Search - Lonesome Sundown :: I'm a Mojo Man: Best of the Excello Singles

The Sleeper Artist of the Classic Swamp Blues

BluesDuke | Las Vegas, Nevada | 07/18/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The anonymous original author of the rural blues standard "Catfish Blues" probably didn't bargain on swamp blues legend Lonesome Sundown being its direct descendant. "Catfish Blues" begot Muddy Waters's "Rollin' Stone" and "Still A Fool," which in turn begat Lonesome Sundown - who took the opening and turnaround guitar lick Muddy deployed, bent it just so into his own (after hearing another guitarist alter it a unique way, too), and all but forged a career on that lick. It shows up in a goodly number of his signature sides, and those sides populate this excellent anthology of his Excello singles. But Sundown (his stage name was given him by his Excello producer, Jim Miller) was no one-lick pony; of all the legendary Excello-based swamp bluesmen, Sundown's was probably the music with the most depth and variety even as he hung on a signature or three to kick the sides off or nourish them. He was nowhere within the same continent of success which touched labelmates Slim Harpo (who cut his own worthy enough version of Sundown's incomparable "My Home Is A Prison") and Lightnin' Slim, but it wasn't his fault. He had exquisite material, both his own compositions and others'; his voice was distinctive and with deceptively deep feeling; his guitar playing was crisp, soulful and direct. He got some stellar help for the bulk of his Excello recordings, most notably harmonica maestro Lazy Lester, but it was Sundown's show from end to end and as humane a show of the deep swamp blues as you will ever find.This disc has 24 reasons why you can say without hyperbole that Lonesome Sundown, perhaps the most steeped of the swamp bluesmen, really did deserve better than he reaped with his music. Its depth and beauty, despite the surface simplicity, is timeless."