JAMES COTTON
Baby Don't You Tear My Clothes (Telarc)
Reviewed by Eric Steiner

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I thought James Cotton had done it all. No need to prove anything, maybe time to kick back and relax a little while. James has enjoyed an exceptional blues career that was nurtured early on by Sonny Boy Williamson (Rice Miller), KFFA Radio's King Biscuit Time radio show, and then launched by Muddy Waters in his salad days of the 1950's and 1960's. All this before "Mr. Superharp" founded the James Cotton Blues Band, which grew to a true blues force in the 1970's. I saw him earlier this year at Seattle's Triple Door, and while his voice was ravaged by throat problems, he didn't miss a note or a beat in two incredible sets of blues. His latest release on Telarc brings together quite a number of friends sitting in with him, including Marcia Ball, Bobby Rush, and CJ Chenier. The house band consists of David Maxwell on piano, Noel Neal on bass, Derek O'Brien on guitar, and Per Hanson on drums, and together, they help James create blues magic. Baby Don't You Tear My Clothes is a very worthy follow-up to his W.C. Handy-award winning 35th Anniversary Jam on Telarc from 2002, and it shows that James Cotton is still in fine blues form.

Track List:

Coach's Better Days * Baby Don't You Tear My Clothes/Bobby Rush * When You Got a Good Friend/Marcia Ball * Stealin' Stealin'/Dave Alvin and Chris Gaffney * Key to the Highway/Odetta * I Almost Lost My Mind * Runnin' in My Heart/C J Chenier * Bring It On Home to Me/Jim Lauderdale * Muleskinner Blues/Peter Rowan * How Long Blues/Doc and Merle Watson * Mississippi Blues/Rory Block * Blues for Jacklyn * Friends

© 2004 - Eric Steiner