think it is also a good introduction to traditional acoustic blues and will provide the listener with the opportunity to get to know some great blues players and some outstanding traditional blues songs.

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